Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Review
I wasn’t sure how to feel about a sequel to Kingdom Come: Deliverance. The first game delivered on the “novelty” of a massive, open Elder Scrolls-esque game about realistic medieval times: no magic, no dragons, and characters based on real people who lived in the 1300s. But though it was an impressive effort for Warhorse Studios’ first game, its ambition sometimes overreached in its simulation of a harsh reality with obtuse, janky systems and an unwillingness to help the player get initiated into intentionally unfriendly environs. For Round 2, the developers made a few tweaks in all the right places, and it made all the difference as they deliver on the promise of their original premise in the fantastic Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.
Henry of Skalitz is back for more adventures in Bohemia (which is in modern-day Czechia), and things are looking up for him as the story begins. Whereas Henry started out completely on his own after his parents were killed by raiders in KC:D, he’s now in the company of his liege, Hans Capon, Lord of Pirkstein. As part of the draw to the first game was figuring out how to survive in a medieval world starting with barely anything, I wasn’t sure how a sequel where Henry is established would feel. I was in luck (though Henry wasn’t), as Kingdom Come: Deliverance II quickly strips him of his life of “luxury” down to not even the clothes on his back. Still, he has his connections. He just needs to find a way to get back without a horse or any means to contact them.
King Wenceslas (not the good king from the Christmas carol, but his less impressive son) has been imprisoned by the usurper ruler of Hungary, King Sigismund. That makes it an unstable time in Bohemia, where marauders roam and make the countryside unsafe. Henry’s loyalty is to Wenceslas, and moreover, fighting the invaders might get him a step closer to his goal of vengeance against the people who murdered his family. He makes sometimes surprising alliances with groups sharing similar aims as he seeks his revenge. Henry’s existence in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is getting into one madcap mishap after another due to being the only one with the ability and lowly status as a commoner to carry out unlikely schemes devised by others. The intrigue is thrilling, as are the hijinks involved along the way.
Henry’s journeys take him from grandiose, large-scale battles dodging catapult attack and pushing over siege ladders to close-quarter brawls in dingy basements. He serves wine to royalty and stakes out seedy pubs. Even if you stick to the main quest, a variety of sordid and strange tasks await. If you venture off the beaten path, the plethora of side quests takes you on even weirder adventures. The main story is a grand drama, but there’s loads to explore in two massive regions. I barely scratched the surface of all there is to do in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II and it took me over 100 hours to reach the credits. There were still sidequests I hadn’t even started. There’s no question about the value here, and what I saw was enticing.
Surviving in Bohemia is a little easier this time around, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is all the better for it. KC:D (for all its ambition) wasn’t particularly accessible, throwing one unfamiliar, obtuse system after another at hapless players. To a degree, it made sense as a survival game starring an average Joe character who only gets into the grand game out of necessity. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II doesn’t hold your hand by any stretch, but it does fine-tune things and immediately point you in the correct direction to get initiated. You’re also free to wander off if you like.
Chiefly, the unique combat system from KC:D hasn’t been abandoned but rather slightly adjusted. In the first game, it took getting a decent amount of experience to become capable. In Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, you complete a thorough tutorial early on. It’s still unusual but more manageable than before. Being successful at combat requires learning how to maneuver around enemies’ defenses while managing your stamina. The biggest improvement in this installment is parrying and reposting, which are easier with visual prompts that flag when to hit the appropriate buttons with almost rhythmic timing. Combat is more streamlined and intuitive without feeling too simplified or any less dangerous. You feel like you’ve accomplished something once you feel confident enough to slice up bandits with relative ease. It still takes time to get Henry into fighting shape, but once I did that and found him a proper weapon, combat went from something I tried to avoid in KC:D to something I looked forward to in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. If I have one complaint, it’s that combat handles a lot better when it’s one-on-one. It doesn’t feel made for fighting many enemies at once, which you often do. I played Kingdom Come: Deliverance II with a controller, and in combat, it’s pretty sharp, which is excellent considering how important preciseness is.
Combat is far from the only activity you’ll be engaged in. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II wants you to take the time to get well-acquainted with every aspect. Though the lead character’s name is Henry, it may as well be Jack, because you have to become experienced in all trades to succeed in quests. There are many scenarios where you must sneak, and it’s more involved than just crouching. It extends to how you dress and learning stealthy takedowns, which are more than walking behind a target and pressing a button. Crafting requires more than selecting items from your inventory to mix. If you get into smithing, although it’s probably not as demanding as honing a blade would be in real life, you get a small taste of how much work it may require. You have to learn to follow recipes and boil potions for the proper amount of time if you want to get into alchemy. Though demanding, the variety of tasks you undertake in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II makes it engaging.
The company Henry keeps also significantly improves Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. KC:D was lonelier, with Henry often petitioning for help from powerful figures while mostly fending for himself. Here, he’s in the company of some outlandish friends with nicknames like the Dry Devil, who was somewhat terrifyingly a real person. In Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, Henry develops friendships with a substantial cast, but perhaps most significantly, a heartwarming, budding bromance with Hans. Even if you haven’t played the first game, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II gets you caught up on everything while still integrating Henry’s past into the story mix. While the first game is a fascinating experience, this is easily the better entry point into Bohemia.
That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s great for everyone. I can’t emphasize enough how much the survival aspect of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is integral. Daily necessities like searching for food (because Henry needs to eat regularly) and lodging (because he needs to sleep daily) took up a non-insignificant portion of time. To me, this only enhanced the experience, emphasizing Henry’s often desperate situations. And the early struggles only make it more satisfying when you’ve managed to procure food and housing security from the fruits of your labors later on. But I could see how some might prefer to more quickly get to the meat of the story rather than having to find the meat for Henry to eat.
There are graphical hiccups, though nothing too egregious for a game of this magnitude. The biggest issue is characters (especially Henry) having trouble navigating the geometry of landscapes. It’s hilarious when you manage to get Henry stuck on top of a tall object as you’re entering into a conversation with Henry looking down at the other person in the close-ups. Another sore point from KC:D is the generally misogynistic environment, and the frat-boyish attitudes can still be overbearing in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. Granted, it’s easy to judge people’s behavior in the past from a modern perspective. But if hearing the phrase “booze and wenches” repeatedly sounds grating, it’s gonna be an irritating journey. Also, Baldur’s Gate III may have spoiled me, but for all the freedom Kingdom Come: Deliverance II allows, there are a few situations in the main story that shoehorn you into doing things a specific way; my solutions were sometimes too creative without an explanation why they didn’t work.
Visually, KC:D was incredible for its time seven years ago, and the overhaul for Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is similarly impressive. Characters’ facial expressions and movements are smooth and realistic. The thing that got me the most was the eerie stillness of walking through the woods or grassy fields, occasionally interrupted by bloody violence so raw and unstylized that it made me wonder if that’s how battle might have actually felt. Sound is also impressive on all fronts. Tracks featuring medieval instruments draw you into quieter moments. More epic background music mixes with the clash of metal and horns signaling troops in large battle segments. Voice acting is solid across the board, though the standout to me was Douglas Russell’s raspy performance that convinced me the Dry Devil likely lives up to his nasty reputation. The decision to use English accents in stories originally written in other languages always puzzles me. Though I hold by that here, the use of a variety of accents from the British Isles emphasizes the lack of homogeneity in the Bohemian region, which is portrayed as a crossroads of Eastern Europe.
In terms of living up to lofty promises based on Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Warhorse Studios absolutely nailed it for Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. The bonkers story, fantastic characters, and the right improvements to combat carry the day, but the more mundane tasks like smithing and alchemy make for an impressive and fascinating representation of what daily life may have been like during a specific point in history. There are endless adventures here to dig into, and even though it requires a significant investment of time, for those bold enough to brave it, it’s time well spent. Long live Warhorse Studios!
