Czech developer Warhorse Studios is the epitome of quality over quantity, taking about six years to release its first game in Kingdom Come: Deliverance. But boy was it worth the wait. To call it historical Skyrim is by no means an insult, but it is still underselling it, as great a combination as that sounds.
After such a resounding success critically and commercially, many including myself have been left wondering what the studio has been up to since. Well, taking another six years about for its next game apparently (you can't call them inconsistent!). And yep, Warhorse is returning to the well and working on Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, which will release sometime this year.
Though part of me would be curious to see what else the studio could do, it's not like there's a wealth of competition in the historical RPG space (not a single one comes to mind), so sure, I say bring on another (and some more great DLC while we're at it - Band of Bastards was everything DLC should be).
Top 7 things we want in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
The only problem with determining what Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 could do better than its forebear is it had so much going for it, there's not a ton of room to go from there. Nevertheless, I managed to come up with a handful.
7. More accessible combat
The very first Witcher game saw a lot of complaints about its combat, and lo and behold, once CD Projekt made it more accessible in its sequels, the franchise took off (the dramatically better engine and graphics surely helped as well, among other things). I certainly don't want Warhorse to dumb theirs down with Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (or least not much), as the realism is part of what makes the game so unique. Rather, I'd like to see it made a bit more approachable at first. One way they could do this is decreasing the overall difficulty but rewarding players with higher skill. For example, main story missions could have fewer or easier enemies on the whole, but side missions could feature more fearsome foes (the Final Fantasy approach, if you will) and/or more of them. But the actual combat could be a tad more forgiving and responsive, too.
From what we've heard so far, it will be more accessible, but exactly how remains to be seen. If nothing else, the addition of firearms should help (more on that below), as you won't have to be up close (or at least less often).
6. Graphics
Kingdom Come: Deliverance was no slouch in the graphics department by any means, but it wasn't extremely consistent. Landscapes made my jaw drop - I've never come closer to feeling like I was actually standing a field in the 15th century before (or any field for that matter), but the rest of the game just looked fine.
With its first game out of the way and more experience (and cash) under its belt (with the same CryEngine), Warhorse could truly wow prospective players much the way Larian Studios did with Baldur's Gate 3 and bring in a massive audience.
So far it's definitely a step up, but getting our hands on it will be the real test.
5. More great simulation content
One of the things I appreciate most about Kingdom Come: Deliverance was the section that had you living the life of a 15th century monk. And not in any kind of game-y way — you were just a full-blown monk from sun up to sun down, and it was exactly as boring as history would tell you. (I've never been more convinced I'm not cut out for monk life.) Part of me was falling asleep during, but a much bigger part loved that Warhorse was doing something I'd never seen before and giving me a direct taste of something I'd never be able to experience otherwise.
Related: Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 brings back everything you love and adds guns just in case
More content like this that gives you a full-on replication of a unique period-sensitive lifestyle would be very welcome indeed; perhaps a guard, cook, or farmer section would be in order, just to name a few options (or hell, all three).
(Side note: I would not mind in the least if Warhorse fully embraced the simulation genre in future titles.)
4. A Dog Companion
Henry's dog was minorly featured in Kingdom Come: Deliverance, but there was no option to have him tag along with Henry for the long haul (Theresa could adopt a different dog in a short DLC, but that's it). There will be one in the sequel too, but it's not clear if he'll be a proper companion. Personally, I'd love to see full on pet perks and possibly equipment, as well as perks for Henry that synergize with the pet, and commands that let you tell him what to do (both in and out of combat). They could even get really specific with it and let you sic the dog on specific limbs while you aim for the face, for example.
3. Guns
Okay, so I didn't know I wanted this until I saw it in the reveal, but now I have so I do. I'm told early firearms like the ones we've seen in early footage were more like hand cannons (in a very literal sense), and so far it certainly looks (and sounds) that way. There's a part of me that wants to combine stealth with guns, but given it sounds any shot could blow clean through a barn door, that's probably not on the table. Reloading looks to be a slow and painful experience and you'll likely be heavily limited on ammo to balance things out, but it'll be well worth it to blow a band of Cumans straight to hell.
2. Improved stealth
I was in the minority of players with the first game who didn't actually have much of a problem with the combat because I pretty much ignored it by committing to stealth. And while some of the most fun I've had in games was sneaking around in the woods and luring bandits to their doom by knife after whistling to my horse (bless janky mechanics) or poisoning their food, there is room for improvement.
For example, the AI could be a touch aggressive or inconsistent at times, taking too long to reduce their alert status or noticing you too easily to be much fun, so cleaning that up some would definitely help. Additionally, there was really only one set of stealth gear in the game, so more on that front would add to the experience. In terms of weapons, I'm no history buff so this may not appropriate for KCD2's setting, but caltrops and any tools that allow for distraction would make for more diverse and fun gameplay.
1. Performance
If I could fix one thing in the sequel, it's this. Performance was always the game's biggest weakness, dropping to around 40 frames per second with some stuttering depending on your settings and hardware and what area you were in (as is typical for RPGs, towns during daytime struggled the most). You could drop some settings for a better experience, but with a game this beautiful, that's a damn shame. If Warhorse manages a better optimized title this time around, it's going to be that much harder to stop playing.
Want more medieval games coverage? Check out the 5 most historically accurate video games right here on Pro Game Guides.
Published: Apr 19, 2024 01:08 pm