By the time Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 comes out, it’ll have been seven years since the first game’s release, which was a pretty impressive game upon release. It is an open-world, historical medieval RPG with a deep combat system emphasizing authenticity. So you may be wondering where you go from that, and the answer’s simple: double down on everything that worked and improve the things that didn’t.
The Return to 15th Century Bohemia
Set in 15th-century Bohemia, you’re once again in the shoes of Henry of Skalitz with the game picking up where the previous one left off with Henry on the way to deliver a letter to a nobleman. The sequel then deals with a civil war that plagues the country, but instead of delving further into that, my time with the game was focused on a smaller side quest.
My demo began with me meeting Menhard von Frankfurt, who’s supposed to be the new sword master of the town I’m in, only for him to butt heads with the current guild members due to some good ‘ol-fashioned bigotry. After a brief dialog where both sides met at an impasse, I opted to side with Menhard and he laid out his plan of showing off that he’s the best sword master in town. He simply needs to challenge the current master and defeat him, showing without a doubt he’s the best fit for the job. The only issue is the guild won’t accept his challenge, so to force their hand, Henry has to sneak into the guild’s manor, steal their ceremonial sword, and place it in the town square which will allow anyone to propose a challenge to the guild. Seems like a whole lot of ME doing things while this dude sits, but I suppose he is the sword master, not the “commit home robbery” master.
This is when my demo began proper, as I was then free to explore the city to my heart’s desire, although I desired to steal so I stuck to the questline instead of properly exploring. I made sure to take in the sights on my way to my objective though, and what I saw was a bustling town full of people going about their day and really making the area feel lived in. The town is easy to get lost in too, as alleys go in every direction, but I eventually made it to the guildhall. After waiting till night to make sure everyone would be asleep, I hopped a wall and got to work breaking into the building. The lockpicking minigame is honestly probably one of the best in a game, it’s simple and direct, but can get harder with higher difficulty locks; it’s not like most in the genre where you have to keep picking random spots till one works.
After getting into the building I immediately began rummaging through their stuff to take anything that wasn’t bolted down; I’m here to take a sword but that doesn’t mean I can’t swipe a few extra goodies. Carefully tiptoeing my way around the building I eventually found what I’ve been looking for, carefully hung above a fireplace so I swiped it and scurried outta there. I eventually made my way to the town square where I propped it in its designated spot and waited for the ruckus to start. Eventually, a crowd formed and the guild members were not happy about what happened, but it allowed Menhard to issue his challenge like he wanted and that’s unfortunately where my demo ended. It was a nice tease into how hefty these sidequests can be, which left me eager to see how in-depth a mainline quest would be after seeing how many choices/paths I could’ve taken on just this side quest alone.
Every Choice Matters in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
I was told from where I left off, I would’ve then had the option to join Menhard in a 3v3 duel against the guild members to help cap off his quest. Alternatively, there was an earlier dialog option where I convinced a law officer to not banish Menhard from the town. If I hadn’t succeeded in that dialog check, the quest would’ve continued but from a drastically different perspective as I would’ve had to work with him in his town exile. It was interesting to see how drastic some of my choices could have been.
Overall, my time with Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 left me eager to dive back into Bohemia and see the conclusion of Henry’s story, which you’ll be able to experience when the game launches sometime next year.
