Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Review – A Must-play

How do you even begin to improve upon a hit game like Kingdom Come: Deliverance? From brilliant storytelling to intriguing combat mechanics, the first title had so much going for it; and it even managed to snag ten total awards. 

Following up on such a titan of a game was always going to be tough. The original game had twists and turns in the story that kept us going, even if we weren’t always fond of the combat. Going into Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, my main concern was whether it would live up to the expectations set by its predecessor. 

As it turns out, it doesn’t just live up to the original game. It surpasses it. By far.

The newest title from Warhorse Studios features more twists, more unabashed brutality, and refined mechanics that make the whole experience one to remember for a long time to come. Skyrim is no doubt a stalwart of the RPG genre, but I think I’ve found a new favorite to take its place. 

How Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Compares to the Original

The first thing I must mention is that despite Henry being a blacksmith, you couldn’t do any smithing in the original game. Now you can, and it’s immensely satisfying. But naturally, a simple minigame doesn’t make a great game. There’s so much more. 

I’m not a big fan of stories that start in the middle of a battle. It is supposed to create intrigue, sure. It’s supposed to hook — but often times all it does is confuse the gamer and leave them wondering why we should care about anyone at all in the present situation. Battles are best used to create tension when we already have an emotional connection with the characters. 

But the legwork for this was done in the first game, and we already know (and like) the characters in the scene. If you didn’t play the first game, however, this opening scene will have nearly no impact, sadly. 

Personally, I loved it. And despite the lack of emotional connection with the characters in a new player, it still serves as an exciting tutorial of the basic combat mechanics.

The intro to the game is a solid 2-4 hours long though, and it’s every bit as good as the opening to the first game. As always, there’s no holding back from the brutality and the fleeting nature of life in the Middle Ages. This game strives to stay as historically accurate as the first, and it’s glorious. 

You’ll find that most of the mechanics from the first game are present and refined, offering you a less frustrating experience than the first. Except for potion making, that’s still something to get used to. It’s brilliant, but not my cup of tea.

It’s not just that, everything is better. The side quests are beautifully done, the graphical improvements make me want to spend more time in these fictional lands, and the twists in the plot — don’t even get me started there. 

Overall, it’s safe to say that Kingdom II is an improvement over the first game in almost every single way, except… there are more mandatory stealth missions, and I personally find these immensely painful. But this is a slight personal blemish for me, and I can still appreciate the masterful storytelling even during these unfortunate quests. 

Something did get lost

There is one thing that I feel got lost along the way, and that’s the replayability. The first title was incredibly replayable, thanks to most missions offering various ways to complete and various outcomes. Especially during the main quests of Kingdom Come II, I often feel forced into a certain direction.

It felt like your choices in the first game carried immense weight and could influence the outcome of things significantly. This feels less so in the second title, somehow, except for a handful of key choices.

You can still make your choices however you want, but they feel less impactful on the story as a whole than in the first title. The side quests, however, still offer a massive amount of variability and you can complete these however you wish, so Kingdom Come II is still very much replayable. But the main campaign might feel a little “same-old” after a while.

How “Janky” is Kingdom Come: Deliverance II?

It’s a question we must ask. The sometimes hilarious glitches and bugs from the original, in part, is what made it so charming — until you find that game-breaking bug, of course. The fun sort of dries up after that. 

I’ve not found a single game-breaking bug thus far. That said, there are a number of minor oddities, some of them amusing, some less so. In the above screenshot, this man was having a conversation with us when his leg suddenly shot up into this painful-looking Yoga pose. To be fair, it was very funny.

Every so often, Henry will forget how stairs work and get stuck on them. Only a minor nuisance — unless you’ve been spotted by a guard and you’re trying to make a quick getaway during one of the many mandatory stealth missions. 

Cut scenes and conversations have their own oddities as well. Sometimes you’re staring at nothing but a close-up of whatever NPC has decided to block your view of the scene. Other times, character models go missing or other graphical glitches occur. Like the time Henry decided he was in the mood for some stark white eyeliner while on a visit to the mines. His conversational partner at the time joined him in this madness. 

Overall, however, this game feels incredibly well-finished. In an age where games often launch in sorry states, Kingdom II should serve as an example to game development studios around the world. 

Some of the best Voice Acting in the Business – Not all good though

Jobst, a character you will meet in your travels, offers some of the best voice acting I’ve seen in a video game in recent memory. Marc Cram does another fantastic job of voicing a rather unlikable character, but probably one of the best in the franchise. The performance is incredibly believable.

It doesn’t stop there. All of the core cast do an amazing job, with truly inspired performances all around. 

The acting itself can be a little off-putting at times, but this is mostly in smaller conversations where NPCs have smooth faces that are horrible at portraying emotion. This, combined with fairly sub-standard voice acting makes the NPC seem bored rather than horrified or distraught as they’re meant to be (I have a specific example in mind, shortly after you take control of Godwin for a brief spell and talk to the wounded couple in the barn). 

Overall, however, it’s incredibly easy to live yourself into this story. It’s wonderfully crafted, wonderfully told, and stands today as one of those I will remember most fondly for a long, long time to come. 

The best game world to date, no doubt

Besides some poor character model “acting” here and there, this is undoubtedly the best game world I’ve ever found myself in. Where Oblivion started the idea of a living world, and others have attempted to perfect it, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II comes the closest. 

Every NPC you’ll pass by feels alive. They always appear to have their own goals and motivations, and barely any of them ever make you feel like you’re the main character in a video game. They’re all doing their own thing and could hardly be bothered about some stranger standing nearby. Unless you have your weapon drawn, most of them take exception to that.

I’m not sure how to describe just how good this aspect of the game is. It’s where it absolutely shines. 

Perhaps a story will help. Once, I rode into a village to witness two NPCs having an argument about one thing or another. Not too far into the argument, a brawl erupted between them. It was hilarious to watch these two beat each other and all the NPCs around rushing to see what was going on. 

Sadly, NPCs still do NPC things, and once one of the fighters was knocked unconscious, the others kept running over and saying more or less the same things. “Why are you lying here?” or “Are you okay?” So it’s fair to say that there’s still a fair amount of voice line repetition (naturally).

Even so, the world feels truly alive, even more so than the first game did. It’s also achingly beautiful, even when running on medium graphics to accommodate the 3 other programs I’m running simultaneously. 

It’s one of those worlds you can simply get lost in for hours, and we even compared it (internally) to Read Dead Redemption 2’s breathtaking world. It really is that good. 

Masterful storytelling the likes of which are rarely seen

I love stories in video games. It’s part of the reason I got hooked in the first place. Finding a good story that hooks me, pulls me in, and keeps me there is ultra rare, however. I have a sea of abandoned games because the pacing fell off, the story wasn’t intriguing to begin with, or the storytelling was simply not good enough. 

Even if Kingdom Come: Deliverance II had poor gameplay and frustrating controls, I’d likely still stick it out just to see how the story ends. It’s like something straight out of a series, featuring political intrigue, wonderfully crafted characters, and more twists than you can count. 

But be warned. This game is brutal. You’ll have your highs, but the game has no problem bringing you straight back down, sometimes in the most brutal ways possible. 

Every time you feel like you’ve made it and you’re almost there, the game will slap you down and jam its boot on your neck, daring you to get back up. Call me a masochist, but it’s fantastically intriguing. 

From the very beginning of the story, you’re on a rollercoaster that never seems to stop. There are brief pauses where you’re allowed to ride high for just a bit, but another drop isn’t far away. And that’s just the main story. 

There are tons of side quests in this game, likely hundreds. Each of those I’ve done feels like its own unique storyline, separate from the actual story. Most of these side quests feel so fleshed out that some of them could even pass for full plotlines in lesser games. 

The attention to detail is stunning within them, and you can feel the passion seeping out from every corner of this title. It’s an unforgettable experience. 

Mandatory Stealth Missions: A blight on a near-perfect game

If there’s one thing that really grinds my gears about Kingdom Come II, it would be the mandatory stealth missions. The game makes this mechanic known from the very beginning, as one of the first things you’re forced to do is slip by armed warriors unnoticed, while basically being naked yourself. 

This trend repeats itself several times throughout the game, and I’ve never been one to enjoy these types of missions. They are better done than in the first game, however. Given that there are several, this does offer the opportunity to actually build your stealth skills. Meaning that when you reach near the end of the game and there’s another thrust upon you, you actually have the skills to succeed — unlike the first game, where a very late mandatory stealth mission (At Talmberg, I believe) forced me to reload an earlier save and build that skill before I could progress. 

So while they do remain painful, they are perfectly doable with enough patience and persistence. 

A plethora of content

This game is absolutely massive. It feels like they’ve created a game with several DLCs already built in, which is truly refreshing. The game world is huge, at least twice as large as the first. There are two maps, the second of which is epically large. 

But here’s why the game world is one of the best – none of these huge maps feel like they have dead spots. It’s all a living world, it feels like there’s always something happening, no matter how deep in the woods you are. It all feels stunningly believable. 

Warhorse Studios didn’t just give us a huge world, they filled it to the brim with interesting encounters, enthralling characters, and well upwards of 100 hours of content in a single game. They could charge twice what the game costs at launch, and I’d still pay for it. 

You get a lot of game for your cash, and again, in an industry filled with microtransactions, this is incredibly refreshing. 

Odd balancing is the “Worst” thing about this near-perfect game

Another issue with Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is the weird difficulty balance. You start by mostly cruising through, feeling like a total badass. Then you come upon a few ordinary bandits and they absolutely crush you. 

This is easily solved, of course, by upping your skills, and the slow rise in the early game can feel a little frustrating at times. But when you transition to the second map, the difficulty spikes all over the place and it’s jarring. 

For example, I got into a fight with some of the king’s soldiers during one of the main quests. They were laughably easy to defeat and I had no trouble at all. I even took a few hits and barely lost any health. A short while later, I ride through a nearby forest and come across a couple of bandits. 

I take down the first one and hold the advantage against the second until one lapse in my focus gets the bandit a single hit, and it’s game over. To be fair, he does stab me in the face.

Still, if the bandits in this area are so strong and the king’s men so weak, how on earth is Kuttenburg not a Bandit Stronghold yet? 

I may be nitpicking here, but would I even be a worthy game critic if I didn’t? 

The Final Verdict

Kingdom Come: Deliverance was a good game. Solid story, great pacing, and overall a pleasant experience. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II damn near perfects this formula, taking a good game and making it great. 

The second entry to this franchise might even take it a step further still. I’m wary to call any game a masterpiece since such high praise can quickly lose meaning if overused. But I think I’ve found a title that may just be worthy of the word. 

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is either a masterpiece, or it’s damn close. We’ve barely reached February and we have a contender for game of the year — perhaps a shoo-in if it weren’t for the fact that we’re expecting GTA 6 later on in the year. 

And even though I’ve played upwards of 70 hours already, I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface. There’s so much more to explore, so much more to do — and I can see this game easily providing upwards of 150 hours of entertainment to those who wish to take it slow. 

Perhaps even more. 

If you enjoyed the first title and you haven’t got this one in your library yet, what are you waiting for? 

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