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4 hours ago
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Life was tough in 16th-century Bohemia, and so it is here, in its virtual counterpart. The first 10 hours of this game were thoroughly miserable. Stepping into the mud-soaked boots of Henry, a humble blacksmith-turned-knight, I am sent to deliver a message across a war-ravaged region. Yet before Henry can fulfil his duty, he falls victim to a deadly ambush, leaving himself and his Lord, Hans Capon, stranded without a penny or sword to their name.
As a stranger arriving in tattered rags, bloodsoaked and desperate, no one believes that you are a nobleman, or has the time to listen to your increasingly urgent pleas. Townsfolk comment on your odour and refuse to let you into various establishments. It’s a truly humbling gaming experience, creating a soberingly bleak recreation of what it’s like to be among medieval society’s downtrodden.
The main story eventually whisks you away on increasingly impressive exploits, but in the early game, merely surviving the day is an adventure in itself. In this harsh feudal fantasy, you can save your progress only two ways: sleeping in your own bed, or drinking a bottle of saviour schnapps. When you can’t afford a night at an inn – and Henry doesn’t even have a horse – each new map-spanning journey is risky. Some of those early deaths cost me hours of progress.
Once you manage to work – and thieve – your way into a few Groschen, your fortunes begin to change. Keeping up appearances is imperative in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, with your clothes and hygiene influencing your charisma stat, feeding into your wider reputation. Townsfolk notice your wounds and blood-splattered clothes. Innkeepers are less likely to take you for a thieving vagabond if you’ve bathed. The wealthier you become, the easier life becomes; dressing well even helps to convince guards of your innocence when you’re caught red-handed.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is filled with the kind of friction that most modern games actively avoid. I became utterly immersed in this brutally believable simulation – even when it was kicking my arse. This is a role-playing game where even the simple act of making a potion is a struggle, where food can rot and poison you, and not even fast travel is safe. Word to the wise – don’t accidentally clamber into the wrong bed. It’ll end in a night spent being pelted in the stocks.
Like in Bethesda’s Skyrim, you learn by doing. Want to get better at running? Sprint while wearing the heaviest armour you can find. Fancy commanding conversations? Devote half an in-game day to reading a book. The original game’s first-person duelling makes a welcome return, locking players into a lethal game of bluffing, blocking and reading your opponent’s stance. It’s a deadly dance that feels like nothing else in games, but if swordplay isn’t for you, you can hone your marksmanship, double down on stealth or even opt to make your tongue your sharpest weapon.
In conversations, you can roleplay Henry as you see fit, leaning into intimidation, intellect, charm or outright violence. However you play, the writing is consistently compelling, the characters as unyieldingly consistent as the gameplay. Despite the misery baked into it, Kingdom Come 2 has a comedic spirit. From a demented miller who has you collecting sediment from corpses, to settling your differences with soldiers via raucous drinking games, there’s humour in even the most inane of interactions. Developer Warhorse Studios is wise to keep players smiling, even while they’re cursing the game under their breath.
Watching Henry slowly transform from an inept nobody into a fearsome presence feels immensely rewarding, and once you’ve pulled yourself up by your bootstraps, this country-spanning jaunt sees you infiltrate noble weddings, plan a prison break and even defend a besieged castle. While Kingdom Come 2’s world inevitably features the kind of bugs you’d expect from a sprawling RPG, it helps that it is a very handsome game. The grass sways in the wind and villages and towns teem with life.
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If there was ever a game that adopted the “tough love” approach, it’s this. The early hours feel like the playable equivalent of being sent to military school, and demand saintly patience – but it’s an investment that pays off. Much like in Red Dead Redemption 2 before it, I happily lose hours wandering around this vast simulation, curious to see what wonder and depravity I might stumble on. It’s telling that despite spending more than 115 hours in Bohemia, I have yet to roll credits on the main quest line. If you’re uninspired by the prospect of roaming yet another frictionless open world where everything comes easy, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is a breath of fresh air – scented with just a hint of dung.
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Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is out now; £49.99
