Kingdom Come: Deliverance Preview
May. 25, 2016Kingdom Come: Deliverance Preview
Kingdom Come: Deliverance is an upcoming first-person, single-player, sandbox RPG by Warhorse Studios that is rooted deep in 15th Century Bohemian History. It will release on PC initially with a version for consoles also planned, but no concrete release date is set. Unlike countless other medieval RPGs,Kingdom Comeaims to offer players the most authentic 15thcentury experience through historical accuracy and realism. This means no mythical creatures, magical powers or deities. Instead it is viewed through the lens of history which is underrated for its ability to deliver stories more fantastic than fiction has ever conjured. The game has recently entered its Beta stages on PC and I would like to share a bit of what I have learned about the game so far. Those interested in accessing the Beta can visit Warhorse’sBeta pagefor more info.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance is set in a time of chaos and strife in Bohemia. The King is dead and his eldest son Wenceslas IV has arisen to take his place. However, Wenceslas IV, not unlike many Kings of his era, is grossly incompetent and uninterested in proper rule. The nobility, weary of his failures and inaction, have taken up the matter with Wenceslas’ half-brother – King Sigismund of Hungary. Seizing the opportunity, Sigismund kidnaps Wenceslas and invades the country with an army of mercenaries. You play a victim of the war named Henry, a commoner who seeks revenge for the loss of his family, home and honor.
The Beta begins midway through the game’s events. The land is infested with bandits and marauders, who, in addition to other acts of depravity, have set ablaze a stud-farm and slaughtered the horses. Your charge is to solve this massacre by tracking down one of the bandits, named Reeky. You must traverse the huge map on your trusty horse, investigate nefarious individuals and carefully follow any leads to get closer to your objective. Because of the extreme realism of the game, this is easier said than done.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance is open-world, allowing players to roam around freely from the very first moments of the game. It follows many of the conventions of RPGs – such as accepting main and sidequests, leveling upstatsandskills, creating reputations and relationships with otherNPCsetc. However, everything around you is dynamic and In Kingdom Come you will experience the history of Bohemia as it happened. Warhorse wants players to feel part of that history, to experience it, but not change it. Because of this, the NPCs will not wait for you to take up quests at your leisure and it is strongly advised to begin any side quests of interest as you happen upon them to avoid missing the opportunity to complete them.
The entire game is designed so that you will be able to solve quests in several different ways. Your actions have consequences, so if you kill or estrange an NPC who could have been a useful source of information, you may cut off a potential solution to a future quest without realizing it. The NPCs can report any crimes to authorities, and alter their behavior towards you depending on your reputation. The consequences of your actions must be paramount in your mind, as the ripple effect could dramatically alter your experience. The potential of this is nearly limitless, and will only be regulated by the time and budget of Warhorse. In a gaming climate where the stakes seem progressively less and less, this feels like a refreshing departure. Gravity of choice is one of the strongest connectors to a memorable experience.
The game’s aesthetics are some of the best I have ever seen. The world truly feels lived in and shows a heavily detailed reconstruction of the 15thcentury landscape. The lush greenery and the dynamic weather system make for a greatly immersive experience as you walk through villages, castles and deep forests. NPCs go about doing work or resting according to the various times of day, giving the player the impression that this is exactly what life was like back then. The historical attention to detail here is phenomenal and engrossing.
In Kingdom Come there are no classes to choose from or characters to customize, however, you can level all of Henry’s (the protagonist)statsandskillsby simply using them; the game reacts to your style of play (similar to Oblivion or Skyrim). You have a reputation and charisma system which will influence NPCs positively or negatively, and will create divergent paths to complete quests. Important events and NPCs are labelled on the map with a flag, however no other guidance is provided on the GUI apart from this. The GUI is in fact very minimal, with nothing other than a stamina bar shown at the bottom of the screen.
Conversations and their dialogue-tree structure immediately remind you of games like The Elder Scrolls or Fallout. Working through dialogue trees to achieve the most favorable response is rather difficult, and making the wrong choice can often prematurely end a quest line. Players will need to choose between persuasion and intimidation often if they hope to reach a conclusion in many of their side quests. You will have to save often and reload as needed if you have very specific outcomes you are working towards.
Combatfeels like a work in progress and it can take some time getting acclimated to it. There are no clear indications of when you have hit anenemyapart from a soft thump (like hitting something with a cardboard tube) and there are no blood animations. You swing your sword aiming for different parts of your opponent’s body by choosing one of the 5 different directions on your reticle which locks onto the enemy. Dodging, parrying or blocking are all challenging, with both direction and timing being factors to consider in performing them. Both attacking and defending take up stamina and being struck by swords or arrows induces bleeding which effectively reduces your max stamina.
An important note about combat is that the inability to quickly swing your sword and rush into battle makes it impossible to fight multiple enemies at once. The AI surrounds you and actively reacts to your movements and environments, making such encounters certain death without proper planning and singling out of enemies. In a game that aspires to realism, the combat is certainly no exception. Patience, study and planning are all virtues that are rewarded.
The quests and dynamic nature of the world are outstanding, but you will grow accustomed to them after a few day and night cycles. Apart from the standard side quests and the long main quest, there is not much to do just yet if you choose to stray from the beaten path. We’re hoping to see more fleshed out dialogue and varied expressions during quest conversations, but we are very encouraged by the possibilities presented in their branching paths. Combat can be a challenge and is a steep learning curve, and even with some experience it is not always intuitive.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance presents core mechanics that folks familiar with RPGs will grasp, but it does something very unique that will encourage you to reach for a history text and delve into the knowledge of the past to learn about the history and culture of Bohemia. Warhorse Studios has certainly excelled in creating a rich and realistic 15th century environment that will pique the player’s interest, and we will continue to bear witness to whether the marriage between realism and gameplay can be a holy one . History has always been the recollection of dynamic ambitions and we can’t wait to watch this one unfold.
Visit theKingdom Come Wiki
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Castielle
Senior Editor at Fextralife. I enjoy gaming, playing and watching sports, cooking yummy food, watching a good movie and hanging out with Fex.
I really want to see more from Warhorse. I’m still on the fence about the game.
Cas
Sounds like you have an interesting day-to-day xD
Kingdom come sounds very interesting. I still think we need to convince them to put in a third person view xD
In my experience, in reality, the best stuff is off the beaten path. As an urban and rural explorer, I find the best and most interesting things while just wondering around with no given direction. I go out into the woods, and I find abandoned houses full of stuff, lost hunting gear, a variety of animals you wouldn’t regularly see, and fun experiences. Just a few days ago I managed to befriend a wild mouse while it was scavenging for food. I sat down and stayed very stile, and eventually it got comfortable enough around me to let me pet it. To me, having nothing off the beaten path is unrealistic.
First person makes me motion sick so its third person or I can’t play
Interesting.I think that this game doesn’t so much require change as it is as much as it requires a change in mindset from the player. The combat probably is meant to be clunky and hard, and there isn’t supposed to be stuff to do off the beaten path.But that’s what I think.
^This game carries itself on immersion and realism, a third person camera would be bad to that. Third person view is better for combat, but it’s lacking for putting yourself on the character’s shoes.
I’d like to see if they tweak anything in the console version.
I lost interest when you said that I have to play as a certain character. Unless the character and his story is really interesting like say, Geralt and his story in The Witcher, I have little desire to play this.
I really wish this had a thir person a alternative. We’ll have to ask at E3!
