As I sit down with Tobias Stolz-Zwilling, the PR Manager of Warhorse Studios, to take my first hands-on look at Kingdom Come: Deliverance II at PAX West 2024, rattling metal interrupts our introductions. A man dressed head-to-toe in authentic German plate armor passes by, one of the booth attendees taking a break from photo ops. When he does, Tobias smirks at me from behind a truly impressive beard, raises an eyebrow, and mouths “watch this.” A moment later, he juts to the armor-clad man and produces a foam dagger. The costumed warrior attempts to parry with his own blade, but Tobias is too quick, and the soft tip of the dagger finds its way into his armpit; right at the weak point of the armor.
Historical Authenticity, Not Accuracy
A laugh later, and Tobias returns, eager to introduce Kingdom Come: Deliverance II to me. Though I feel like he’d already done so with a lethal stab and genuine camaraderie. “So, you’ve played Kingdom Come: Deliverance before, no?” he says with his charming German accent and another smirk. Before I answer, he points the foam dagger at me, “After all, I’d hate to have to use this.”
After confirming that I had, and expressing my deep appreciation for the historical accuracy of the first game, his smile widens. “Oh ho!” He exclaims. “A historian! Then you’ll appreciate this, friend: everything that you enjoyed in the first KCD? We’ve improved it. And then we improved it again. But, you get one thing wrong: we are not historically accurate – we are historically authentic.”
I ask him to elaborate, and he does. “Historically accuracy – how I think of it, anyway – is simulation. We are not doing a simulation. We are making a game, and a game has to be fun. We think that historical authenticity is a part of that.” He pulls up an image on the screen, showing 3 pillars. Roughly paraphrased, they amount to Historical Authenticity, Epic Drama, and Realistic Combat. He explains how Kingdom Come: Deliverance II aims to fulfill all three.
Its historical authenticity has been improved, with new, deeper systems for everything from economics to herbalism. The epic drama of Henry of Skalitz has been improved, as now that Henry has a larger role in the Kingdom of Bohemia, he also deals with more dire stakes, more dramatic people, and longer scripts (Tobias confirmed for me that Kingdom Come: Deliverance II’s script is, in fact, a whopping 2.2 million words long). And the realistic combat has been improved due to even more realism and accuracy being put into the game’s many weapons, and the animations with which they are wielded.
With all that in mind, Tobias finished his introduction by summing up his thoughts on the sequel: “Kingdom Come: Deliverance was a fantastic game. But it was a game of limitations – more so than most games. We were a scrappy team, and we had to cut some of our vision to make the game a reality. But, with more than 6 million units sold, now we are able to do all everything that we couldn’t do before. And so, in that way, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is always the game we wanted to make.”
Tobias concludes his speech and gives me some context: I will be playing through a side-quest about 30 hours into the 80+ hour game, set in the gigantic city of Kuttenberg. I’ll once again be inhabiting Henry, the blacksmith’s-son-turned-knight from the first game.
Playing a Game of Swords
Immediately, I’m thrust into a conversation with a German man who, as it turns out, is actually a German “schwertmeister” (which does just translate to “swordmaster”), brought in by the King to start a new guild for swordsmanship in the city. But, with the King currently hostaged elsewhere, the German is left stranded, and in constant tension with the more established, local swordfighting guild.
Even in a side quest, even so deep in the game, even dealing with side characters, KCD2 is already showing its depth: I’m presented with a complex situation that interacts heavily with the game’s plot and world, introduced to characters that are rich and varied, and given choices to make immediately (ones which will have consequences on the quest’s progression).
Somehow, Henry’s conversation with the German goes in the direction of a small, friendly skirmish, and I’m given a chance to once again witness Kingdom Come: Deliverance’s glorious combat. I was expecting a harsh curve – one thing I remember about the original was that combat took some getting used to, and it’s jank and heft was hard to adjust to for the first few hours. Instead, I immediately took off.
I wouldn’t describe combat in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II as faster or smoother than the first – it is still “Authentic” to real combat – but its weight and power feels more deliberate, more practical, and more visceral. The strikes land just a bit better. The parries flow into counterattacks just a bit more evenly. Suiting Henry’s training, I feel more confident. And, likewise, the enemy AI feels more dynamic in response. What I tasted of swordplay made me feel much less like a backpedal-prone fledgling, and much more like a fully armed warrior.
While I fight, Tobias lets me know something interesting: while the sword fighting should feel roughly the same (albeit improved), other weapons will feel even more fun, even more authentic, and even more varied. That is because an increased budget has allowed Warhorse Studios to invest in unique animations for each weapon category, created through direct communication with weaponsmasters of each type. One of many ways in which the increased size of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II has allowed Warhorse to deliver a more epic, more historical, and more enjoyable experience.
After besting the German swordmaster, the quest continued. A confrontation between him and the Kuttenberg’s pre-established swordsman Guild showed off the increased robustness of the dialogue skill system (powered by those aforementioned 2.2 million words).
The chance to steal that same Guild’s masterwork sword showed off the massivity of the city, as well as the stealth and crime mechanics, which are similar to the previous game.
And then, in the final confrontation of the quest, I was shown that my actions have consequences: because I was caught stealing the Guild’s sword the previous day, they were awarded with hauberks and helmets, while my side was forced to fight with only the most basic of padded armor.
Thankfully, being the master swordsman that I am (thanks to many dozens of hours of practice in the first game, and thanks to this second game’s more controlled combat), I was able to best my foes anyway, but it certainly made for more a challenge, something reflective of the highly reactive systems of quests and storytelling that seem to be on display in KCD2.
I’m Ready to Return to Medieval Bohemia
As I bested my final opponent for the final time in that duel, I was left satisfied. Not just because I’d beaten that dastardly enemy guild and helped my new German master become recognized in the city as such, but also because everything about Kingdom Come: Deliverance II just feels right. It feels, like Tobias said, exactly like the game the first entry in the series wanted to be.
As Tobias returned, and asked, “So, how was it?” I was able to truly reply that he was right about the three pillars. In just a tiny snippet of the full game – side content, many hours into the game – Kingdom Come: Deliverance II was able to not only match, but fully exceed Kingdom Come: Deliverance in every way (and that’s high praise). The historical authenticity breathes a special kind of medieval life into the gameplay, the focus on epic drama shows even in such a brief segment, and the gameplay is smoother and more enjoyable than ever before.
Going in, I suspected I’d like KCD2. I even suspected that I’d like it more than the first game. What I didn’t expect was such a fully manifested experience. If the entire game has this level of care, polish, and attention to detail as the quest I played – and I suspect it will – then Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is a strong contender for being the best RPG releasing in 2025. We will have to wait and see, but for now? Well, it was summed up by my last interaction with Tobias, at the end of my time with the game:
“I bet you wish you could play more,” He says, knowing it to be true. “I know I do, friend, even though I already get to every day.”
Yes I do, Tobias. Yes I do.
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Graves
Graves is an avid writer, web designer, and gamer, with more ideas than he could hope to achieve in a lifetime. But, armed with a mug of coffee and an overactive imagination, he'll try. When he isn't working on a creative project, he is painting miniatures, reading cheesy sci-fi novels, or making music.
