Vadim "Vadim" Dybinskiy
Ladies and gentlemen, in 2025, we are witnessing a historic moment. A major first-person open-world RPG has been released, and instead of disappointing, it amazes! Honestly, I don’t understand why you’re not playing Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 right now. To fix this unfortunate situation, I will now do my best to convince you to give it a try.
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What to Expect from Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2?
In many open-world RPGs like Skyrim, gameplay often boils down to heading into a dungeon or another location to slay enemies. Most other activities tend to be secondary, simplified, or outright unnecessary.
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Kingdom Come 2 takes a different approach. Here, the player literally lives. This is neither an exaggeration nor a metaphor. With survival mechanics seamlessly woven into the gameplay, you have to think about what to eat, where to sleep, and even when to bathe. Additionally, traditional mechanics like alchemy and blacksmithing have been expanded into full-fledged mini-games, further enhancing immersion.
All of this makes the game more meditative. You can sit down to play for four hours and, upon returning to the main menu, feel like you haven’t progressed much at all. You gathered herbs, forged horseshoes, sharpened your weapon, traveled to a new village, chatted with the locals, completed an interesting side quest, played dice, and went to bed. You know what this feels like? Real life. The progress is slow, but it pulls you in completely.
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Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is like a countryside getaway. You sit in front of your monitor and journey through medieval Bohemian villages and forests. You learn about the daily life of miners, go hunting, converse with historical figures, or practice sword fighting. And that’s just a fraction of what’s possible. The beauty of it is that there are so many activities that you're bound to find something you'll love.
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Absolute Cinema
Compared to the first game, the direction and cinematography of cutscenes have improved significantly. The story grabs you from the very first moments and doesn’t lose its appeal, even if you take breaks from it.
There were times when I spent 30 hours exploring the world instead of following the main storyline, and yet, when I returned to it, I was surprised at how easily I got back into the narrative. Henry often recounts his past adventures to new characters, serving as a nice reminder of the journey you’ve already taken.
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For those who haven’t played the first Kingdom Come, don’t worry—you can start directly with the second game. Flashbacks and dialogues will fill you in on Henry’s past events.
Choices Have Consequences
I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of quests. This mostly applies to side missions, but even in the main storyline, you can make decisions that impact the fate of certain characters.
Often, quests can be completed in multiple ways. In addition to the standard trio of diplomacy, stealth, and open combat, the game encourages creative problem-solving.
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Speaking of diplomacy, Kingdom Come 2’s dialogue system, in my opinion, is a quiet revolution in the RPG genre. Instead of dice rolls or straightforward skill checks, it features a unique dialogue-checking system. The key idea is that success depends not only on your skill levels but also on how you look and what exactly you say. As a result, picking the option with the highest skill stat isn’t always the best choice.
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Your appearance influences persuasion and intimidation effectiveness, while professional skills are necessary for demonstrating expertise in specific fields.
Now, the most important part—even if your skill is exceptionally high, it may not help if the chosen phrase is inappropriate for the situation. Moreover, you can pass a check successfully but still get a negative reaction from your conversation partner. It’s brilliant. The game truly makes you think and apply real-life logic to solve problems, figuring out what might please one character and scare another.
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The dialogues themselves feel very natural. Most of the time, you won’t want to skip the lines, even though there are tons of them. Surprisingly, even minor characters and their conversations tend to stick in your memory.
Historical figures are portrayed excellently. It’s amusing to know the future of some of them. King Sigismund, in particular, is brilliantly depicted—you really believe he is a ruler with a firm hand. The way Henry and the other characters react to him is also executed perfectly.
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Is Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Difficult to Play?
After all the talk about realism, an unusual combat system, and other deep mechanics, Kingdom Come 2 might seem overwhelmingly difficult and not for everyone. This is partially true—it’s not the easiest game, and you do need to spend more than a couple of minutes learning its mechanics. However, the most challenging part lasts only for the first 20–30 hours of gameplay.
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At the beginning, Henry, like many RPG protagonists, is a penniless weakling in rags, vulnerable even to a couple of wolves. What makes Kingdom Come 2 special is that the phase of poverty and weakness lasts significantly longer and is a bit harder than usual. That said, after less than half the game, you eventually become a powerhouse. Yes, a group of knights in full plate armor will still be a threat, but such encounters are rare.
All of this is to say that becoming strong is not an issue. Moreover, you can get rich and obtain great gear simply by engaging in various activities. So, if you enjoy constantly overcoming challenges, you might want to wait for a hardcore mode update or download a mod—we have an article on that.
For those worried about the lack of difficulty settings, you should now understand that this is far from Dark Souls.
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Combat System
As in the first part, players are divided into two camps. Some love the local battles with all their heart, while others hate them and avoid them by all means. From what I've observed, this time the first camp has attracted far more people than the second. The reduction in attack directions made the battles more convenient, and other decisions made them more interesting. Let me tell you about them.
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Now, dodging uses up a lot of stamina. Because of this, it's more beneficial to block, as you can immediately counterattack after a block. Dodging usually makes sense to avoid being surrounded by a crowd. Most of the time, there's a beautiful exchange of blows and constant movement, together creating the feeling of a deadly dance.
You can study attack combos and master different types of weapons. It's easier to strike an armored enemy with a hammer than with a sword. If close combat isn't for you, your arsenal can consist of a bow, crossbow, and hand cannon. The latter has an astounding effect—literally in every sense.
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In stealth, you can either choke someone non-lethally or take their life with a dagger. Using poisons can also help with other methods of eliminating enemies.
Character Development
Henry gains experience in whatever he does. The higher the skill, the easier it is to perform the related tasks. You also earn points that can be spent on abilities for all skills. Most of them have tangible effects.
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Interestingly, there are skills that are useful for various activities. By improving herbology, you can unexpectedly become physically stronger when gathering plants. Developing blacksmithing, I stumbled upon a skill useful for thieves. Such unexpected twists.
Like in the TES series, this is a classless system. You can do absolutely everything in turn and level up in each task little by little. With the aforementioned skills, this approach is even encouraged.
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How Does Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Look and Sound?
This is the level of graphics where the game looks pleasant, but you don't need a computer that costs as much as a car. This is a rarity today.
Skilled optimization is also the work of designers who brought a piece of the Czech Republic into the game world. You can even visit the locations from the game—they now offer guided tours.
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Special mention must go to the beauty of the forests. If you’ve ever been in a forest, you won’t be able to help but marvel at the nature here. It's indistinguishable from real life! It's a pity you can't pitch tents and make campfires—otherwise, this would be a perfect hiking simulator.
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I wouldn't say that the music left a strong impression. It doesn’t call attention to itself. It simply performs its basic functions. But the sounds! They surprised me. Very high quality and creatively applied. For example, Henry hums a tune, creating a rhythm while working at the forge.
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Overall Impressions
An unforgettable adventure. You become Henry—a simple guy who faces numerous hardships, the burden of vengeance, and the desire to help those still in need. If you wish, this could be the story of a maniac who destroyed all villages and towns, or an elusive thief, or a criminal who was hanged for all his sins. It’s up to you because this is a true RPG!
Personally, I prefer fantasy. The Witcher 3, Skyrim, and other worlds with dungeons, dragons, and sorceresses. Yet Kingdom Come 2 manages to be just as interesting to me. There's something about the atmosphere of truly believable medieval life. It may be easier to immerse yourself in something less fantastic, but with that usually comes boredom. Here, instead of boredom, there’s great humor and an honest representation of the era.
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In Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, you believe what’s happening on the screen. You watch the plot unfold like a movie, empathize with its characters, and can influence their fates!
Then you can simply go to the forge and craft swords, steal food and give it to the poor, dress up as a nobleman and play the role of a knight, become a knight and win duels, or win the hearts of beautiful ladies. Possibilities, possibilities, and more possibilities!
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Most likely, Warhorse Studios wanted to create this level of freedom in the first part, but they didn't have the resources. Now, they've achieved more. Perfection can't be reached, but Kingdom Come 2 is extraordinarily close!
My rating: 9/10. A masterpiece. I look forward to the third part and hope it will be even one point better.
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