Intro

In Kingdom Come you play Henry. His father is the blacksmith in a village he's never left. The village functions as a tutorial and introduction, after which it is attacked and you have to flee to another village and eventually a nearby city. At that point you are free to explore the world. And it is amazing.

The World

Kingdom Come has by far the most realistic-looking medieval world i've seen in a game. You travel on cobblestone roads and muddy makeshift paths. There seem to be enough farms to actually feed everyone who lives nearby. Buildings have amazing detail, right down to the stores of firewood, food and other supplies. Villages also have a realistic amount of craftsmen, guards, traders and other non-farmers. You can practically feel all the loving attention that went into creating it. But then you face your first enemy. And it is amazing

Combat

Combat is similar to Chivalry with multiple directions to attack from. Attacking and blocking drains your stamina forcing you to back off and catch your breath. The first time you fight a real enemy you'll probably get your ass kicked. But when you finally manage to win it is exhilarating. You swang, you blocked - you dodged, you backed off. You really earned that victory! Five minutes later you run into a guy with armour and he pounds you into a pulp. Oops.

It All Falls Apart

After this initial honeymoon period is over you start to see the cracks:

• Combat against multiple opponents is awful due to target locking.
• Repairing your equipment is beyond tedious.
• Your horse is a superpower allowing you to ignore all enemies.
• The economy is completely nonsensical, traders will buy endless amount of meat even if it's spoiled.
• There are only a handful of random encounters and the actors aren't even randomised. I've seen the exact same thief and victim dozens of times.
• Enemies either won't see you in broad daylight or will have no problem fighting you in pitch black darkness.
• Hunting is super-lame, you go to a spawn point and the game spawns X amount of animals. Right in front of you.
• Actors (enemies, guards on the road, bodies, etc.) will spawn and despawn if they get like a 100 meters away from you. Sometimes they despawn right in front of you.
• There are still bugs as well as really vague restrictions around what is legal.
• Actors get 'stuck' in certain behaviours. Someone saw me trespassing once and weeks later they still say "who goes there" in broad daylight when i'm not even nearby.
• Quest descriptions are often too vague or too reliant on waypoints.
• If you can't convince someone you can change your clothes right in front of them and suddenly they'll agree with you.

There are many other flaws that i don't remember but you get the idea. The game just isn't properly finished.

The Really Really Bad

Some gamers and developers have a fetish for games being "realistic" or "hardcore". Almost invariably this gets in the way of actually enjoying them. For instance, Fallout 4 had a hardcore mode that was awesome - except you had to download a mod to be able to save without sleeping. Bethesda went overboard there. And these devs went even further. Not only do you need a mod to save normally, you also need mods to fix getting dirty, lockpicking, herb picking, archery and... bushes.

Every time i encountered one of these i was reminded of [Cartman going on about rainbows][1]. Except here it's Warhorse and they hate bushes because they are completely impenetrable barriers that magically stop horses running into them at full speed. Huh?!

[1]:

The problem with Warhorse is that they not only force their ""realism"" on you, they went with the wrong kind of ""realism"". It doesn't make sense to have ""realistic"" item decay and reduce hunting to finding a spawn point. Both make the game worse. They should have spent the time used on the repair system to make hunting not incredibly lame.

The Really Really Really Really Bad

A month ago i wrote a joke review that was just the word Master Strike over and over. In Kingdom Come they have one of those awful blocking systems with a meter. You have to watch a certain point of the screen and press Block when it turns green to get a "perfect" block which doesn't reduce your stamina. And if you manage to block right when it is about to turn green you get a "Master Strike". A free, unblockable parry. This ruins the game.

There are no restrictions. Master Strikes don't depend on your or your enemy's stamina. Or on how much health you have. Or if you just got smacked in the head. Or on whether you are a trained warrior or a random peasant with a pitchfork. Everyone and their mother will Master Strike you. Constantly. Even the simpleton who fights with his fists. It is beyond frustrating and makes combat against multiple enemies even more unbearable.

The result is that combat, which is amazing one-on-one, turns into a cheesefest. You ride circles around the enemy and kill them with your bow (they never have horses). You spam the "kick" button to force the enemy against the fence and hit them once before kicking again. It's so bad that i honestly found it easier to just shoot enemies with my bow even on foot. Of course, they can't break your bow - only your armour, shield and sword.

Shame

It's such a damn shame. I still love this game but i also hate it. With a few tweaks this could have been like a realistic Skyrim. Now it's a semi-functional mess that comes with an extremely long disclaimer.

This medieval "RPG" is great to begin with. Everything falls into place. Story, characters, combat, environment. But as you get further into the main storyline and explore the world, you'll quickly see just how shallow and annoying it is to play. Don't buy this game full price, buy it cheap and see if it's for you. It wasn't for me so I uninstalled it.

Problems with KCD (bigger to smaller):

• It's not really an rpg, it all comes out to fighting in the end. You can't solve things by speaking 90% of the time, it usually ends up in a swordfight. Focus on speech and you'll be fucked in combat. Just go for strength and beat up everyone, that's what the game wants.

• The free roam is very limited as there are huge mountains (almost 90 degree angles on them) and impassable bushes (hard as rocks) EVERYWHERE you go.

• Loading screen, hit play game, loading screen, eat something, loading screen, wash your face, loading screen, speak to someone, loading screen

• Main storyline is good for a couple of missions until "Baptism of Fire" which is like the 5th or something story quest. It basically requires you to beat the entire game beforehand as you will fight countless of enemies and survive a huge battle. So you're essentially stuck doing sidequests.

• Very little saving, you can have hours of progress and die and you'll be right back where you started. That's enough to make some people uninstall. Just let us save wherever we want, or atleast autosave after completing missions. Yes, it doesn't even do that.

• Everyone is out to hurt you. Meet someone in a forest? They're gonna kill you. Fast travel? 3 ambushes on the road with 5 people wanting to kill you in each one. And you can't run or ride away as enemies are faster and have unlimited stamina and your horse is scared of enemies. So, being ambushed is a death sentence, unless you can somehow beat 5 people in combat.

• The combat is ridiculous, you can't hit anyone and they can't hit you. You can block everything, and enemies will block everything. Problem is that they seem to have infinite stamina so good luck. Never fight more than one person at a time since they will attack you at the same time. Oh and remember you can't run away.

• All quests are either pickpocketing, lockpicking, hunting or herb picking.

• Blue tint when you're out of stamina so you can't see shit

• Can't swim, seriously? It's 2018/19

• Guards magically removing all stolen items from your inventory, cool cool. Magic guards. Also remember to have a torch at night or you're literally a murderer.

And the game is riddled with bugs. It's been released for a long time and I expected more from the game. It has some creative good things and a very nice start but it all falls apart.

Kingdom Come is a perfect Case study for what is wrong with a lot of games nowadays. Is the game visually gorgeous? Hell yeah. Does it have an interesting setting? Yeah, there are not a lot of real medieval RPGs. Does it have unique mechanics? Sure. Is it "realistic"? I guess, kinda. But you know what it definitely isn't? FUN. And this is exactly the component that a lot of developers are kinda...forgetting?

Everything about this game feels like a slog. You have to feed your character every few hours, you have to sleep, you have to take a bath because otherwise people don't respect you (take note, gamers). Your character is absolutely useless, which again, is realistic, but it makes the experience not satisfying at all. And trust me, even though the combat wants to be realistic, it is one of the absolute WORST combats I've ever had the questionable joy to experience.

But you want to know, what the best thing is? Some blockhead of a developer thought that it would be a good idea to make saving COST A CONSUMABLE ITEM. I really want to meet that person and see for myself how they think (or not). Must be very fascinating. I don't want to know how often I lost a lot of progress because I got randomly ambushed by bandits that more or less left me without a chance.

This all ties into the whole idea of making games "difficult" HURR HURR because difficulty is so much more important than fun. I mean, life is full of constant joy and absolutely easy for everyone, so why not suffer in your limited free time as well, right?

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind games being hard or challenging. I'm a diehard fan of Soulsborne games. But there are LAYERS to difficulty. And a lot of games don't get that.

There is a difference if you make the combat difficult, but engaging. You know what most difficult games implement very well? That you can get back into the action almost immediately for that "just one more try" feeling. If you take away QoL features like SAVING or if your combat sucks so hard once you fight multiple enemies that your character is getting a literal seizure from the locking system switching every second between the enemies and you almost throw up from spinning 360 degrees all the time, guess what, the game is not really difficult, your design just sucks ass.

In summary, it is a shame. I was really looking forward to it, a friend of mine is a hardcore fan of the game and I love the medieval age. The game also has potential and it is definitely a unique game, but at the same time, it absolutely doesn't respect your time and it felt like a big chore 90% of times. There are way too many good games out there for me to waste any more time on Kingdom Come: Annoyance.

The first word that comes to mind? Magnificent. Kingdom Come: Deliverance delivers a cinematic experience reminiscent of The Witcher, with long, immersive cutscenes. But when it comes to gameplay, it’s closer to Gothic and Operation Flashpoint, offering open-ended objectives that require thought and adaptability.

The world doesn’t just exist—it reacts. Villagers aren’t passive NPCs; they’ll notice if you pick a lock, loiter near their homes, or even wander around at night without a torch (which, by the way, is illegal). The sense of realism is staggering.

Fighting in Kingdom Come is unlike most RPGs. Like Gothic, it relies on five attack angles, requiring you to read your opponent’s movements to block and counter. Enemies don’t blindly fight to the death—some will run if they know they’ve lost, leaving you with a choice: let them go or finish the job.

Looting also feels real. Kill a Cuman, and you don’t get a conveniently randomized sword—you get everything he wore, down to his bloodstained kaftan.

Problem-solving is where Kingdom Come truly shines. In one quest, I had to deal with two bandits hunting a witness. A direct fight ended in disaster. Picking them off one by one? Still too risky. So I took a different approach—tracked down their camp, killed one in his sleep, hid the body, and returned at night to take out the other. Underhanded? Maybe. But they were criminals.

The game also dabbles in detective work, L.A. Noire style, requiring you to gather clues and question witnesses—something I welcomed since, at that point, I was terrible at combat.

I got myself a dog, and he’s incredible. He fetches game I shoot (which would otherwise disappear into the underbrush) and can even take down a boar. But realism strikes again—hunting without permission makes the meat “stolen.” Fair enough.

Speaking of my dog, he also breaks the game in hilarious ways. Knights will sometimes challenge you to duels—tough fights. But unleash your dog, and suddenly, the knight is distracted, giving you free hits.

Lockpicking and pickpocketing are essential skills, especially if you work with the millers (think Thieves’ Guild). Combat, on the other hand? If you’re outnumbered, you’re in trouble. Even two enemies can be overwhelming—unless you strike first.

Perks work like Fallout’s traits, always giving a trade-off. Boost strength? Your speech suffers. Prefer wilderness buffs? You’ll struggle in towns. Since most bandits lurk in the wild, I prioritized survival.

Timed quests exist, but they’re subtle. Take too long to help the wounded in the monastery, and they’ll die. The game doesn’t hold your hand.

One minor annoyance—certain actions are mapped too close together. Press “E” to trade, but hold it too long, and you’re pickpocketing. “X” mounts your horse, but a long press sics your dog on a guard. One slip, and you’re in jail.

Winning the tourney was brutal—six consecutive fights, 15 minutes of real-time dueling. But once I mastered ripostes, I could whittle down opponents without taking damage.

Then the game flips the script. One moment, I’m leading an attack on a Cuman camp. The next, I’m infiltrating a monastery, waking up for morning prayers, and smuggling wine. The pacing shift was jarring, but my lockpicking and speech skills made it easier.

A surprise highlight? Copying books, which hilariously demonstrates how monks made their infamous transcription errors.

By the end, heavily armored foes made blunt weapons more effective than swords. I felt like Henry IV in The King, wielding a tiny hammer with nothing but determination.

One standout quest had me recruiting a mad scientist to build a trebuchet—only for an assassin to strike just when I thought the danger had passed.

Johanka’s storyline also took an unexpected turn—walking the land as a penitent pilgrim, culminating in a heresy trial. I didn’t get the best ending, but by then, I was ready to move on.

Then came the biggest twist. Sir Radzig had called me “my boy” throughout the game. Turns out, he meant it. And the nobility had known all along.

And just like that, it was over. Funny thing to say after 80 hours, but it never felt truly complete. One of the earliest quests was to retrieve my father’s sword and avenge my parents. But I never did.

Istvan, the Hungarian king’s enforcer, walks free. Instead of revenge, I set off with the arrogant noble Hans Capon to forge alliances for King Wenceslaus.

There’s still more to do—rebuilding a village, mercenary work, countless side quests. But for now, I’m done.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a masterfully crafted medieval journey—unforgiving, rewarding, and above all, authentic.

Disclaimer: I played this very recently, on a recent gen Xbox, meaning with all the patches and fixes that came with it, so I have zero input to add regarding the game’s original rocky release.

Amidst all the visual glitches, laggy cutscenes, crashes (which in turn raises questions about the save system choice), pop-in, texture filtering issues, bugged quests, hit box shenanigans, unbalanced gameplay systems, mechanical quirks and asset recycling, Kingdom Come: Deliverance rose to become the most enjoyable game I’ve played this year so far. I understand this might be a very weird statement to make given the barrage of problems I just mentioned, but the world WarHorse Studios were able to create is one of the most engaging ones I remember going through in a game, even with all its flaws.

I often hear the world realism to refer to KCD. I don’t quite agree. There’s nothing realistic about having to bathe that often in the middle ages, being allowed to eat off every pot you find regardless of who it belongs to, being unable to set up camp, not being capable of working on weapon combos on your own, reading a whole book in a couple hours, being drowned in facial animation stiffness and model repetition, carrying tons of armour and weapons at the same time, being unable to match other characters’ walking pace, or going through a healthy dose of inconsistencies - be it the world not reacting as it should to actions/events, poor sense of permanence, or heavily pre-rendered cutscenes that don’t match your character choices. But on the flip side of the coin, WarHorse’s 3D open world medieval RPG does more than enough to bring about a sense of believability into its world that we rarely get to experience in gaming. And that, to me, is more impressive than whatever we consider ‘realism’ to be in a game.

The best way to illustrate this, I feel, is by means of a small topographic example. At an early point throughout your adventure, you’re tasked with finding charcoal burners. With both the insane amount of historical info accessible via the Codex (which is fantastic if you’re into that kind of stuff) and the useful hints NPCs give you, you’re easily able to discern that you’ll typically find them near water. Now if you’re not playing in Hardcore mode, you can use the general location point the game plumps on your map. But you can also start following the water. If you follow it long enough, you might come across charcoal burners, or at least NPCs who are likely to point you in the right direction. But you may also find an irrigated canal which, if followed, will possibly lead you to a water contraption turning a mill whose building you can enter. And if you do, you’ll find an accurate mechanism, fully functional, whose parts all work together to power the mill.

A lot of KCD is like this, and makes you feel like you’re in an actual lived in world. If someone’s job is to carry water, you’ll see them carrying water into town all morning, then maybe waffle about at the local tavern playing dice. The day/night cycle feels like an actual day/night cycle, a sensation I very, very rarely get from a game. Villages are near-perfectly depicted in terms of scale and layout. In fact, the world itself is much the same way: it’s not as big as it first seems, but it sells that illusion of scale better than, I think, any other game world I’ve been in so far. In quests, you’re rewarded for paying attention to your surroundings. In fact, some quests demand that attention from you. The bohemian countryside comes alive with its breathtakingly scenic vistas and random events that can happen along your travels and exist regardless of you. These are but a few examples that imprint such a sense of - I know, an overused word, but it really applies here - immersion into your playthrough that you can’t help but naturally engage with and want to spend time in it, talking to everyone, exploring everything it has to offer. This, to me, is KCD’s biggest selling point.

Hand-in-hand with this goes the game’s sense of progression, which again, reaches incredible, rarely seen heights. At its core, KCD is the quintessential anti-hero game when you pit it against the usual ‘saviour of the world’ tropes we see in sword-and-board RPGs. When the game starts, you’re irrelevant; you’re a nobody who excels at absolutely nothing. You don’t even know how to read, as naturally befits the medieval son of a blacksmith. As time goes on however, and you practice hard, you become decent at certain things. Given enough time and practice, you can even become pretty good at several of them. Want to learn how to read? Find someone to teach you and get to work. Want to brew remedies and poisons? Learn how to work an alchemy bench, and get to make potion after potion. Want to become a better thief? You’re gonna spend a ton of time refining your pickpocket and lockpicking skills. Want to get better outcomes when talking to people? Work on your speech and charisma. Dress better. Want to hunt? There’s no cursor to help here, so grab a bow and keep at it, over and over. Want to become proficient at combat? You know the drill: meet up with Bernard and get practicing. Your progress is directly informed by how much effort you put into it, and I’m convinced the complexity (and even some of the mechanical jank) of the systems you need to engage with in order to do so is very intentional. As time goes by though, everything becomes a bit easier, more manageable and accessible. Given enough practice and interaction, you can come to a feeling of command over your skills.

Combat illustrates this better than anything else in KCD, and I think its divisive nature justifies its own spotlight. In the beginning, you can barely even handle a common, low-life, poorly-equipped bandit. That is, of course, because Henry’s not a warrior, he’s a lowborn who hasn’t held a proper sword for longer than 5 minutes up until that point. So you practice and practice, and eventually start to overcome the complexity of the combat system. You do have to come to terms with some of its clunkiness and uniqueness, but once you do, the game opens up to become an almost different experience, and quasi-transcendental in the way that, for example, 1v3 fights immerse you. You need skills, and you need gear, but winning the first fight where you’re clearly outnumbered is a special feeling. Blows feel properly impactful - the sound design is incredible throughout the entire game, and combat is no exception -, parrying feels great, and the surrender system (one of my personal favourite mechanics in a game) is implemented in a balanced way that adds something meaningful to the whole thing. I ended up loving the combat in KCD, which considering I started off by strongly disliking it, was quite the turnaround. The one thing that should’ve been done (much) better is the lock-on system, which is sadly more frustrating than useful. Also, I’m somewhat disappointed that the epic sense we were told to expect from large-scale battles wasn’t quite there in the finished product, simply because those battles aren’t that large-scale to begin with, not to mention the lack of moment-to-moment continuity.

Another thing I’d like to dedicate its own paragraph to is the quest design. These are the best, most interesting and varied quests I remember coming across aside from the ones in The Witcher 3. The main story, a captivating, well-written, encompassing tale of revenge (one that starts off wonderfully via a long, narrative-establishing intro, but nevertheless ends a bit abruptly, clearly setting up a sequel), is littered with interesting moments, different things to do and diverse challenges to overcome. Not all of it is perfect of course, but WarHorse did questing a lot better than many that came before them. This crosses over to the side quests, in fact even more so, although sometimes, it’s hard to figure out which is which, since you are frequently offered different ways to solve a particular situation. Battle, infiltration, scouting, debauchery (KCD easily features the best drinking binges in gaming), piousness, investigation, these and more are relevant aspects of the breath of quests you have at your disposal, and they all import a sense of intensity that feels different in flavour but similar in impact from one quest to the next. Excellent stuff overall.

There’s a lot more I want to praise KCD for, and I’d have a lot to say about each of those individual pieces of praise. But for the sake of brevity, I’ll try to condense them. Unlike so many other RPGs, perks are actually useful and original, and go a long way towards influencing your build, being acquired in a very natural and gradual manner by exposure/training. Most DLC is great: it is varied, engaging and offers some meaningful experiences to either add perspective or activities to your adventure. The fast travelling system is great, because of the random events that can trigger. You can get bump into pilgrims, beggars, bandits, factions fighting each other, get ambushed, conned, or simply end up with a pleasant interaction. You can choose to evade, fight, scout, ignore, etc. It gives a nice flavour to the fast travelling mechanic (which can only be used outside of Hardcore mode) and I wish more games incorporated this. From effects to music, the soundscape is simply amazing and perfectly fitting, and my only criticism here is that there aren’t enough tracks considering the size of the game for it to not feel repetitive at some point. Finally, the map design is likely the best I’ve ever seen. It has a beautiful medieval hand-drawn feel and a dual layer to it, since you have the overall map and you can also zoom in on cities. It’s visually stunning.

I absolutely loved my playthrough of Kingdom Come: Deliverance. At times, I became truly obsessed with it, to the point where I couldn’t stop playing when I had to. The things it does so well elevate it above its range of problems with ease. There’s an analogue feel to this game that gives it a lot of charm, and there’s also a somewhat obvious Elder Scrolls parallel do draw here: it’s easy to look at the menus and think Oblivion; it’s natural to start playing and realise right off the bat it gives you a lot of things you mod into Skyrim. But at the same time, KCD is its very own beast, bringing a layer of believability and a breath of fresh air into its world and quests that has rarely been seen in the medium. Its biggest hurdle is getting the insane amount of moving parts working properly at all times. This isn’t fully achieved, not really. In fact, it isn’t even partly achieved every now and then. But when it nails it, truly nails it, you almost feel like you are physically in a different time, in a different world, living a different life. That’s what I primarily play games for, and for that alone, I have little doubt Kingdom Come: Deliverance will easily become one of the most memorable gaming experiences I’ll ever have. 9.5/10

I've wanted to play all the greatest games of all time, and I still do, but I've pushed through too many games that aren't clicking with me. My experience with this one: Started the game, saw all the systems, thought what it was trying to do was cool, enjoyed the narrative. But the simulator and survival elements I was not enjoying, and I don't like it when games add features that prioritize realism over enjoyment. I beat the first chapter/prologue of the game, then accidentally started a DLC. I could not leave the DLC, and I'm not a fan of playing as another character in a game where half the enjoyment is accumulating experience and value in your character(imagine in Skyrim if in a DLC you had to play as a new character and nothing carried over between the two for that DLC).

I played a few hours of the DLC, going through the annoying sluggish combat, having to navigate whatever systems I could get my hands on, and then realized that this just wasn't clicking. I was in the forest trying to find 10 plants, still not sure how long the DLC was or how I could get back to the main game, and couldn't find any after searching for an hour. I'm giving up, which is a shame as I'm sure KCD and its sequel do some great things, but sometimes a streamlined rpg is preferable to a more realistic one.

When I rank my GOTY of 2025 I will be excluding both KCD and DS2. Both games lack the engagement I need to be worth my time(at least their prequels do, which I see as required to play their sequels). These games both do some really cool things, and maybe I'll try again someday, but for now I'm leaving them on the shelf.

7/10 (Game does cool things but just not for me)

I'm finally done with Kingdom Come Deliverance, and although the 80+ hours of playtime I've racked up could easily be doubled if I did more side quests, achievement hunting, and not to mention the DLC, I still feel I've had more than my full share.

I feel like I've lived an entire life in this game sometimes, it's an RPG like no other I've played. It's a heavy, slow, and immersive journey through what is now the Czech Republic. For a lot of people, the realism will be more of a burden than a point of enjoyment, but if you enjoy the detail and the way of life in the 15th century then this will be a real treat. The ambient music, the architecture, the clothing, the landscapes, it's all done so authentically. Walking through the villages and interiors in-game really reminded me of those living museums you find in places where they build authentic huts, the details are that good.

I enjoyed the story, it went in strange and unexpected directions at times and you really feel like you're on this wild adventure where one interaction naturally leads to the next and so on. You get to know a small group of regular characters quite well, and as a result you learn the map too. It's relatively small with a few hidden surprises if you go out looking for it, generally you hop between settlements and everything feels nicely spaced out.

One of the things that really caught me out whilst completing quests was how paying attention, listening, and then acting without guidance really is important if you want to do certain quests properly. Quest markers don't hold your hand, if a character tells you to talk to someone else before heading to the objective then that's completely on you and if you don't do it there's usually a consequence and you lose out. This kind of thing happens all the time and it gave this awesome feeling where you feel more engaged and involved with whatever it is you're doing compared to others games.

Combat is where a lot of people start to drop the game, it's punishing and unforgiving in groups, but that's the direction they wanted to go. Combat is never meant to be a walk in the park. Thankfully there are a ton of other skills to get involved in, whether that's speech, stealth, alcohol, herbalism, archery, horse riding, etc.

There's no doubt this game has it's own distinct identity and feel, even in the few months I've been playing it already has a nostalgic quality to it during loading screens and when ambient music is playing. It's an instant classic, but not without it's cumbersome moments and slow gameplay. It'll really land for some, but others I'm afraid will be left feeling quite hungry!

I love Medieval History, and this game was a feast for the eyes. The graphical beauty and atmosphere in Kingdom Come: Deliverance are remarkable. I’ve read a lot of criticism against the CryEngine, yet I was pleasantly surprised. The hues of the sky at sunrise and sunset, the lush vegetation, muddy trails, horse droppings, and debris—these small details truly enhance the immersive experience of Bohemia’s countryside.

I watched a few historical analyses by Thiago Braga, a Brazilian historian specializing in the History of War, and I believe KCD received the highest praise he has ever given to a game of this type. He analyzed the fencing techniques, swords, armor, and even the opening scene where Henry and his blacksmith father craft a sword.

That said, while the historical accuracy of many aspects of the game was its highlight and one of the key reasons I rated it highly, there were some oddities. I really enjoyed the combat system but found it somewhat challenging for a video game. I think they could have preserved the historical accuracy and movement mechanics while making the execution of attacks more intuitive. Performing moves and defending felt overly complicated—maybe I’m just a poor player, but I believe there are better ways to make the process more comprehensible.

The way quests interact with the story is also interesting, as your actions impact various aspects of the narrative. However, it can be confusing at times. For example, near the end of the game, I needed help from a priest. My options were the old priest from Skalitz, another priest in the forest I had to locate, or Father Godwin. For reasons I couldn’t recall, Godwin no longer liked me due to the outcome of a previous quest, and the old Skalitz priest didn’t allow dialogue anymore—my only option with him was theft, rendering him unusable for the quest. The result? I couldn’t fulfill the optional objective.

I skipped several quests, mainly because some were just about earning money (e.g., stealing objects). However, through combat and looting, I managed to amass plenty of armor pieces during battles throughout the story, which I could sell to the armor merchant. By the end of the game, I had over 20,000 groschen, and I’m a casual player. Hardcore players likely made even more fortune through other means in the game.

Here are some improvements I’d suggest for the next installment:

• Simplify combat mechanics without compromising historical accuracy.
• Fix bugs and issues that arise during certain quests.
• Improve the fast travel system, which feels awkward.

All in all, despite its quirks—technical and execution-related—it’s evident there’s room for improvement. However, as far as I know, this game was made by a smaller studio, so honestly, their work was fantastic. I’m excited to see how the next installment turns out.

I was never big into medieval games. They're usually fantasy affairs, and I can take or leave them. Kingdom Come got my attention for being a realistic medieval game based on Bohemian history. I was still a little worried cause I heard the difficulty was on the hard side and the save points were limited. But, with the Royal edition on sale, I took the plunge. This game is either peaks and valleys. One moment it's knocking out of the park, the next second it's shitting the bed. Still, it got the things I enjoy most about games right.

To start with the combat. The basic controls are easy to learn, hard to master, so combat is actually fun. Well, it's the most fun when you're having a duel with another swordsman, two at most. For realism's sake, you are gonna have a hard time trying to take down 5 armed bandits all by yourself. Unfair fights are a downer in this game, but most of the time you have an easy out to not get in the fight, that is riding off. Again, with realism in mind, the combat has been based off of HEMA fighting styles, which translates into "you can swing at the head, both arms, or both sides of the waist." It kinda reminds me of the combat style that's used in Mount'n'Blade. As you get better at fighting you can learn some combos too, like half swording. The only problem is I'm a staunch sword and shield fighter, and you can't do any of the sword combos if you have a shield. You can also do perfect blocks or dodges that can help you get an edge on a tougher opponent. And while I stuck with sword & shield like an unimaginative dolt, there is a decent spread of medieval weapons; maces, hammers, axes, and longer swords. There's also pikes and spears, but they act more like heavy weapons that you pick up but aren't in your inventory.

I carried a bow and arrows around with me, but I'll be damned if I ever used it. Again, for the realism... you don't have any type of aiming reticle, instead you have to use the tip of the arrow. I couldn't hit the broadside of a barn with an arrow. I only successfully killed one bandit with the bow.

As mentioned, it's not in your best interest to charge into a gaggle of enemies. There's actually a neat progression to combat efficiency I went on. I started off with nothing more than a thick wool sweater for armor and a woodsman ax, I didn't wander too far from the city for fear of death. I now get the real fear that medieval people had of the woods. After I got a little money and looted some bandits, I had a respectable sword and I looked more like a medieval version of a Roman Legionary. I wasn't as terrified to leave the starter city and wander the map. And at last, I got decked out in a full suit of plate armor like a proper knight. Even still, you aren't invincible. I was ambushed by some peasant bandits and foolishly thought I could take them, but it was dark, I had limited mobility, and they had greater numbers. I got my ass handed to me.

I usually don't go for the tanky knight build in games, but it's a necessity here. For the realism, armor actually functions like armor. You can't go slicing through plate with a sword like it's hot butter. That's another fun thing to combat, hearing the sword smacks on your armor and not taking any damage from them.

You also have a dog companion, that I learned was part of a DLC add-on, not the base game. I would've been screwed without him. There were plenty of fights, especially early on, where that mutt pulled my fat out of the fire. The dog has a whole system that goes into training it and keeping it fed.

When not fighting you're traveling, and this is a low point of the game. Trying to travel anywhere by horse is a laborious effort. For once, this isn't because of realism, but the budget. When running through the woods, your horse gets stuck on every little thing from bushes to downed logs. Those bushes are the worst, because some you can go through, some are concrete barricades. Maybe the reasoning is your knight doesn't want to scratch up his fancy armor. Your horse also seems incapable of walking over creek beds. They aren't even that steep of banks, but once your horse is in a creek, it'll stay there till you find a place to ford. You also can't swim across deep water. I could get why your character, Henry, maybe can't swim, but I feel if you were on your horse you could ford the rivers at any point.

And the final part of this RPG's systems is the dialogue tree of course. It's a standard system, much like the Witcher in appearance. You can upgrade your speech skill and, in a neat twist, you can also be more persuasive in conversations if you are dressed like a fine noble or more threatening in your plate armor. Out of context, my favorite dialogue choice was "Blame the French". Honestly, the speech skills are great, the only thing I would add is a social stealth aspect. Lots of the baddies wear armor that includes fully enclosed helmets, it would be neat to sneak into camps if you're in their armor. There is one mission where that works, and I'm not 100% sure, but I think I avoided a Cuman ambush party thanks to wearing their armor.

The voice actors range from good to ...eh. Henry and most of the main cast is well voice acted, and there's enough actors that you don't get the Fallout 3 problem of hearing the same 4 voices over and over, but you do notice a few repeats. Some VAs sound like they put on a fake voice for some characters, like sounding artificially gravelly or like a blustering fat guy.

As mentioned by others, the save system in this game is a bit draconic. You can only save at owned beds or if you drink an expensive alcohol that you don't find a lot of. It also saves at the start and end of quests. I can get they want you to really treat decisions with real thought and I did think harder on choices and treated Henry like a real person, not just a character who can die and respawn. Still I would've preferred a little more lenient save system, maybe an auto save at every hour of play? If you are just out bandit killing or exploring and get bum rushed by five armed Cumans who kill you, you just lost umpteen hours of progress and that's not "living with your choices" that's just bullshit.

Kingdom Come is also a bit of a survival simulator. You have to manage your sleep and food intake. You also have to keep armor, weapons, and clothing repaired and it wouldn't hurt to take a bath every now and then. I get everyone back then didn't bathe as much as we do nowadays, but I think your armor gets dirty way too quick. There's also certain laws you have to follow in towns. I punched a horse for shits and giggles and got 10 days in jail. One of the more annoying rules is you must have a torch at night. It's annoying for two reasons. One, equiping a torch unequips your shield and you have to go into the inventory to reequip the shield, and two it seems like that rule only applies to half the population, as plenty of NPCs wander around with no torches and the guards don't harass them.

The last bad thing I'll harp on is some of the glitches and bugs. I get this was a budget game, actually being Kickstarter funded I learned later on, but it was rough at some points. On a lesser end, the game's draw distance is very short and texture load in is slow. It took me out of the game when cutscenes were acted out by Play Dough versions of the characters. If you ride through town too fast, the game can't load quick enough and you'll see disembodied heads floating around. Clipping is also an issue too with more extravagant armors or clothes. It kinda give this game a bit of an older feel, like an old CRPG. That along with the steeper difficulty does make this feel like a medieval game from the old school of thought.

Bigger issues that got on my nerves involve the shops and music. When I would go into the trade menu, my character model wouldn't load and so I couldn't buy anything or move to the sell tab. I would have to go in and out of the trade menu sometimes 5 times before the shop would function properly. The music would also randomly cut out after a few hours of play, almost like I reached the end of the soundtrack and had to turn the tape over. The only way to get the music back was to close the game and start it up again.

I did really enjoy the musical score of KCD. It was a traditional, big orchestral affair which made the big battles even more glorious. There's also some more hurdy gurdy, medievaly tunes that play during travelling and the monastery has some Gregorian chants to enhance it. Granted, sometimes I didn't notice the music was gone during the gameplay because the lack of music added to the realism Warhorse Studio obviously strove for.

I missed the music most during all the loading screens, and boy does this game love loading screens. Half of your gameplay is spent staring at loading screens. Again, this is a budget game so I get they had to make concessions, but I feel the game could've been better optimized. Just washing your face or eating from a pot can lead to a long loading screen. Fast traveling takes awhile, but that's because you can be ambushed on the way.

The world map is a good size, not too big, not too small. There's really only two big cities on the map and they're both in the south of the map, and that has it's issues. They are the only ones with swordsmiths & armorsmiths, who sell armor and have the most money to buy any loot you collect. It means if you're in the NE corner of the map, you have to fast travel all the way down and hope you don't get ambushed. You are in a part of Bohemia that seems a bit like the backwaters. The lords you hang with are lower level ones, and the cities while big are more like large towns, and most of the villages are just collections of mud huts. I know it's above their budget, but I would've loved to have at least one real big, impressive city to see that side of medieval life.

Finally the story and characters, this is where the game shines. You play as Henry from Skalitz, a blacksmith's son who is a bit of a bum. He goes through a transformative journey, but he stays a likeable buffoon throughout. Henry's also a man of the time, which I appreciate as one of my pet peeves is "historic character with too modern ideas'. What starts off his journey is his father's finest crafted sword being stolen and everyone in his village gets brutally murdered, well most of them. He escapes to the nearby lordship's castle and starts his revenge quest. I don't know much about medieval history, but as a peasant, Henry gets a little lippy with the lords that I'm pretty sure he should've been hanged real quick, course a plot twist later may explain why. He follows the trail of the bandits and uncovers a conspiracy of a Hungarian noble to create a bandit army. Through the adventure you get to experience medieval warfare, seige tactics, and even a Monk simulator for a while. It is neat to sort of see all these aspects of medieval life from peasant to holy man.

Henry comes across some interesting characters in his travels, a drunken preacher & spoiled noble brat. Henry can court the local mill maid, since his fiance is dead in Skalitz. Their dates feel sorta genuine and it's kinda charming sweet to watch their love blossom. He also spends lots of time helping the three lords of the realm. Those three together are like the three stooges. This game does have some humorous moments, more than I expected. Henry's general buffoonery is good for a few laughs, and the three lords play well off each other, Hanush is the butt of most jokes. And with the lords they have their captains of the guards. Both Bernard and Robard are memorable as grumpy old men.

Trusting this game is historically accurate which I believe it is for the most part. I learned a lot about the Medieval period that you don't see in other medias. Usually nobles are aloof assholes, but the ones here act more like governors. Yes, they do get special treatment and are in charge, but piss off the commoners too much and you get a pitchfork in your gut. Really, my impression of medieval life is that everyone is part of a corporation at all times. The peasants do their job and have to suck up to their bosses, the nobles and the nobles have to make sure the company stays profitable.

You also see how much an impact Christianity, and the Church, had on daily life. Usually in games, it seems to me at least, that any time Christianity is a focus it's usually unflattering. The main character is too cool for religion or has to snark about it. Here, we see people who are devout Christians, but they are also a little fed up with the Church's excessive wealth. One of the DLCs involves a visit by the Inquisition. According to the history presented by Warhorse, the Inquisition has a bad rap it doesn't totally deserve.

Okay, so the ending of the game, and as such I'll use the new spoiler hider feature. The Hungarian noble, Istvan Toth, who stole your family's sword has taken over the castle of Lord Divish of Talmberg. After laying seige, he agrees to give Divish his castle and wife back along with Sir Radzig, who it turns out is your real father, hence why Henry got to become a peasant knight. In return the Lords let Toth go and he rides off with your sword. So, a bitter sweet ending. I'm okay with unsastifying endings, like here it's to illustarte the world doesn't revolve around Henry. He isn't able to get the item that is the focus of his revenge ride and that's just life.

Now, the inciting incident was King Sigismund & his Cumans sacking Skalitz, but honestly after the middle of the game when you kill the original bandit who took your sword, the scary Cumans kinda become story irrelevant. It's not till the epilogue that Sigsmund becomes the main focus again. A big wig noble shows up asking for help from the three nobles against Sigismund. They agree and Hans, your spiritual brother who is the spoiled noble who's started to learn responsibility, volunteers to take the letter to another influential lord with a huge castle. You ride off into the sunset, and if Warhorse is lucky into the next sequel.

All in all, again peaks and valleys. The story & characters are engaging and there's lots of great swelling scores accompanying impressive moments, but there's also the issues with traversal and texture pop-in. Still if you are a medieval history buff, or just a history buff in general like me. I recommend this game and I hope the likely sequel will now have the financial backing to really knock it out of the park.