Hot off of wrapping up S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, I was fiending for another slightly wobbly first-person euro-RPG. So, when Warhorse Studios invited me to play a preview build of its upcoming Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, I was hungry for it. After a little homework that saw me initiate myself with the first few hours of the original game in the week leading up to this hands-on with its sequel, I was eager to see how our Bohemian peasant protagonist Henry might have matured and skilled up.
With the session running a bit over half an hour and introduced by Warhorse’s PR Manager Tobias “Sir Tobi” Stolz-Zwilling, I was surprised to find the preview build plop us into an unassuming, low-stakes side quest with a relatively collected and well-dressed Henry. The medieval simulator situated me in the town of Kuttenberg with little context for the current state of the world and events outside of its walls.
Instead, our focus is on the proud and slightly foppish Menhard of Frankfurt. Menhard is a professional teacher of martial swordplay who has been invited to Kuttenberg at the behest of King Wenceslas, the missing king mired in a war against his brother Sigismund (as in the first game). Menhard’s thick German is played extremely well, with much of his speech breaking between Germanic and loose English, emphasising the language barrier more effectively to players. Upon approaching Menhard and his assistant on the streets, Henry is tempted to enter into a wager against Menhard: a contest of swordplay.
I successfully held my own in this quick fight against Menhard. The radial targeting that made the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance a little loose and floaty is back, but noticeably refined. Rather than constantly switching between five strike angles and a stab, players will now use their mouse or right stick to ready a strike from above, either side, or simply stab. This immediately tightens up the swinginess of swordplay, allowing for more determined control over combos and steadier, more readable enemy attacks.
The star-cursor combat system has been smartly streamlined from six attack angles to four
This clash on the streets draws the attention of the nearby swordmasters who oversee the martial arts training in Kuttenberg. They are none-too-pleased by Menhard encroaching on their business, and without the king to attest to the authority of Menhard’s directive. During the ensuing arguments, Henry can sway, taunt, and argue with both parties in much the same way as the first game. Successful socialising will see relevant skills increase in typical RPG fashion. The facial animations during these cutscenes are also significantly improved, with dialogue convincingly lip-synced and excellent detail and expression on the characters’ faces. Adding stakes to these spicy conversations is a timer that will tick down, locking in a dialogue option or leaving Henry saying nothing (a valid choice with appropriate consequences).
Despite my best negotiating, the local brotherhood of swordsmen leaves the conversation quite heatedly. With Menhard endeared toward me for defending his business and nationality, he took me elsewhere to discuss a job. As he escorted me to a quieter location, I was relieved to sit back in my chair and scribble notes. With a simple press of the left-alt key, Henry will automatically trail a focused character; given the amount of walking in the first game, this little quality-of-life feature is a godsend.
When Menhard has me alone, he makes a proposition. He tasks me with stealing a sword from the brotherhood and putting it on display in the town, a symbol that the brotherhood is seeking challengers. With this, Menhard suggests, he can then beat the brotherhood in a show of skill and steel, asserting his rightful place as a competing teacher in the town.
The townscapes are mucky and lived-in
With my preview time ticking away, I play along and see where the quest takes us. The town looks great during the daytime, and I quickly navigate the dusty streets to orient myself to the brotherhood’s offices. The lighting and particle effects look delightfully high-fidelity, though turning sharp corners betrays some sloppy motion blur and frame skips. Upon finding the walled offices, I took to heart a suggestion by Warhorse’s Sir Tobi. By pressing T, players can pass time, allowing me to opt for the cover of night to hop the wall and trespass through the brotherhood’s back door.
After a quick few bouts with the elegant new lockpicking minigame, I had effectively scouted out the entirety of the brotherhood’s offices. It took me some time in the darkness to find the appropriate sword to steal, not before repeatedly alerting the patrolmen inside. Each time I alerted these guys, they would chase me about the floors of the building before I would surrender and pay them off. They would then begrudgingly escort me out the front door, where I would immediately loop back around the side street and jump the rear wall again. With several of these attempts under my belt, I freaked out when a town guard angrily advanced on me, expecting I was about to get walloped. Instead, he reproached me as suspicious for not carrying a torch during the evening. Whoops!
Finally, I managed to steal the sword unseen and make it back to the relevant part of town to display it. Despite there being only two souls nearby and not facing my direction, the game alerted me that somebody had witnessed me placing the sword. At this point, my time had run out and I was not able to see the quest resolve.
Tobi was kind enough to give us a verbal rundown on the possible consequences of what happens next. Based on the performance of my Henry, he would have caused quite a commotion the following day. Upon the brotherhood discovering their missing sword on display the next morning, they would sheepishly declare that they were now taking challengers. Somebody among the gathered townsfolk would declare that they witnessed me conduct the subterfuge that would have seen Menhard allowed to lay the smackdown on the local swordsmen. The brotherhood would then turn their ire on me, a likely thief and ne’er-do-well.
The hare under the compass gets animated depending on the NPC’s alert mood
Similar to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II seems to be much more focused on the atmosphere and exploration, freedom and dynamic world of the first game, now iterated on and improved. It is unlikely to convert those who didn’t click with its theme and historic flair the first time but should certainly capture those sympathetic to its pitch of honourable adventure in a bleak and beautiful medieval Bohemia.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II boasts a new, moved-up release date of February 5, 2024, launching on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
Previewed on PC at a preview event
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