The streets of Kutná Hora (or Kuttenberg if you’re German) are awash with vendors and townspeople, under a bright and hazy sky. You approach a gentleman by the name of Menhard von Frankfurt, who decrees that he has been invited by King Wenceslas as a Meister of Swords. He offers to prove his skill with a training session, to which you gladly accept. Passersby stop to watch as you and Menhard trade skills and slashes, a flurry of blocks and thrusts bringing the clanging sounds of metal.
Suddenly, the duel is over – and you and Menhard are both being accosted by the town’s brotherhood of swords, bringing disrepute into Kutná Hora. Menhard pleads his case – that he’s here on decree of the King, but the brotherhood won’t listen. You gain some reputation skills by talking them out of booting him from the town, though you part with a few Groschen (currency) in the process. Frustrated, Menhard and his apprentice Arne retire to their inn, downtrodden but not defeated as they concoct a plan not only to show that they are the better swordsmen, but that they are here for a reason – to improve the sword fighting skills of the town.
Menhard asks you to steal the brotherhood’s guild sword, and hang it on the walls of Kutná Hora – indicating a challenge. Do you go immediately and hope that you don’t get caught? Or do you wait until nightfall and sneak your way in, ensuring a peaceful and sneaky theft? Or do you skip the stealth entirely and go in all swords blazing, in the hope that you make it out alive to cast the challenge?
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We recently sat down with a hands-on experience for Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, the anticipated sequel to the original game that launched in 2018. Warhorse Studios has really upped the ante in all senses – promising bigger and more enthralling set pieces, smoother learning curves for their intricate game systems, and a campaign that if done right will last for 80-100 hours. But it’s more than just a sequel to the original game – every task and quest that you complete has meaning on the world, and your story can change significantly with the decisions you make.
“We don’t drag you by the arm and drag you through the game or something, it still requires you to think about the situation… We tell you steal the sword, but how you do it is really up to you and there’s no visual hints or GPS or whatever, you have to like come up with your own ideas.” – Tobias Stolz-Zwilling
The side quest that we played had so many alternatives and options that even the simplest decision could have changed the task at hand. As Henry of Skalitz, I fought to ensure that Menhard wasn’t kicked out of the town for causing a disturbance, even going as far as to speak out for him and pay the fines that were being imposed on us for fighting in the streets. But what if I’d stayed silent? Or worse, provoked the brotherhood? For even such a small sidequest, the implications felt massive. Once the situation was de-escalated, Menhard asked me to steal the guild sword and hang it on the wall; his endearing combination of English and German making for a confusing but fun interaction.
Tobias Stolz-Zwilling, head of Global PR for Warhorse Studios, advocated for us to try different tactics when approaching the idea of stealing the sword; one of those being to do so at night. Finding a comfortable place, I set Henry down and slept for a total of six hours, awakening in the evening – and suddenly, Kutná Hora was a totally different place. Townsfolk kept telling me off for walking around in the dark without a torch, or questioning what I was doing. The hustle and bustle of everyday life was now replaced with guards and people heading home; and it meant that the brotherhood’s headquarters were now unguarded. I made my way through a back entrance, and with a little guidance from Tobias, picked a lock to gain access. Not knowing what could be around the corner, I tread carefully and headed upstairs, being met with a warning that where I was currently was forbidden, and if I was caught I would be in serious trouble. Thankfully I found the sword and hightailed it out of there, hanging it in its designated location to indicate the challenge. After visiting Menhard who told me to come back in the morning, I went back to the same bed for some rest, before awakening to continue the quest.
“The quest you played today – you had to steal the sword. If you went to the location during the day, all the doors are open; but everyone is there and awake, and they are all roaming around, so stealth gameplay will be harder. But if you enter the location during the night, the doors are locked, but its easier to move around because everyone is asleep or not around. The daily cycles are there not to be abused, but for you to work with them and use them to your advantage – if you try things during the day and fail, you can try again at night. Or you can poison their food, they all die, but then another NPC will not like that you killed people.” – Tobias Stolz-Zwilling
Morning comes around and we head to the square, where Menhard calls out the challenge – and the brotherhood and current Meister of swords are rightfully pissed. After some prompting, you can decide to join Menhard’s side as they need one extra swordsman, and so he and Arne train you to make sure of your skills. This is where it all fell apart for me; as someone who didn’t play the first game, I was totally unprepared for how deep the combat system would be. Several times I tried and failed to best Arne in one-on-one combat, and each time I found myself injured and being told to find a bathhouse or rest up. The ‘star’ that appears when battling is one that seems very average to begin with, but the more you play the more you realise your tactics – defending from one angle, attacking from another, and not going in swinging wildly unless the situation calls for it. But as complex as it appears, the combat has been simplified from the first game – not so much in that it completely ditches the original mechanic, but it gives you more flexibility in attacking and defending, leading to more fluid and exciting battles.
“Combat was the biggest feature from KCD that got reworked the most – but when I say reworked, we didn’t change the basis of it. It’s still similar to the first game, swordplay with different attacking zones, but we tried to make it more accessible for the players, so that the learning curve wasn’t as steep as it was before.” – Tobias Stolz-Zwilling
I never did get to defeat Arne in combat, as my time with the game was up by this point. But a testament to just how much can be done in the game – other players from other outlets didn’t even make it that far. One player got so engrossed with the addictive dice game that they played that the entire time, and never even made it to stealing the sword – accidentally spending most of the time working out the mini-game’s mechanics to win. I also got sidetracked at one point, mores to work out how to heal and rest Henry after battle – there was only so many times I can sleep in beds before I’m no longer able to simply rest up to heal my wounds, instead having to traverse Kutná Hora to find the bathhouse and have my wounds and clothing tended to, and be bathed and healed.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II takes the openness and complexities of the first game and makes them so much richer and more exciting in the sequel, and it’s clear that with 80 – 100 hours of gameplay in main quests and sidequests, there is never going to be a dull moment where nothing is taking place – giving you the opportunity to craft the story how you wish.
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 launches on February 4th. The cheapest price is $89 from Amazon with free shipping.
