Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 PS5 review PS5 Review RPG Warhorse Studios

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Review (PS5) – A True Medieval Power Fantasy And The First Essential RPG Of The Year

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The arrival of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is very welcome indeed. With the absolute wealth of fantasy focused RPGs, JRPGs and CRPGs that have largely saturated both the market and player tastes, it still remains something of a mystery to me why more developers and publishers aren’t bullish on crafting entries in these genres that are firmly rooted in a historical setting – especially considering the eye-brow raising commercial and critical success of Warhorse Studios debut effort, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, which offered just that back in 2018.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Review


A True Medieval Power Fantasy And The First Essential RPG Of The Year

Fast forward nearly seven years and my initial comment sadly still stands, with developers and publishers still seemingly shying away from AAA quality, epic RPGs that are directly rooted in the annals of history. Of course, the folks that haven’t retreated from that setting are Warhorse Studios who have instead doubled down on it for its epic sequel, the appropriately titled Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and in doing so, have delivered an early doors Game of the Year candidate into the bargain.

To be clear, there’s no yawning chasm in either concept or design between Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and its immediate predecessor. Instead, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is very much a continuation – albeit a refined one – in just about every sense. Most immediately this sense of continuity applies to the story. A direct follow-on from the events chronicled in Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Warhorse Studios’ sequel follows player protagonist Henry of Skalitz as he and his silver-tongued companion, the knight Hans Capon, journey across early 15th century Bohemia to take the fight to the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund and his allies.

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Where the element of surprise comes in, all least for me anyway, is in the unexpected tonal shift that Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 embraces in regards to its historical subject matter. Indeed, for those newcomers that may have erroneously concluded on initial glance that Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 was some stuffy, one-note historical RPG, the truth couldn’t be farther removed as counting myself as one of those newcomers, I also found myself pleasantly surprised by this.

Whether it’s the constantly blistering banter that occurs between Henry and Hans, or the seemingly near endless stream of cackle worthy side quests, it’s certainly fair to say that Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 had me chuckling on the regular. More specifically, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 possesses some of the most downright enjoyable side quests of any game in the last few years. Often erring towards the comedic, developer Warhorse Studios has managed to affect a similar sort of tonal split between the markedly more series main story and the side quests that Yakuza/Like A Dragon developer RGG Studio has achieved in its long running series of action RPGs.

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Though the story of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is certainly compelling, it does initially lean into the trope of having you fully-equipped at the beginning only to lose it all in the game’s opening act, requiring you to spend the rest of the game earning it all back and then some. It’s not an especially fatal flaw in the grand scheme of things, but as an increasingly shopworn plot and progression device, I couldn’t help but groan a little when it happened all the same. Once you’ve gotten past the initially action-packed and perhaps a touch overlong opening act, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 kicks into gear in earnest, reminding me that much like its predecessor, Warhorse Studios latest effort is very much rooted in a world of rules – perhaps more so than any other RPG in recent memory – and with that comes something of a learning curve to boot.

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Though obvious transgressions such as theft, trespassing and murder will get you busted and even put six feet into the ground, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 injects the sort of nuance into such acts that you wouldn’t readily find in comparable genre fare elsewhere. For example, just because nobody is around when you’re on the rob doesn’t mean you’ll get away with it in the long-term, not least because NPCs will remember how much they have in their inventory and will realise that they now have less and will question you the next time they see you. Likewise, murdering someone in secret and then expecting to just walk through a town and get away with it, sometimes won’t work either – especially if you forget to wash your guilt shroud (essentially your newly blood-stained clothes and armour).

Further afield, doing things like stalking about in the dark without a torch can result in a stern word from the local guard, while hanging around in a shop after its opening time has expired can also end up with you being shouted at to leave the premises promptly. Another thing to be wary of is sleeping. You see, though Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 invites you to sleep on just about anywhere that can put your head down, you’ll get reprimanded for committing the foul act of ‘bed theft’ and rudely awoken by a red faced villager rather annoyed that you’ve stolen their lodgings. (Hint: the only beds you can sleep in without reprimand or repercussions are the ones which invite you to ‘sleep and save’. Thank me later.)

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Really though, this rules based world that Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 couches itself in also serves to make the world feel living and reactive in the way that few games manage to achieve. Depending on how you dress, how often you wash, your reputation and any past interactions you’ve had with the populace, people will treat you differently, which can in turn make certain conversations and confrontations go entirely differently too as a direct result. If you’ve been beaten to within an inch of your life for example and take a trip into a town where you are liked, the local folks will approach you with concern and ask if they can help. Likewise the opposite is true if you enter a township or settlement where people despise you – they simply won’t care.

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A big part of what makes Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 so lively and authentic, is that every NPC has their own schedule and intelligence and as such, observing these folks go about their daily lives is a treat in itself. Rather than just stood around like cutouts, the many NPCs of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 will go about their days (and nights) as one might expect, with merchants restocking and selling their wares, alemaids pouring drinks and serving food and, of course, dudes who have had far too much to drink in the waning hours coming to blows over something both trifling and hilariously insignificant. It’s all great stuff that really makes the world of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 feel appropriately fleshed out, lived in and most importantly, alive.

From a narrative perspective, this can also inadvertently result in some cognitive dissonance sometimes however in terms of how people behave toward you within the world. In one instance, I rescued a woman’s daughter and attempted to rest up in the bed I had used before, only to be accused of burglary and both characters acted as if they had never seen me before. It’s an odd thing to be sure, but I guess part of appreciating the rules-based order that Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 has going on is that while you’re free to do practically whatever you want, it’s also easy to fall foul of those rules should you forget them.

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In terms of sheer size, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is at least twice the size of the first entry in the series, boasting two open and explorable areas (the Trotsky and Kuttenberg regions) that are absolutely filled with rural splendor that takes in all manner of forests, hills, rivers, lakes, ponds, cliffs, forts, castles, villages and so much more. This really feels like Medieval Europe and the fantastically talented cadre of artists at Warhorse Studios deserve every bit of credit for making a world that feels so historically authentic, gorgeous to look at and lived in at the same time. Getting across both regions is a fairly effortless feat as well. Whether you’re using fast travel or tearing across it by horse, both regions don’t feel too big or too small, but still encourage exploration all the same.

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Perhaps more impressive is how Warhorse Studios has filled this stunningly realised world with not just flora and fauna, but also fleshes out a whole range of different cultures as well. Not only does Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 have an in-depth lore focused encyclopaedia on everything from woodcutting to the traditions of the travelling peoples, but much of that detail can be garnered much more organically by speaking to the various folks that represent the different demographics which make up medieval Europe such as the Romani, Jewish people and more. It’s just one more example of how Warhorse Studios have painted the game world of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 with hues of authenticity that you just don’t see in other games.

Mechanically speaking and as I have already alluded to at the beginning of this review, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 doesn’t change much at all from the design bedrock established by its predecessor in 2018. One example of this is that like before you have a trusty doggo, affectionately called ‘Mutt’, that can be used to track scents and of course enjoy a good petting, but who can also be used to both distract and attack enemies during combat as well.

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Crafting remains largely the same too – which is a good thing, not least because rather than just gathering the required items and then pressing a button which somehow manifests the crafted object into existence, you actually have to put some effort into following the steps and the recipes that you have correctly. The upshot of this is that if you’re crafting a new sword say for example, you have to take the metals into the fire, use the bellows to heat them up, put them onto the anvil and hammer the metal into shape of a blade (being sure to flip over the metal to make it even), reheat the metal, hammer it again and then finally quench it in a bucket of water at the end. Though the whole task might seem tedious to some, I found it entertaining and more than that, it made the idea of crafting something in the game feel rewarding in ways crafting typically hasn’t for a while now.

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Another aspect from its predecessor that has been brought over largely wholesale is the combat. Functioning exactly as before, combat in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is largely predicated around a system where you attempt to land strikes on the exposed angles of your enemies, block incoming strikes and even pull off neat ripostes and other such deadly counterattacks to tip the scales of battle in your favour. As part of this, fighting multiple enemies is extremely challenging and can prove to be a little awkward when switching from one foe to the next, however, you do hit a point fairly early on with the melee combat side of things that it ceases to become as challenging as it should be, thanks to the deadly combination of the hugely damaging Master Strike and using Mutt during battle to both distract and outright kill your foes. Nonetheless, the only real way to improve your survival chances earlier on in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is to make sure you don’t get surrounded – which is easier said than done.

The relatively esoteric system remains in place, whereupon you can’t save where you like – to do this you need to drink a beverage called Savior Schnapps (which is easily crafted) – but instead the game will let you save by sleeping in a bed that you have bought or has been given to you. Though this isn’t much of an issue later on in the game where you have multiple places to lay your head and an ample supply of Saviour Schnapps, early on it can prove frustrating.

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Elsewhere, some old annoyances from 2018 rear their ugly heads. Only being able to track three side quests at a single time is somewhat sadly still a thing, while the map remains an unwieldy thing thanks to it not allowing you to zoom in close enough to see objectives that happen to be overlapped on top of each other. Another told bugbear is traversal. While walking, sprinting and horse riding are all fine and dandy for the most part, attempting to jump and mantle on some surfaces is hit and miss, as some surfaces look they can be easily overcome, but can’t, while others can occasionally have you stuck in the geometry (though this is nothing a cheeky bit of fast travelling can’t solve).

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Technically speaking, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is a marvel. Leveraging the latest version of CryEngine, character models boast an extremely high level of detail and great animations for the most part, while the world itself is generously stuffed with detail and some of the best daytime lighting I think I’ve ever seen. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 should also make PS5 Pro owners feel good about the purchase too, as the whole thing just absolutely busts along at 60 FPS at upscale 4K with a frankly ridiculous level of detail. A proper showcase and make no mistake.

Furthermore on the topic of technical merit, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 also happens to be one of the most watertight and stable open world titles I have ever played. With review code arriving in early January, even back then I didn’t experience a single crash or game-breaking bug. Not a single one. And to be clear, this is weeks before a ‘day zero’ patch, let alone the fix-stuffed day one update that everyone will receive when they play the game for the first time.

Though not without some flaws inherited from the previous game, Warhorse Studios has nonetheless done it again with Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. An eye-wateringly authentic, historical open world RPG that will utterly take over your life with its evocative depiction of Medieval Europe and frequently hilarious side quests, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is the single most immersive medieval power fantasy there is and the first essential RPG of the year.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 review code kindly provided by PR.

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 releases for PS5 on February 4, 2025.

Score

9

The Final Word

Though not without some flaws inherited from the previous game, Warhorse Studios has nonetheless done it again with Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. An eye-wateringly authentic, historical open world RPG that will utterly take over your life with its evocative depiction of Medieval Europe and frequently hilarious side quests, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is the single most immersive medieval power fantasy there is and the first essential RPG of the year.