In all one’s years of investing in open-world RPGs, I’ve come to the willing conclusion that there exists two camps of people who end up enjoying said formula. People that enjoy them for what the game shows them – world structure, quest design, emergent mechanics – and people that enjoy them for how said game makes them feel and thereafter. How strongly the concept of serving a desired role or archetype impacts their method of play-style. How those very systems and means of dynamism in a reactive world affect their perception of such. But as polarizing as these two camps may sound at a glance, the one aspect either group often credits a hefty chunk of their enjoyment from is in the stand-alone moments.
For every 50/75/100-plus hour trek across a world that may be fantastical, apocalyptic or elsewhere divorced from our own, one’s experience is lifted by those fond few hours. Moments you can point to that best exemplify why such a game resonates so strongly. Playing throughKingdom Come: Deliverance II, I’m reminded of those snapshot instances from favored RPGs of the past. Brief, seemingly-insignificant segments that were not only reflective, but exemplary of the kind of ideals that all open-world games should aspire to bear.
One for the Ages
It’s been a while since an RPG has had me act and react accordingly to even the most minute of details. To find myself actually planning the route taken to the next story objective. The next undiscovered settlement as shown by one’s current map, the next quest marker as designated by its corresponding key area, as opposed to some NPC to engage with. Taking into account what risks, dangers and other unknown characteristics may lie in wait. It’s only because developer Warhorse Studios' sequel – similar in many ways to the 2018 original – is so dense with dynamic systems and emergent interactions that feel organic in their placement, that these experiences initially emerge. Warhorse would’ve garnered plenty of respect for just how deep and broad with customization its level progression is here.
See Related:Kingdom Come Deliverance II - Interactive Map
WithKingdom Come: Deliverance II, the Czech team’s commitment to crafting as reactive an open-world as this only elevates the sequel further still. From its most major of deliveries to even the most minute of glances, Warhorse’s follow-up to their cult medieval fantasy, while not without a momentary technical blemish or two, very much feels like a mission statement (what the original should’ve been) well-and-truly-fulfilled.Deliverance II, through music, artistry, technical foundation, cast performance and player-dictated progression, has emerged as one of the most absorbing, fulfilling and fascinating RPGs of the last decade.
A Tailor-Made Experience
Obvious this might have been, it’s still surprising just how liberal and hands-off the game remains in allowing players to tailor a version of main protagonist, Henry, to whatever play-style you gravitate towards. To be able to so easily sink into one’s favored role on playing the more investigative, occasionally silver-tongued diplomat – with a much-needed secondary back-up in stealth and survival instincts should the need arise – and be greeted with little push-back. Very little punishment because of one’s lesser investment in, say, weapon handling or spending all of one’s time on alchemy.
Granted,Deliverance IIdoes still govern player progression through core traits like strength, vitality and stamina on top of a “main level,” but the deepening of stats into more secondary, nuanced traits, means that players can genuinely branch out into one of numerous archetypes. A master scholar, alchemist, survivalist – all with their own respective benefits and drawbacks to consider. Even during the more combat-centric moments – story-focused or otherwise – for players who may predominantly or fully ignore building up one’s skills in this department,Deliverance IIstill provides just enough wiggle room for these situations to result in victory, if players are still smart enough.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II’s Engrossing Vision Could See it Land as One of 2025’s Best
Building off the foundation of the original, KCD2’s defiant but system-rich opening, has already landed it easy billing for potential GOTY material.
On that subject, combat inDeliverance IIfeels a touch more lenient this time compared to its predecessor. From its clearer prompts on-screen for when best to guard/riposte, to an improved dodge ability, combat may still wind up anything but a flawless experience, but it’s arguably the clearest indication of Warhorse listening to player feedback while still maintaining the core of a system that admittedly was (and will likely remain) incredibly divisive in its implementation. And while not without some momentary frustration, be it off-screen enemies getting free hits on you or a targeting system that occasionally acts against the player rather than in service of it, combat nonetheless remains a satisfying system to get right.
Against Overwhelming Odds
Particularly during those most extreme scenarios – when you can inadvertently and unluckily find yourself in, for instance, a 1v7 scenario against a group of foes. And through sheer will, patience and deft maneuvering to wind up triumphing against such odds. Combat isn’t something you can rush into and pray spamming buttons will see you through. But for those willing to take it slower and more methodically in where one swings their weapons, it’s an incredible feeling to get right. Even before you gain access to Master Strike maneuvers, which serve as an additional way to turn the tables via clever wit and perfect timing.
But even if you’re someone who would prefer to keep engagements like this to their bare minimum, combat remains far from the most crucial and domineering of gameplay segments. Thus allowing the sequel’s other qualities to potentially take center stage, one of which will no doubt be the open-world itself. How Warhorse so brilliantly marry their technical and artistic capabilities in crafting a world of many a dense woodland and sprawling country-field punctuated by winding roads and settlements alike. Better still, in service of quests – story-crucial or otherwise – Warhorse is able to even subvert the very surroundings. At times recontextualizing potentially already-discovered locales in the service of a major story beat.
A True Art on Emergence
One instance around the close of the first-third: of having trudged through a rocky region in the Eastern parts of the first map and gotten a competent lay out of the region much earlier on to then find said region reused for a nighttime story objective requiring a much more stealth-orientated and calculated approach to the very same area. Made even more perilous by the fact my character was being actively hunted, let alone that I’d rendered myself over-encumbered by loot I was adamant in keeping hold of.
From its most major of deliveries to even the most minute of glances, Warhorse’s follow-up to their cult medieval fantasy, while not without a momentary technical blemish or two, very much feels like a mission statement (what the original should’ve been) well-and-truly-fulfilled.
These are the kinds of deceptive set-pieces inDeliverance IIthat will be fondly remembered. Moments that may well be a consequence of that amalgamation of the game’s own deliberate construction, together with one’s own voluntary decisions (I could’ve so easily rid myself of that aforementioned loot to make things easier), but much like combat, whose elation and relief through victory, end up way more meaningful. Like the original,Deliverance IIcan be surprisingly vague and elusive when it comes to deducing how best to proceed with an objective. Which is no bad thing, as it means players are required to not just dig a little deeper – should they want to go about completing a quest in anything but the most blatant or “easiest” way already described – but actually stop and think of any potential ramifications any and all decisions might impart.
Opportunities to fulfill optional requirements, or simply the fact that plenty of untold truths or details lie in wait for players to discover, be that through a skill/speech check or otherwise. Over and over again, I was astounded at both the length and depth to which even the seemingly “minor” side quests would eventually reveal themselves. A seemingly-simple task of forging two pairs of horseshoes for a town’s inn, eventually spiraling into the hunting down of a missing girl – a girl with her own hefty dilemma to resolve.
Satisfaction Guaranteed
You could ramble on for ages as to how each one of these activities is so effective in their construction, but broadly speaking, Warhorse deliver way beyond expectations in crafting a series of quests that aren’t just scripted interestingly enough on the gameplay front, but make great use of an open-world such as this to place emphasis on player freedom and the liberty of how extensively one wants to tackle a given dilemma. And again, the euphoria felt when one’s tactics go according to plan are some of the most satisfying moments I’ve had in any RPG in a long while.
Would it sound crazy if I were to remark that aiding a nobleman find his lost brother, freeing a captive prisoner right under an enemy camp’s nose – watching as me and the freed NPC sprint for our dear lives shortly thereafter – or (no seriously, this is a thing) something like stealing an entire horde of sausages for a thieves' guild, brought with it such immense relief at playing things not just the broadly victorious way, but my preferred way. There’s simply so much on offer away from the mandatory requirements that are the main objectives to find inKingdom Come: Deliverance IIto the point you can almost lose track of the fact this is a game set in a world burdened by feudal politics.
Review: Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Visually, technically and mechanically sound its foundation is, Kingdom Come: Deliverance’s performance is an unruly and occasionally unpredictable beast.
Instead, transforming the “tale” if you will into that of a leisurely stroll on horseback across Bohemian country to admire the views or an avid gambler’s tour of every Inn in the pursuit of spending too much time indulging in one game of Dice after another. Not for the first time do I find myself wrestling with the possibility that you could write an entire standalone article on not even a hundredth of the total content. In this case, Kingdom Come’s Dice mini-game once more making its return. An activity that only the likes of a studio such as Ryu Ga Gotoku can match when it comes to delivering on mini-games of wicked, moreish depth.
Systems Atop Systems
That level of depth is perhaps the one aspect that is most remarkable to find throughout such a large swathe ofDeliverance II. A kind of depth that, were it entirely absent or non-existent, would in actuality do little to tarnish the impressive high quality. But to find Warhorse dedicating the time to fleshing out these seemingly insignificant moments shows just how rich with ideas the team have gotten here. The fast-travel mechanic, of all things, is complete with its own integration of dynamic events. In that most classic of role-playing formats, presenting a scenario and asking you to respond accordingly: ignore, attempt to pass it by or halt one’s travels to investigate. Again, a simple idea that results in many a time when even going about fast-travel becomes an action to consider from the very off.
So unlike the vast majority of time spent with the game, it’s no surprise, by contrast, to find that for all its heavy-lifting, multitasking and ambition on maintaining a systems-heavy sandbox like this,Deliverance II’sonly real stumble comes with its technical performance. Minor and relatively isolated across a 70-80-hour campaign they may be, they’re noticeable enough. And while instances like NPCs (of whom are meant to be portraying themselves as injured) going from a standing-up to lying down pose in a split second can be brushed off as comical, in other instances, the blemishes are less dismissive. Dialogue, for instance, suffers the most: mismatched voice-lines, immersion-bundling seconds of silence between two characters in conversation and even pivotal cutscenes rendering your screen completely blacked-out. It’s nowhere near the folly of the original and while the sequel remains majorly impressive on this front, it can mess up one or two minor details along the way.
Closing Comments:
It’s rare to find an RPG with such distinct a vision and of this magnitude go above and beyond even the promise of its foundation, but that’s exactly what Warhorse have so brilliantly realized withKingdom Come: Deliverance II. An immersive role-playing experience propped up on so many fronts aided along the way by one of the most-satisfying sandbox open-worlds of any game in recent times. A world dense with systems, interaction and consequences, yet far from feeling burdensome or overbearing. Even at its most challenging – be that with combat or in simply deducing the correct course of action on completing any number of quests – it’s the inherent focus on player freedom, flexibility and deduction that makes the experience all the more satisfying and interesting to dive into. Adorned on top by an excellent unison of technical, artistic and even musical qualities – not to mention terrific performances from its main cast –Kingdom Come: Deliverance IIis an astonishing achievement in open-world design. The new high watermark not just for RPGs this year, but perhaps any game of 2025.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
Version Reviewed: PC
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is an exhilarating Action RPG, set amidst the chaos of a civil war in 15th Century Bohemia.You are Henry of Skalitz – an ordinary man doing extraordinary things – caught in a gripping tale of revenge, betrayal, and discovery as he embarks on an epic journey, ‘from a humble blacksmith’s forge to the court of Kings’, searching for purpose in this beautiful but brutal medieval world.From bustling city streets to lush forests, explore this open-world Medieval Europe through an unforgettable adventure filled with action, thrills, and wonder.
