Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Preview (PS5)
As I wandered back to the site of a herbwoman’s hut, whose help a couple of hours ago saved me from death, I was beset by a feeling of comfort and safety. That is, until I slept in the same bed at the hut the night prior, only for the herbalist’s relative to scold me, and demand I pay a fee for my unscrupulous behaviour. As a brazen, charismatic knight, I of course try to talk my way out of the situation. I fail. I refuse to pay, she promptly runs miles through the wilderness to find a guard. The guard runs all the way to me (I slept in the correct bed), forces me to cough up the fine, and confiscates a save potion I’d stolen from a bandit earlier.
If one interaction could sum up the type of experience an immersive medieval knight simulator could provide, I reckon this would be a decent one to choose. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is a sprawling world of interconnected NPC lives, quests and ludicrously complex RPG systems. I’ve spent roughly 10 hours with the game for this preview and if the first title was a wannabe knight losing his footing, the sequel is so far showing that age and experience can make a stoic swordsman out of any peasant.
While I liked the original’s ambition and willingness to forgo hand-holding in favour of a more realistic, immersive recreation of Bohemia, the opening was slow and the countless amount of learning felt overwhelming, to say the least. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II stays true to the spirit that the original was attempting to capture – it’s brutal, unforgiving and occasionally obtuse. However, my first few hours with this entry were far more engrossing, thanks to some great storytelling, interesting quests and smoother onboarding.
As the initial hours whisked by, I found myself getting absorbed into blacksmithing, haggling with traders, stumbling into village disputes, witnessing fights and even doing a semi-decent job of sword-fighting with bandits and poachers. I won’t say anything about the quests themselves, as the writing for even side quests is generally superb. What I will say is that they’re layered, deep and involve careful consideration if you want to achieve a certain outcome.
Henry’s journal will only tell you so much and, in true immersive sim fashion, I discovered you really do need to pay attention to the dialogue here. Objectives can be completed in multiple fashions, including skipping talking to certain NPCs or getting yourself caught up in a crime while trying to finish a task. A missed detail might mean you sentence a poor heathen to a hanging when they’re falsely accused, or cause a fracas that will lower your reputation among a town.
It’s a lot to take in, especially coming from the usual design of most AAA games, where mistakes or lack of attention won’t really punish you. For fans of the original game, the quest design and immersive nature seem to be maintained, only with apparently a more dizzying array of content. The time slipped by in a heartbeat, and I’ve barely progressed the main story at all. Warhorse Studios has encapsulated that open-world RPG never-ending feeling, as going to do one quest will have you open up seven more as you get further distracted from your original goal.
So far, the decision-making stakes have appeared significant, and I’m constantly discovering myself mulling over my next journey or task. If this is just what the first few hours hold, I’m very excited to see what the rest of the game has in store.
As expected, Henry of Skalitz returns to continue his hunt for vengeance and ascent into true knighthood… though not if my fumbling idiocy continues with him. Henry is a bit more seasoned this time around, reflected in slightly better stats and his ability to communicate. So far, I’ve been able to improve a host of skills, not least of all speech and combat. The skill pages are familiar from the first game, only with an almost endless appearance to them. You begin once again relatively weak, underpowered and lacking in most basic skills (Henry is still a lowly peasant, after all), so engaging in the game’s various busywork like smithing or having fruitful conversations slowly increases his proficiency with them.
I really struggled with the first entry’s over-burdened pages, skill descriptions and the snail-like pace of progression. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II gets things going much more quickly, thankfully. Within a couple of hours, I’d brewed some potions, smithed a horseshoe, axe and sword, talked down an assailant from hurting a villager, brawled with a group of thugs and met a host of skill teachers. My Henry of 10 hours is significantly improved and he’s barely scratched the surface of what’s seemingly on offer. That’s to say, I’ve not even used a bow yet and I most definitely should do soon, those targets ain’t gonna hit themselves.
Story wise, the opening salvo has some strong moments. I’ve been roped in quickly to the quest Henry finds himself on. Characters make a return from the first entry, like Sir Hans, with the banter back and forth between them working well. Warhorse Studios’ strictness for keeping things historically accurate works with much of the voicing of the main cast, but some of the NPCs have… questionable chops, to say the least. It’s a mixed bag, but it does kind of work for the setting of ancient medieval times. If nothing else, it’s hilarious hearing a drunk huntsman curse you for dropping him on his arse when he’s throwing up.
So far, that’s been the main takeaway from my preview experience – the little interactions, stories and tales I’ve created. The time a bandit pleaded for help reading a map, but was so aggressive in doing so I told him to do one, then snuck up behind him, knocked him out, stole the map and legged it. Or, when a guard hounded me for walking around a town semi-naked, as I’d forgotten to equip my usual attire after sleeping. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II feels like a bigger step up in the immersive fantasy thus far. With almost a dozen hours battled, bartered and bantered away, I’m champing at the bit to see what other hilarious or unfortunate situations I can cause Henry to be caught up in.
If you’ve been watching the trailers for the sequel and hoping that Warhorse Studios and Deep Silver would make the game easier or more instantly accessible in their bigger budget effort, you’ll be disappointed. While the sandbox has been expanded and the content well runs deep, this is the same core vision as the original. You can still only save when sleeping, using a specific potion, or exiting the game. Combat is still very intricate and skill-dependent, while the mini-games still require learning, practice and most of all – patience.
I’ve been killed dozens of times in my ventures, assaulted by wolves at just the wrong moments, come unstuck against rogue bandits when carrying enough Groschen to make me cry, the works. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is still at its heart, a true authentic RPG where you occupy the role of a person, not the Doomslayer. Hop into a group of enemies and you’ll be carved into chunks quicker than tomatoes being hurled at you in the gallows. It’s a tough game, one that’s at times frustrating, but only because you must play by its rules.
Clearly, there’s a lot more game for me to play, and whether these frustrations start to take their toll over a more extended playtime remains to be seen. So far, though, my frustration has matched that of Henry’s. I want to be better, stronger, quicker, more competent, but that’s not how the world works, nor how people work. I see the frustration so far as a good sign that the fundamentals of the game are well-constructed and robust. I haven’t felt deterred from moving forward, but I have a constant awareness that I’m not a superhuman tank. It’s a welcome change of typical pace, even if the adjustment is as smooth as sandpaper.
Having seen the trailers and screenshots for Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, it’d be understandable to expect this is going to be a visual treat of a title. From the little of the world I’ve had the pleasure of exploring up to now, I can safely confirm those expectations. The year 1403 has never looked quite so alive with fresh graves, hangings, piles of dung and flies abound. I jest, but in truth, this may be one the most impressive recreations of a bygone age I’ve seen. Travelling the countryside often had me stopping to take in the views of rolling hills, lush fauna and buzzing villages.
There’s something about visiting a town and getting a peek into the lives of the NPCs that’s just so appealing. Knowing you can go rogue at any time and the game can adapt to it only adds to the realistic feel and gives a stronger sense of attraction to the immersion. There’s still so much I haven’t seen and yet I’ve already been very impressed with what I have got to experience. Character models and animations have been improved from the first game and Henry especially looks almost life-like in places.
All of which has left me with a wonderful first impression of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. It’s shaping up to be exactly what a sequel should be – an improved, upgraded and expanded version of the original concept’s vision. While changes have been implemented, they’re incremental and designed to enhance the experience rather than detract from it. It does mean that if you didn’t get on with the first game, you’re unlikely to feel any differently this time around. For fans of 1400s Bohemia and its immaculate recreation of old-age medieval life, however, the first 10 hours have done nothing but excite me at the opportunities that lie ahead.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II will be available on February 4th on PlayStation 5 (preview platform), PC and Xbox Series S/X.
Developer: Warhorse Studios
Publisher: Deep Silver
Disclaimer: In order to complete this preview, we were provided with a promotional preview build of the game.
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