The 15th Century Has Never Looked So Good
After a long journey from Kickstarter to seeing a local copy in your game store, Kingdom Come: Deliverance has come a long way. The game aims to deliver us from the evils of modern day hack and slash games to an authentic experience in the medieval 1400’s where each swing you make counts. The game has been summed up as “Skyrim without magic” but there is a lot more to the Warhorse Studio game than just that. Let’s Discuss.
You begin your game as a noble peasant with barely any skill. There is no character creation. You are not a born fighter, heck you can’t even read. A tragedy of course strikes, and you are set on an adventure filled with love, vengeance, blood, and betrayal. The game does not let you roam free for the first five hours of gameplay in what feels like a long linear tutorial. This is a possible turn off for players as it’s gonna be one of those games you tell your friends “It takes a while to get into then it gets really good”
Kingdom Come is very story driven, however, it does offer much freedom in the way you play it. When dealing with quests there are multiple ways in which you can approach a task or quest.
Graphics aren’t too much to ride home about. It feels like a game released in 2014 with upscaled models that have been modded in after release. The world can sometimes feel bare and desolate. I have yet to stop and have one of those “wow” moments where you really appreciate the world. I couldn’t seem to find the perfect balance of gamma throughout my gameplay – either too much during the day, or not enough at night.
The music can often be a bit overbearing, especially in the towns during the day. You may find yourself adjusting the faders at times. Kingdom Come has absolutely nailed the echoes in the right location, whether that be a church or cave.
The combat is a real breath of fresh air compared to most modern-day RPGs. It relies on timing, skill, patience, and strategy. You must aim your attack in the direction you wish it to go – Same for your blocks. This provides for interesting scenarios to outplay in the world. However, don’t expect to be going full dynasty warrior and be taking out 100 of enemies at once. You’d be pretty lucky to handle a 2 v 1 at most.
The mini-games immerse you further into the world with activities such as alchemy, lockpicking, haggling, and blacksmithing. As a gamer truly looking to dive into this experience, I can appreciate the time the developers took to make something that could simply be done via a menu, as an actual skill you must develop in game and as a player. An example of this is haggling. You can easily put items in a basket you want to trade and click okay, or, you can talk to the merchant and see if you can get a better deal. By adjusting a slider you are able to offer a lower or higher price on items you wish to purchase. Offer too little and the merchant will get angry and walk away from the deal. Give a little extra on top to the buyer or seller and your reputation with that person will go up, meaning better deals for you in future.
Time to talk about the bigger letdowns. The game prides itself on realism. That immersion can easily be taken away by the fact my horse can appear out of thin air with one whistle. I wouldn’t of minded this in an easy mode of the game but I feel my horse shouldn’t be able to jump through time and space to get to me. Also, don’t let Henry go hungry. It’s not so much worrying about the fact that he will die, it’s the fact that he won’t shut the hell up about it every 30 seconds. Also, expect bugs, the team behind are working tirelessly to ensure you can finish your quests or won’t keep getting stuck in a doorway. If an NPC headed hasn’t loaded yet, don’t be alarmed.
At the point of this point of this article being written, Kingdom Come has no difficulty adjuster. What Kingdom Come truly needs is a hard-core mode button that players can switch off from the start, as the current experience V1.2 may fall short of attracting a wider audience due to its challenging level of gameplay. The ability to save as often as you want, where ever you want is not apparent, as you must either drink the in-game alcohol, sleep in your own bed or go the bathhouse. A simple menu option to do it should be implemented for players wanting to have a more light-hearted experience.
All though Kingdom Come is vast, with much to do, it is the little things that the game gets so right. Water rippling effects echoes when in caves or churches, people noticing you have blood on you or the fact you are so casually strolling around town with your weapon drawn. When wearing a full helmet, your vision is altered and blocked. When you’re tired, Henry begins to nod off. The game creators also worked tirelessly to ensure that each detail was historically accurate. These small details are what truly drive this to be such a well-crafted game and medieval simulator.
Unless you are true, diehard 15th centaury middle ages fan, my advice to anyone who is unsure whether to pick this game up or not is to simply wait a few months. By then, the US price of $60.00 will have dropped, as well as all the bugs being ironed out. Until then, I can at least say the game is solid.