It’s been a long time since a game has made me feel like how Kingdom Come Deliverance has.
Not since Morrowind, back in 2002, have I had that same sense of belonging,
like I’ve been transported to another world with its own lore, traditions and rules. A game where
I’ve fallen in the thick of it, and have been given the freedom to make my own way in the world.
Many modern games do a good job of faking it, but you can still tell when the NPCs
are mere placeholders which will zap out of existence the moment you turn the corner.
Kingdom Come Deliverance is NOT one of those games. Every NPC you meet has a life of their own,
and your actions in this game will have consequences for a long time to come.
I still admire Oblivion’s and Skyrim’s Radiant AI system for breathing life into the world by
making people go about their lives even when the player wasn’t around. And while it’s hard to
know the specifics of the system found in Kingdom Come, it feels just as elaborate as the one seen
in Elder Scrolls games, if not even more so. For me, the ‘wow’ moment came from a rather
mundane event. I was sneaking about a city at night, and I peered through a stain-glass window.
And in the darkness beyond, I saw the outline of somebody walking around inside.
This was when I realised that this wasn’t just a prop house- this was an ACTUAL place, with people
living there! And the interior wasn’t hidden behind a loading screen; it was going on, right
there, just behind a thin sheet of glass. I could break into there and murder them all if I wanted!
…But I didn’t. There will be a time when this sort of stuff in games comes to be the norm,
but right now, this kind of dynamic world is just as novel to me as cool physics,
or raytracing. This game goes to great lengths to simulate the mundane, and by doing so,
makes even the smallest of events seem exciting again.
I wish more games attempted to simulate a living, breathing country.
Elder Scrolls games are famous for it, but other than that, Kingdom Come Deliverance is the first
title I’ve found that rivals Skyrim’s open-ended magic. In many ways, I think I prefer this one.
Because you’re not ‘the chosen one’. You’re not something special. You’re not a hero fighting
dragons- but a commoner at risk of dysentery. You can’t even read! You start the game as a nobody,
who’s free to choose his way in the world. You quickly befriend and
be…enemy all kinds of people, and find yourself in a temporary safe-haven from which
you can explore a vast and unforgiving world. This is a game that’s at its best when you DON’T
fully understand its mechanics, or how everything in the world works. I made my best memories with
this game when things were still shrouded in a bit of mystery, and when I was still a little unsure
of what I could and could not get away with. It just gives everything that air of magic,
like the game is more than the sum of its parts. If you feel truly overwhelmed by the freedom on
offer then I can recommend the main quest since it does an excellent job of serving
as a whistle-stop tour of all of the country’s professions and factions, and it was a story
that I enjoyed a lot, especially as the world changes in response to what’s happening in
the story. And you end the game with a good knowledge of most aspects of the gameplay.
But much like the Elder Scrolls games, what makes this game special is that you’re free to ignore
the main story. If you’re still thinking I’m describing the Witcher 3, or Stalker, I’m not.
This is the NEXT level of freedom up, where you could sink dozens of hours into this game just
exploring and doing whatever you like, and you would still get your money’s worth from the game
without even completing a single mission. THIS is what I love from proper, open world, games.
The world is not merely a pretty environment that relies on missions for gameplay- the world in this
game IS the gameplay. And I’m amazed by how few games have attempted this, even all these years
after Elder Scrolls proved it could be done. There is a short tutorial section to get you on
your feet and to give you a reason to follow the main quest, but when that beginning section ends
and the world opens up to you, the freedom is dizzying. It was dozens of hours before
I understood the game’s mechanics enough to be ‘comfortable’ with them. Until then, I was afraid
of starving, or bleeding out, or being ambushed by a group of thugs that I had no chance of fighting.
And I loved every minute of it. This is what I like about the game. It feels gritty and
authentic. And it behaves convincingly- at one point I was attacked by bandits in a forest,
so I decided to run back to a small village, half expecting the guards there to ignore the
situation, or even to attack me for being in an engagement with somebody else. But they behaved
as I had hoped, by attacking the bandits and by saving my scrawny low-level arse.
In case you were wondering, the game is set in medieval… Europe, somewhere. Everybody
seems to have Cornish accents, but swear in Eastern-European. It’s a classic ‘medieval’
setting, with castles and wells and mud everywhere. There’s no magic or mythical beasts
here- just the worst of humanity to contend with. And while you might think the medieval setting,
especially one so constrained by realism, would be boring, I found it to be more engaging for it.
Yes, the setting has been done to death yet Kingdom Come’s world has taught me stuff about
alchemy, about trebuchets, and about general life back then that I’ve never even considered from
other medieval-themed ‘media’ I’ve seen. It’s apparent that the team went to great lengths
to get the small details about this world right. If medieval towns in other games are film sets,
this one’s an authentic recreation, with fully working props.
You have the usual RPG-style levelling system, and get to unlock new abilities as you go.
But the ones found in this game are considerably more DANK than in most games. You know how you can
get to know somebody well by simply seeing what their bedroom’s like in its untidied state? Well I
think the unlockable perks in Kingdom Come do a good job of representing what it’s like.
You can unlock desirable perks like… being able to eat raw meat, or being better at picking locks
when you’re drunk, or being more attractive to women if you haven’t washed for a few days.
So I commend this game for being the way it is, and for having an achievement for finishing the
game as a virgin. If this stuff isn’t selling it to you then this really isn’t the game for you.
The graphics -like the gameplay- are unpolished, yet appealing,
and at times can be at top of their game. Things have a nice sheen to them,
and there’s a really authentic shadow effect when you’re stood in doorways.
It’s lovely to see the Cryengine stretching its legs in a game like this, and I think
it was a good choice of engine for the game, but you will need a beefy PC to do it justice.
I don’t think many games could get away with being as buggy as this one is, but I can forgive Kingdom
Come for it because it comes from the game’s sheer amount of content, rather than lack of
dedication from the developers. It’s clear they love this game, and have supported it for years
after its release. It is a GOOD game. While, at points, it’s frustrating to play, I quickly
learned to live with the rough edges because the core of the experience was so engaging and meaty.
Combat is a great example of this. It looks messy as hell, yet works surprisingly well. You can
shift the direction of your attacks and blocks, and while a lot of your prowess is down to your
character’s stats, your own skill in the moment can be the difference between victory and death.
I’m happy to say that, after extensive grinding, you CAN become a master fighter,
and as the story went on I tried to get into as many one-on-one engagements as I could because
I liked them so much. Screw diplomacy. Yet as good as you get, you’ll never feel invincible.
Being outnumbered 3 to 1 is still suicidal, and an expert knight in plate armour will always put
up a lengthy and punishing fight. Like I’ve said before, you’re just a person in this game, and the
world doesn’t revolve around you. It’s refreshing. While trying to ruin as little as possible,
I’ll try and explain the quests. They’re diverse, and equal parts expected and unexpected,
and the characters I met were so interesting that it was never a chore to watch a cutscene,
or to sidetrack what I was doing to go on silly missions with them.
The game must have considerable budget to it because it’s got some big names in it and some
excellent choreography in the cutscenes. It’s a weird game, it feels like it was
made by a large dev team 20 years ago, if given today’s equipment and technology to work with.
It’s almost like they WANT you to exploit the game to get the advantage. You can steal high-level
equipment early on in the game. You can make huge amounts of money from certain activities. And
almost every fight can easily be won if you avoid the obvious duel option. If you struggle to kill
an enemy, find out where he lives and stab him in his sleep. Can’t be bothered with a lengthy quest?
Just wear some scary clothing and threaten them instead! Most missions will let you exploit them
in some way or another, and you’ll frequently have opportunities to betray people and to orchestrate
elaborate displays of manipulation that will sometimes blow up in your scheming little face.
I’ve spent this video being vague to avoid spoilers, but at some point I need to flesh
out what I mean, so while this next bit is a spoiler for one quest in the game, it is only a
‘minor’ spoiler… and I think it’s worth telling, simply to demonstrate what this game’s like.
At one point I met somebody -I’ll call him Brian- who was paranoid somebody was out to get him.
So I waited in the bushes until that person came along, then jumped out and interrogated him.
He gave me an explanation, so I let him go and reported back to Brian that all was safe. Mission
accomplished… but then I looked it up online and it turned out the guy WAS out to kill him.
Apparently, his explanation was a load of rubbish and I felt kind of embarrassed for believing it.
So I panicked, and ran after him. It took a while of running in the direction he had walked off, but
I eventually found him casually walking down a dark country path whereupon I stabbed him to
death, avoiding future negative consequences of believing his lies, even though I hadn’t gone
about it officially through dialogue options. Modern levels of polish would have sealed your
fate the moment you made the choice to let him go. But not this game! This let me do what I wanted,
and to get away with it. It’s refreshing! And it transports me back to simpler times when games
weren’t so interested in balance and polish. I started this video comparing the game to
Morrowind, so I think it’s fitting to end it with that. I loved Morrowind. I played it for hundreds
of hours, and dreamed of what a sequel would be like. I frequented the elderscroll’s forums
for snippets of information about its sequel: Oblivion. I read endless posts about what may
or may not be featured in the game. I built up a picture of what I wanted from the game in my head.
The game we got… wasn’t that. It became something else that I ended up enjoying for its own merits.
But that game I wanted? The one with skillful combat, massive castle sieges and unglamorous
sex scenes? I finally got it, with Kingdom Come. It saddens me that younger Philip didn’t get to
play it as this game would have blown his mind. But even now, as an older, more critical, more…
bored kind of gamer, Kingdom Come has still been a hellelaoalot of fun.