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In the vast sea of RPGs, I’ve always seen Kingdom Come: Deliverance as one of those niche gems. It is one of the few medieval-oriented games that provide an authentic and immersive roleplaying experience without excessively flashy combat, markers that fill the UI, or a cluttered map that feels more like a checklist. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 not only surpasses what its predecessor did in many ways but also elevates the genre as a whole. Its hardcore RPG mechanics and focus on realism won’t be for everyone, but the lucky players who delve into KCD 2 will find one of gaming’s most recent masterpieces.
The story of how Warhorse Studios took KCD to where it is now resonates with the game’s protagonist. Henry’s humble beginnings as a blacksmith’s son to being Lord Hans Capon’s aide feel akin to those of Kingdom Come: Deliverance getting its legs through Kickstarter and now seeing Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 as a full-blown AAA-like game. And while the wait for Henry’s return was quite long, the wait was worth it. With such a vast simulated world full of activities and pieces moving in real-time, I was expecting a bumpy ride. What I got was one of the most memorable and epic tales I’ve seen in gaming, one that shows that breaking the wheel of modern video game staples pays off in the most fantastic ways possible.
A Masterclass in Storytelling
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 kicks off right after the events of Kingdom Come: Deliverance. The dynamic duo of Hans and Henry are tasked with delivering a letter to Trosky. However, things go sour in a matter of minutes. The story quickly turns into the most chaotic delivery quest ever. After escaping death’s grasp by a hair’s breadth and being sent to the pillory, the world opens up, and that’s where our story begins.
Let’s start with the main plot itself — it’s flawless. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 features a story that overwhelmed me with so many emotions. I cried my heart out in certain scenes and laughed until my stomach hurt during specific quests. What elevates the narrative aspect even further is the cast of characters. All of them are perfectly developed and unforgettable. From fan-favorite Father Godwin to the new crew of bandits, the Devil’s Pack, and even those you meet as you travel through this medieval tapestry, all of them are highly unique and add to the marvelous storytelling aspect of KCD 2.
The storyline pacing is equally great. I dare say it fixes many of the things I didn’t like about Kingdom Come: Deliverance. In the first game, things felt a bit rushed when reaching the final act. It wasn’t bad by any means, but some moments were stale and lacked the punch some of the optional quests gave me. Here, however, the main plot takes the crown. In my 80-hour journey, I never felt bored when following the primary path. Straying off the main questline was sometimes alluring, but I was continually drawn to follow Henry’s misadventures through Bohemia, and watching it all unfold in the game’s terrific final act was a treat.
What hooked me the most was how I, the player, was the one tailoring the story. Many modern RPGs tend to give you the illusion of choice. You have these cookie-cutter dialogs that don’t actually change the course of the plot. They provide some flair to your character, but the story never changes. Not in KCD 2. Here, every single action you perform changes the main plot considerably. Where other games leave me satisfied with just one playthrough, KCD 2 encourages me to try and find every interaction and outcome to this game’s highly unique quests. Speaking of which, the way you mold your Henry will dictate how everything will revolve around you, and fortunately, this game has many ways to help you create your ideal Henry.
Your Henry, Your Way
As a sequel, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 already has an established character, Henry. However, he’s still a clean slate, just as he was back in KCD. And while there is a central plot to follow, how you approach it changes virtually everything. For instance, one of the game’s first big decisions is infiltrating a castle, during which you deliver a letter. Since Hans and Henry had a bromance fallout, you need to look for ways to enter the location by yourself. Here, you can side with two different characters, and each activity you do for them leans toward a different playstyle.
In my case, I prefer the thief archetype, leading me toward the path that involves more stealthy gameplay with Henry. I picked every pocket in Kutternberd and paid the consequences. I broke into the most expensive armor shops to give Henry a better fighting chance. Heck, I even robbed a stable master minutes later after I bought his most expensive horse. And before you think there isn’t reactivity to these events, there is, and you’ll pay dearly for them, but more on that later.
The build freedom in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is refreshing, and I loved how leveling up skills and picking perks worked in the sequel. This time, all perks felt useful. In the first game, I often felt I had to pick random perks because there wasn’t any other option. Here, I chose more carefully. For my thief-like playstyle, I added a few perks that made my Henry more powerful while fighting with only one sword and no shield. You also can do the opposite. You can become an even better hunter than Lord Capon. For example, there’s an option that gives you a huge bonus when fighting unarmed against enemies with weapons. Henry can be the fanciest noble, the drunkest oaf, or the coldest killer if that’s what you fancy.
Your equipment plays a huge role while you’re adventuring. Let’s say you’re focused on leveling up your Speech to smooth-talk your way through the game. Even if your Henry has the sharpest tongue out there, the easiest dialog option won’t pay off if you’re covered in dirt or blood. The opposite is true, too. If you want to intimidate someone, approaching them all perfumed up won’t work. Ultimately, you’ll be playing a medieval dress-up simulator with Henry, trying to find the right outfit for every occasion. And frankly, it has become one of my favorite things to do.
Satisfactory Combat After You’ve Mastered It
Another key aspect of the series is how it approaches combat. You don’t have abilities on cooldowns, enchanted weapons, or a group of party members to help you. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 takes a more realistic approach with a roulette-like indicator that tells you where your melee hits will land and ranged weapons lacking the modern-day crosshair feature. Getting the hand of combat is initially pretty challenging. Fans of modern RPGs might be used to flashy, perfect parries, triple dodging, and even performing finishers on enemies with the press of a button. Here, everything is more tactical.
Similar to soulslike mechanics, Henry uses up his stamina when attacking. And no, that’s not me saying KCD 2 has soulslike combat. It doesn’t. But stamina is still a resource you have to manage. Whenever you lose health, your stamina bar also decreases at the same level as your HP bar. This makes combat even more methodical and realistic because one hit will affect your fighting capabilities. Furthermore, other mechanics affect your stamina, such as hunger or fatigue.
Regarding weapons, everything feels unique, but I stuck mostly with swords, which wasn’t the best idea most of the time. When facing heavily-armored enemies, blunt weapons work better than blades. The same goes for ranged weapons. Crossbows can pierce armor better, but reloading can take a long time. Bows are fast and have better range, but don’t do a lot of damage. And then you have pistoles, which are some of the most destructive weapons in the game and some of the most fun to use, too. One shot can pierce even the toughest armor, and landing a bullet on an enemy soldier is highly satisfying.
Combat isn’t simply hitting and waiting to be hit. Every weapon has combos you can learn by finding teachers. Certain perks even enhance a weapon’s capabilities. For instance, there’s a perk under the swords tree that increases your damage when not wearing a shield. Another perk in the bows tree lets you reload faster with each arrow shot. Combined with combos, the combat in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is quite deep, and while it has a high skill ceiling, once you master it, it flows perfectly.
Living Your Medieval Life
Non-combat activities also play a considerable role in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and I often enjoyed these mundane tasks more than the battle-oriented moments. KCD 2 is all about simulating realism. Crafting doesn’t simply involve selecting the item you want and pressing one button to get your weapon instantly. Instead, you have a blacksmithing activity where you need to heat the metal, hammer it while paying attention to the sound and sparks, and even rotate it depending on the item.
The same goes for alchemy, which was my absolute favorite. Whenever you want to craft a potion, you need to gather your herbs first. Then, you must find an alchemy station, place your book to read the recipe, and follow every step. You have to be careful with the herbs you use. Dried herbs will affect a potion’s quality. You also need to follow the steps carefully unless you want to waste your ingredients. And yes, these things take a bit of time, but I loved how immersed I felt whenever I was brewing potions or smithing a new blade.
Yet, not all activities work like these, which is great as it strikes a balance between immersion and avoiding making things too tedious. Drying herbs and smoking meat happens instantly. If you want to cook something, you also just select the food you want to prepare, and that’s it. Whatever the case, the game’s many activities enhance the player experience into one of the most realistic video game worlds ever. While these activities are exclusive to the protagonist, the way the world moves around Henry is unmatched.
A Bohemian Tapestry
The world that Warhorse Studios crafted for Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is, hands down, one of the best and most elaborate in the gaming industry. Previously, Red Dead Redemption took home that medal. However, KCD 2 raises the bar in surprising new levels. There are so many pieces moving that, first of all, it is a miracle how smooth things are in gameplay terms. I experienced hardly any bugs when it came to following NPCs in their routines or when watching random events unfold as I traveled.
KCD 2 features two regions: Trosky and Kuttenberg. The former is a bit smaller but packed with hills to explore dense forests and even tall hills that hide bandits and other treasures. Kuttenberg, on the other hand, is the region I enjoyed the most due to all the hidden towns, settlements, and even secret areas I was able to find. But what really enthralled me was how reactive the world was.
Take robbing houses, for example. When I was in Kutterberg, I broke into a tailor’s house to steal a fancy coat. I stole it, but someone caught me trespassing. I quickly fled the place with my prize, thinking that’d be the end of it. A few hours later, I was notified that someone branded me as a thief. NPCs might not catch you while stealing, but if they see you inspect their items and notice something is missing while you were around the area at the time, they’ll report you to the authorities as a suspect. For that reason, even planning the perfect heist is something you need to do carefully.
Another interesting thing happened when I picked the pockets of a weapons trader. I got their keyring and saved it so I could enter their house later and steal some swords. To my surprise, the trader changed their locks shortly after, which meant I had to steal the keyring again or pick a challenging lock to enter. This is just another of the many situations I encountered while traveling in the region, and it just shows how dedicated the dev team was to creating one of gaming’s most reactive worlds.
Yet, things don’t stop there. Fast travel is something that happens in real-time, too. Yes, you get a screen of Henry dashing through the map, but time still passes, and things can happen on the road. You might get ambushed by wolves or bandits or even get an opportunity to protect a villager. It is great to see how KCD 2 avoids staleness in some of the modern gaming features we’re used to.
Fortune Will Always Favor Brave Gameplay Choices
“Audentes fortuna iuvat,” or fortune favors the brave. This phrase echoes throughout the game in many ways that tie to the plot and the characters. However, it resonated with me because I saw it as something Warhorse Studios tried to do for Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. This sequel breaks many of the usual conventions we’ve seen in RPGs. It takes some pretty bold design choices and sticks to its guns to provide a realistic, immersive, and reactive experience like no other. And you know what? I love that way more than any other game following a formula just to make it accessible for everyone.
Overall, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is not for everyone, but that isn’t a bad thing. On the contrary, it is great that we have such polished niche games. Its world is punishing, the combat takes a while to get used to, and the realism might put a few people off. But those who stick with it will find an RPG like no other. Also, it is surprising how my launch-day PS5 ran this game so well. Loading times were fast. The visuals were top-notch with almost no issues, and I only experienced a few minor bugs that disappeared after reloading my save. There were a few noticeable lighting glitches, sadly, but the rest of KCD 2 was a smooth ride.
If this is Henry’s farewell, he goes out on the highest note. If you’re a new player, don’t be afraid of jumping into it. The sequel eases you into the story, so you never feel lost with what happened in the first entry. But if you’re a veteran player, the culmination of some of the first game’s events will leave your jaw on the floor. Regardless, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 will undoubtedly be one of 2025’s most unforgettable games.
Review copy provided by Publisher.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (PS5 Reviewed)
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 vastly improves everything from its predecessor. The combat is smoother, the story is much better, and the scope is grander than ever. It has some minor glitches, but none of them are game-breaking. Despite its size, it is one of the smoothest games in recent years and one that will go down in history books as an RPG masterpiece.
Pros
- Superb storytelling.
- Excellent build variety.
- Fantastic performance for the base PS5 version.
Cons
- A few lighting glitches.
