#Assessment: Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 – Destructoid

Nearly precisely seven years in the past, Czech developer Warhorse Studios launched the unique Kingdom Come: Deliverance. It was the studio’s first venture and aimed to be half open-world RPG, half medieval life simulator. An bold endeavor, however one which Warhorse Studio proved very able to pulling off.

With the sequel, Warhorse Studios has basically doubled down on each side of Kingdom Come: Deliverance refining the core programs that made the unique nice whereas additionally including some new ones as effectively.

Let’s be actual, in case you have been a fan of the unique, you most likely simply need extra KCD. And Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is precisely that, after which some. Lots of the points within the authentic sport have been addressed. And because of this, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is a very exceptional open-world RPG.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (PC [reviewed], PS5, Xbox Sequence X|S)
Developer: Warhorse Studios
Writer: Deep Silver
Launched: February 4, 2025
MSRP: $69.99

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 continues the story of Henry of Skalitz, the protagonist you play as within the authentic. Issues decide up shortly after the occasions of the primary sport, following Henry as a extra skilled warrior on a quest for vengeance towards Sir Markvart von Aulitz, the antagonist of KCD chargeable for burning down Henry’s village and murdering his household.

Taking part in as Henry this time round is analogous, but additionally very a lot completely different. He’s now not simply the son of a blacksmith making an attempt to be taught the ropes as he goes. He’s now a full-fledged knight, despatched on an essential quest together with Sir Hans Capon of Rattay—Henry’s greatest good friend within the authentic KCD—to ship a message to Otto von Bergow. The search goes awry, the pair loses the essential message. This units up the primary a part of the sport the place you should roam the Trotsky area of the Kingdom of Bohemia whereas looking for a option to full this quest.

The area of Trotsky is very large, with numerous villages and castles scattered all through, related by dust roads that wind by dense forests and muddy rivers and streams. It’s a fantastic area very like the map you discover within the authentic sport. However afterward, you’ll acquire entry to Kuttenburg, a wholly separate area centered across the large metropolis that performed a pivotal position within the early Fifteenth century as a consequence of its silver mines.

Each areas are peppered with dozens of aspect quests that not solely offer you methods to stage up, purchase some loot, and earn some Groschen (cash), but additionally flesh out the immersive world of KCD2. Every bit of dialogue is totally voiced acted, and options maybe the perfect voice performing ever in a sport. Significantly, I want each sport had the standard of voice performing that KCD2 has. Have you ever ever been enjoying a sport the place the response from an NPC catches you off guard, however then you definitely go, “Really, I may see somebody saying that in the event that they have been actually on this scenario!” Effectively, that’s each line of dialogue in KCD2. It takes the immersion a step additional, which you’ll discover is a standard theme all through the complete sport. Realism.

Talking of the world, it’s completely beautiful. I’m enjoying on PC, on an AMD 7700X CPU and an AMD RX 7900 XT GPU with FSR, and for probably the most half, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 runs as clean as butter performance-wise. It’s very spectacular simply how good the sport appears visually, and whereas I keep in mind the unique having a ton of efficiency points, at the very least early on, that’s not the case. There are some minor FPS drops right here and there round Kuttenburg, however that’s about it.

After all, now we have to speak in regards to the elephant within the room: bugs. Should you’ve performed a large open-world sport earlier than, you realize bugs are merely a part of the bundle. When you could have a lot occurring without delay, issues are certain to interrupt sometimes, and break they do. Many of the bugs I’ve encountered in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 have been very minor; actually, some added some additional attraction and even welcome comedian reduction, like one I saved experiencing the place my horse would for no matter purpose persistently attempt to flip and run in on itself. It doesn’t matter what path I’d flip or look, as quickly as I’d attempt to transfer ahead it might snap round in direction of itself and proceed doing so. This was a fast repair; soar off the horse and again on.

Nonetheless, I additionally encountered some bugs that have been fairly annoying, primarily as a consequence of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2‘s finicky Saviour Schnapps save system. It’s the identical as the primary sport, which means you solely save once you sleep in a mattress or devour a restricted consumable known as Saviour Schnapps. You additionally get one single “Exit Save” that happens each time you exit the sport. I get why Warhorse Studios chooses to deal with saves this fashion; it provides to the realism by stopping save scumming, particularly when your decisions imply a lot.

However it may be fairly annoying once you’re traversing by a protracted quest solely to have your character clip right into a random doodad like a wagon and get caught, unable to maneuver. Or once you interact in fight with a number of enemies solely to clip into one and get caught in a perpetually unending rotation of the digicam because it tries to tug your physique out of theirs whereas the enemies proceed to carve you up till you die and should reload and lose some progress.

There are quite a bit fewer bugs in KCD2 in comparison with what the unique launched with, and within the few weeks I’ve had entry to the evaluation construct of the sport, Warhorse Studios has launched a number of patches fixing tons of bugs. Like I mentioned, in a massively open-world sport like this, it’d be foolish to not count on some bugs. And for probably the most half, I didn’t encounter something too game-breaking, solely variable ranges of annoying.

I wasn’t too far into KCD2 after I had considerably of an epiphany. I had encountered a gaggle of Cumans, which Henry has come to hate seeing as they have been chargeable for destroying the village wherein he grew up and killing his household. After talking with the chief of the group, I began to vary my view on the scenario somewhat bit. As he defined it, he was simply making an attempt to get by himself, serving a lord and doing what he was ordered to do. He was very blunt and direct about every part, whereas additionally having a comical tone. A really entertaining character, to say the least.

Not lengthy after, I used to be with the Cumans at their camp, getting fully drunk, and sharing tales. Seems that this group very effectively may have been a part of the group that attacked Henry’s village again within the authentic. After many drinks, Henry and the Cuman stumbled their method into the woods, the place the chief finally tripped and handed out, fully wasted. Curious, I appeared on the Cuman mendacity on the bottom to see if the sport would let me loot him whereas he was drunk. I may, after all, however extra apparently, I had the choice to homicide him.

This revelation is what triggered my epiphany: a sport like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is one I usually dreamed of current after I was rising up watching a ton of medieval-time films and TV reveals. One the place you get to truly make selections, and have full management over your decisions, proper or unsuitable. To assist drive this level house, I really feel it’s essential to notice that this wasn’t some primary quest choice or something like that. It was a aspect exercise amongst many all through KCD2, and I’m fairly positive another person may play by the complete sport and never even encounter this group of Cumans or should make this alternative. A real open-world RPG in each method.

If the open world is half of the system for Kingdom Come: Deliverance, fight in that open world is the opposite half. The same but refined model of fight system is at play within the sequel, as soon as once more that includes a crosshair-style indicator over your enemy when engaged in fight. The indicator has been considerably simplified; as a substitute of a star-like indicator with 5 factors, the underside two factors have been merged into one. Because of this you continue to have the left, proper, and overhead stances of holding your weapon, however the backside alternative now symbolizes a stab or thrusting assault together with your weapon.

You’ll spend a lot of the early sport enjoying a form of affected person sport of rock paper scissors, usually ready to your opponent to assault first, so you possibly can block it, then following up with a counter-attack on the aspect they left unprotected. It’s just like the unique, but additionally way more fluid. Assaults together with your weapons reply instantly the place they join with their goal, fairly than seeming like a timed animation going by the motions. And far of the foremost combat-assisted programs from the unique are nonetheless right here. For instance, a profitable block from a defend will see that defend take some put on and tear, with picket shields splintering and breaking over time.

It’s such a satisfying and rewarding fight system, and I feel the choice to make it largely just like that within the authentic was a sensible choice. In any case, we’re enjoying a extra skilled fighter this time round with a extra educated Henry, and with all of the enhancements to the fight system, it naturally feels that method.

There are some new weapons as effectively together with one in every of my favorites, the Crossbow. I wasn’t a fan of the bow in KCD, most likely as a result of I sucked with it. However in KCD2, the Crossbow feels much more correct and efficient. You continue to should account for uhh… bolt drop, after all, nevertheless it feels as if you would focus totally on utilizing the Crossbow and have respectable outcomes with it. I selected to make use of it alongside an axe and the occasional longsword, because the fight model is so completely different with every weapon that it was enjoyable to modify it up sometimes and get higher with quite a lot of weapon varieties.

Talking of which, alongside simply practising and getting higher at fight, there are two different main methods to enhance your fight prowess. First, there are a number of fight specialists all through the world which you can go to to coach with. Doing so will unlock new combos and expertise that you need to use in fight, a few of which actually change issues up.

You’ll additionally improve your talent stage with every weapon kind and acquire Perk Factors as you utilize that weapon kind. There are six fight expertise in complete: Warfare, Swords, Heavy Weapons, Polearms, Unarmed, and Marksmanship. Every fight talent has over a dozen perks you possibly can be taught for them that make you higher at that particular kind of fight. For instance, Polearms have a perk known as First Strike that makes your first assault in each combat with a Polearm weapon 35% stronger. The Heavy Weapons fight talent alternatively options perks like Shieldbreaker that make your heavy weapon assaults tougher for opponents to dam as a defend, in addition to will increase the injury you do to shields together with your heavy weapon assaults.

Fight expertise aren’t the one expertise with perks in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, nonetheless. There are expertise and perks for Thievery, Survival, Stealth Scholarship, Houndmaster, Horsemanship, Consuming (yep, consuming), Craftsmanship, and Alchemy. Talking of which, Alchemy and Blacksmithing have their very own new and extra intricate programs.

For Alchemy, you possibly can accumulate herbs and different supplies earlier than visiting an Alchemy Bench and concocting numerous potions and elixirs. It’s a fairly complicated system, with most recipes requiring you to make use of a sure liquid as a base, after which convey it to a boil over a pot earlier than including a certain quantity of elements and boiling it for a particular period of time. The higher high quality supplies you utilize and the nearer you’re to the precise boil time, the higher high quality the potion you make shall be.

Blacksmithing isn’t as complicated as Alchemy, however is a enjoyable and truthfully stress-free reprieve from gallivanting round Bohemia. When you’ve gathered the mandatory supplies for the recipe—oftentimes numerous metals—you possibly can head to an anvil and start the Blacksmithing course of. First, you’ll should warmth the metals over a furnace, bringing the metals to a vivid yellow glow. Then, you progress the metallic to an anvil earlier than shaping it together with your hammer. The objective is to unfold out the place you hit the metallic together with your hammer, although it may be tough to do with none form of indicator of the place your hammer swing goes to land. I truly made a very good little bit of Groschen all through my playthrough by heading to the anvil in between quests and blacksmithing what I may with the supplies I discovered.

General, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 exceeded my expectations in each method. Henry has cemented himself as one in every of my favourite sport characters, and the world of Fifteenth-century Bohemia that the builders have crafted will definitely be one I’ll at all times keep in mind. Many video games as of late proclaim to have a residing respiratory world filled with decisions that matter, however few truly do. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 provides you that full of life and immersive world filled with decisions after which implores you to make the unsuitable ones, and it’s a hell of an expertise due to it.

Whereas Kingdom Come: Deliverance was a stable title worthy of being known as an incredible open-world RPG, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 basically redefines what it means to be an incredible open-world RPG. It’s a type of worlds you not solely wish to inform your pals about, however you wish to watch them discover it as effectively. I’m so torn on what I wish to see Warhorse Studios do sooner or later. On one hand, I’d like to see what such a proficient studio can do with one other setting. On the opposite, they’re absolute masterminds at crafting such an immersive and real looking early Fifteenth-century medieval world that I simply need extra of it. The 12 months simply began so it’s too early to be speaking about GOTY, however for me, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is already on the very least a contender.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}