Kingdom Come: Deliverance Preview

Introduction

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a historically accurate video game coming to PC for Windows, OS X and even Linux. The upcoming role-playing title has also been confirmed for a later release on the XBOX One and Playstation 4 consoles.

Unlike other role-playing games that rely heavily on fantasy and other unreal elements, Kingdom Come: Deliverance is going for a realistic approach. The developer, Warhorse Studios is seriously obsessed with realism and making everything authentic, from the combat system to the highly interactive world. Armor, clothing, combat, castles and other elements featured in the game will be as accurate as possible thanks to the assistance of both historians and architects.

Gameplay

Gameplay in Kingdom Come: Deliverance is going to be a bit different from other role-playing titles due to the emphasis on realism. In the game, players will be able to customize their skills with freedom, as it will feature a classless system. This means you are not forced to be a warrior, bard or thief, and instead you will be able to customize your skills to be something in between (if that’s what you desire). Conversation in this game is going to interesting, and you will have a limited amount of time to make a decision during conversation. The choices you make are very important, as the reputation you build in the game can have both positive and negative consequences.

Some of the realistic elements include the need to sleep and eat in order to stay healthy, this is what we’re calling the needs system. The different types of clothing will provide you with different levels of protection, with some of them being more effective at protecting you from certain weapons. In another effort to make the game realistic, the clothes will actually get more worn as you wear them, so expect to see them get bloody and dirty as you play.

Weapons featured in the game include knives, swords, axes, bows, crossbows and hammers. It’s also worth mentioning that you won’t always be stuck on foot, and there is a brilliant feature that allows you to fight from horseback. Yes, warhorses are very competent and steeds will level up on their own throughout the game. They also feature five slots for you to add armor and other attachments.

There are 16 item slots in the clothing system, as well as the ability to layer certain areas of the body. For example, the heavily armored knight might wear a gambeson with plate armor and a tabard over top. Basically, the chest slots can have a total of four pieces of clothing.

Foods and other items will actually spoil after a certain amount of time, so you can’t just stock up on food like you can in other games. Your weapons will degrade over time so it is crucial that you repair or upgrade weapons often throughout your journey. It’s not as simple as visiting someone in town to get your weapons repaired, as you will have to play skill or stat-based minigames for tasks like weapon or armor repair. Same thing for crafting items, where you can do anything from fishing to cooking and even distilling alcohol.

Combat isn’t as simple as building up a defense and attack stat number, and each layer of clothing will protect you from various attacks. Each location will have a specific defense stat, and the total defense number from your armor won’t mean every part of your body is protected the same. The game features a large selection of hand weapons, but players can also use the more difficult to master bows.

The Setting and Story

Kingdom Come: Deliverance will throw you in a realistic Kingdom of Bohemia in the year 1403, which is at the very end of the European Middle Ages. The story revolves around the son of a blacksmith seeking revenge for the death of his family who was killed by an invading army. Basically, when the king died, his heir didn’t have the power to secure his throne, not even from his brother who kidnapped him to take his place. You will play as the son of a blacksmith and your main quest is to get revenge and restore the rightful ruler to the throne.

Is the story based on real kings? Yes, actually the mentioned kings are historical figures that you probably learned about in school! Charles IV, Wenceslaus IV and Sigismund. It’s hard to tell how accurate the game brought these figures to life, but we know they are going for the most realistic and accurate approach, so expect to see a lot of truth in the story and characters’ behavior.

Usually medieval games are full of fantasy and other unreal elements, and these games have been around since text-based gaming was popular. After all this time, a video game developer has finally agreed to take on a realistic approach, making the game as historically accurate as possible. What does this mean for you? Well, it means there won’t be any dragons or other fictional beasts. Really, I think it’s about time a developer has attempted to make a historically accurate RPG, it’s not like the real world was so boring that a realistic adventure wouldn’t appeal to gamers.

In this game you will be placed inside a huge sandbox world, based on real events and locations. Fight in a real civil war set in the 15th century and actually experience life how it was in that specific period of time. When you look at the landscape and building, you are looking at exact replicas. The sixteen square miles of landscape featured in the demo was actually based off satellite imagery for the most accurate environment possible.

They didn’t just get the details right on larger elements, as they left out things like tomatoes and corn that weren’t available at the time. During that time, only brown chickens were available and those are the only chickens you will find in the game. It seems like everything is accurate!

In the demo it didn’t seem like there were many people in the world, but when you did run into someone you would find that they’re on their own daily schedule, instead of simply standing in one spot waiting for you to talk to them. It really is a complex feature that sets this game apart from the competition. A certain blacksmith will work making swords during the daytime, but he will leave for both lunch and dinner. However, if the place he goes to is packed he will leave to go to another preferred restaurant. In the evenings, you can find him at the pub.

Characters in Kingdom Come: Deliverance have more than a daily schedule; they each have a reputation meter of their own. This is perhaps one of the most advanced AI ever created in an open-world RPG. It is clear that the AI actually consumes more resources than the groundbreaking visuals in this massive world.

Conclusion

It’s really exciting to know there is a realistic medieval RPG launching in the near future! The genre is overpopulated with fantasy games, with many titles copying elements directly from others. It’s a genre that needs something new, and I believe Kingdom Come: Deliverance is exactly that. It’s new because it’s historically accurate, so much so that even historians will appreciate the realistic world.

As of now, Kingdom Come: Deliverance is expected to launch in Q2 or Q3 2016 for PC, and the XBOX One/PS4 version will arrive shortly after. Check out the video below for a preview of the gameplay and leave a comment below to let us know what you think about the upcoming RPG…