Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 and to a certain extent, its predecessor, are often commended for the freedom that they give to the players. Even so, the game has its limitations as players have noticed: there are no mini-serfs, a.k.a. children, just like in most other RPGs or open-world games. Now, apart from the most obvious explanation as to why, some players have a more comedic lore-accurate explanation as to why Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 has no children.
It all began one fine February afternoon when Reddit user u/art_weidos posted a meme noticing the absence of children in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2‘s otherwise majestic 15th century simulation of Bohemia. It was a glaring break in the immersion since children usually helped out in feudal farm duties.
As usual, the lack of children is common in open-world games to ensure that players don’t commit child homicide. But the meme prompted a reply from Reddit user u/Far_Ad_557 with a somewhat acceptable lore explanation as to why there are no children or how they weren’t portrayed properly in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2: “Children were not ‘invented’ yet.”
Turns out the modern concept of children or childhood weren’t present back in the Middle Ages and that they were mostly treated as smaller adults, which explains the worrying lack of child labor laws.
It sounds like a joke, but it’s real. Children weren’t recognized as distinct from adults when it comes to needs and care back in the Middle Ages. Childhood was thus not recognized as a unique or separate stage of life back then, at least in Europe. Children did exist, of course, they just grew up too fast (not like they had a choice).
You Won’t Be Seeing Kids in Most Open-World Games Anytime Soon
In any case, you will need to put up with Kingdom Come Deliverance 2‘s lack of children not because it jokingly makes sense lore-wise, but because of legal and ethical issues. Games simply don’t want the controversy or potential lawsuits.
It’s just that Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is so believable in its simulation and world-building that even something as small as missing children in the game world are noticeable.
One exception would be Skyrim or even Fallout, but those games made their children unkillable because they know what you’d do anyway. It was probably no coincidence that Bethesda made Skyrim‘s children unbearable sociopaths.
Now, despite not having children to make its medieval life simulation even more faithful, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is still among the most successful games of the decade, selling 2 million copies in less than two weeks, and it’s not showing signs of stopping.
