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I came into Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 blind, thinking I would roll through it like some chosen one in shining armor, just as how other RPGs treated me. Instead, the game wouldn’t even lend my mud-caked peasant character a haystack to sleep on. Poor Henry. So, without the privilege of nobility and the comforts of the modern world, I did what any willful person in Henry’s circumstance would do: steal smoked sausages from other peasants and sneak into their beds for a nap.
Turns out that even borrowing someone else’s floor sack to sleep on is also illegal. Henry gets caught often in the middle of his sleep, with the angry bed owner demanding I pay a fine; but having nary a Groschen to my name, I resorted to shanking them below the ribcage– end of discussion. In my defense, it was a rude awakening.
Thankfully, it gets better in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 the more money you have (sounds awfully familiar). Still, the opening acts in the game, right after the harsh and tedious tutorial, were some of the most off-beat and interesting moments in an RPG ever. Because the early game in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is practically a vagrant or hobo simulator with a Medieval flavor.
Needless to say, everything is difficult during the first five or 10 hours of Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. Even combat is a hit or miss (no pun intended), especially if you’re fighting an armored opponent. You might often find yourself having to steal or use other peoples’ properties like a punk just to keep Henry alive or healthy.
This is No Skyrim or The Witcher 3
I then realized that most of my crimes in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 were learned habits that I might have picked up from other mainstream RPGs. The big difference is that other RPGs don’t treat obsessive looting or “borrowing” other peoples’ properties as crimes. Skyrim does have a property mechanic, but the punishments for thievery are so lax that it might as well be nonexistent.
The Witcher 3, as great of a game as it is, treats its NPCs and towns as backdrops in comparison to Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, where every item in the game world has an owner, and they will get angry if you touch their stuff. That lends much to the game’s personality and its simulation.
More importantly, the game goes to show just how far RPGs have come. Even something as simple as ownership makes the world feel alive and makes you feel like you’re just part of it, and it doesn’t revolve around you. That’s quite a unique roleplaying experience.
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 Doesn’t Coddle Its Players
So if it wasn’t obvious enough in the opening act already, the game insists that you’re just a stinking beggar no better-smelling than a pigsty. You’ll need to do serious or tedious work to earn money, do favors for others to improve your reputation, and you’ll even have to respect some of the in-game society’s rules.
It’s harder to wing it in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, since combat can just be as difficult as everything else; you don’t get to easily slaughter a whole bandit camp and suddenly get rich and instantly gratify yourself. In fact, needless combat might be one of the things you want to avoid because losing and dying means you might have to reset far back due to the harsh saving system.
Beyond the heavier penalties for failing in combat, the game also doesn’t readily offer the same conveniences as other mainstream RPGs do, such as instant potions, blatant quest markers, generous checkpoints, a mini-map, or shiny chosen one gear. Even fighting multiple opponents is bound to end badly, unlike in other games where you turn into a superhero against a squad of enemies.
Even then, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 won’t stop you from doing such foolishness; it doesn’t tell you what you can and can’t do. The only restraints are your capabilities (or your willingness). While you might be free to do nearly anything you want in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, especially with crime, this freedom comes with responsibility and substantial consequences.
This lack of artificial RPG restraint is a breath of fresh air after the numerous metrics and checklists that other contemporary RPGs tend to impose on players.
A Risky Approach, but It Worked
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2‘s hardcore sandbox approach for RPGs is something many in the gaming industry avoid at the risk of turning off some of the more casual players and losing sales. Still, the game managed to pull it off and appears on track to be a resounding success for 2025.
It goes to show how sticking to your original vision and executing it beautifully is something that the gaming community will appreciate. And while you might have to steal porridge and illegally couch-surf (or is it couch-serf?), Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 ensures you’re rewarded the more ingenuity, effort, and lateral thinking you put into the game.
That kind of roleplaying in RPGs, surprisingly enough, doesn’t come often. That’s probably why so many players are enjoying Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 right now, no matter how many times they have to wash off the blood and cow dung on Henry’s clothes.
