The reveal that Warhorse Studios is returning for a sequel to its breakout medieval action RPG, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, is not only great news for fans of the original game but also a very welcome addition to what is still a very vacant back half of this year for new game releases. It’s also just nice to see a game announced that’s not three, four, five years in the future but launching within a matter of months.
Yes, after working away in near-silence for almost six years, Warhorse is launching Kingdom Come: Deliverance II “by the end of this year.”
In the roughly-13-minute announcement video, which we were lucky enough to see ahead of the public reveal, the studio is quick to recognise this sequel as the game it had wanted to make from the very beginning, and now with a much larger team of around 250 developers, a bigger budget and more ambition it’s set out to see that dream through.
What all those resources and all that time amount to, is a vision of medieval Europe that’s far larger in scale and scope than the original Kingdom Come, finally taking players to the city of Kuttenberg and putting it at the heart of this new game. In the video, creative director Daniel Vavra even describes Kuttenberg and its surrounds as being “too big, in my opinion.”
But a bigger world seemingly isn’t the primary goal here with the studio more interested in really selling the medieval role-playing fantasy that the first game boldly attempted to capture. Like before, combat is set to be incredibly physical and visceral and “historically accurate” in a way that will mean every foe feels like a dire threat and every encounter feels like life or death. “We want you to fight for your life,” says design & combat director, Viktor Bocan. The sequel adds new weapon types as well, like crossbows and even some very early firearms.
That penchant for immersion carries over to some of the other areas of improvement in the game, especially when it comes to interactions with the citizens of Kuttenberg. Despite being a returning protagonist, the team says that Henry’s still young enough that both new and existing players should feel valid in shaping his actions and his morals over the course of the game, and his actions will be better reflected by the world around him. Warhorse promises that your actions throughout the game will be remembered “forever,” which is an enticing proposition.
Something I’m very excited to see play out is the idea of not just other characters reacting naturally to Henry’s actions, but Henry being able to react back, such as apologising to someone who’s remarked at an offensive action. Other games with “reactive” NPCs tend to stop at the halfway point of a genuine interaction so I really hope what the team is alluding to in the reveal video is actually how things play out.
Of course, none of this would mean much without a gripping story to engage with, and Warhorse is promising a lot there, as well. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II will supposedly feature more than five hours of cinematics as Henry goes on his journey of revenge against the King of Hungary, Sigismund, and his allies.
Based on what’s shown in the reveal, it’ll be a very handsome journey as well, and not just because of the duo of Henry and Sir Hans, played by Tom McKay and Luke Dale respectively. Moving from the mud-covered roads and rough dwellings of the outskirts of the region into a much wider and more diverse area that includes the enormous city, means that there’s a huge shift towards vibrancy and colour here that’s already very noticeable. Developed once again in CryEngine, it does look quite stunning, though it’s no doubt being introduced in its best possible form.
It seem as though the score will also be a highlight yet once again, with Jan Valta back to compose with the appropriate suite of strings, wind and Gregorian chants.
By all means, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II looks poised to, well, deliver on a lot of the promise of the original game. And with almost six years to build on it, the team at Warhorse Studios seems pretty confident that they’re going to pull it all off – and soon.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC later this year. Take a look at the reveal trailer below:
