Kingdom Come: Deliverance II - Henry's coming to see us on February 4th

[Stavrophore]

Judging by foliage and landscape i don't see much of graphical improvement? At least im glad its not unreal engine as they supposedly were thinking about the switch.

 

[Shin]

not sure if this is in any of the previews, but this leaked image just dropped and im wondering if its real, i think i've read that while such sunglasses were rare at the time, it's not unthinkable that a migrating swallow could've picked one of these up in an Arizona shopping mall and dropped them on his return journey.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

 

[Stavrophore]

not sure if this is in any of the previews, but this leaked image just dropped and im wondering if its real, i think i've read that while such sunglasses were rare at the time, it's not unthinkable that a migrating swallow could've picked one of these up in an Arizona shopping mall and dropped them on his return journey.

Celebrating loaf mass day after harvesting all the cotton around kuttenberg.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

not sure if this is in any of the previews, but this leaked image just dropped and im wondering if its real, i think i've read that while such sunglasses were rare at the time, it's not unthinkable that a migrating swallow could've picked one of these up in an Arizona shopping mall and dropped them on his return journey.

Henry is so chill that got invited to the cookout.

 

[Lord_Potato]

Yea by this point it's 95% certain it's real.

 

[Konjad]

Just shy of 30 hours in now. I've yet to see a black person. Not saying they're not in, but they can't exactly be common.

Of course not, don't fall for retarded 4chan users (who are also on 'dex which is disgusting and they should constantly be bullied to fuck off back to 4chan) who fall for Assassin's Creed Mirage screenshots as KCD2.

Not a single person fell for your AC screenshots from your porn folder..

Check multiple pages past this screenshot about 'muh woke kcd2 it's over vavra is blacked'
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...s-on-february-4th.150046/page-75#post-9276902

 

[Konjad]

More KCD2 leaks.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/2...some-of-the-best-parts-of-games-like-stalker/

20 hours in, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is a mad, systems-driven sandbox that captures some of the best parts of games like Stalker​

No one warned me my actions would have consequences.

(Image credit: Deep Silver)

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is an engine that spits out chaos and regret, but don't worry, I mean that as some of the highest praise I can offer a game. We're talking all sorts of consequences for my horrible, horrible decisions and Stalker-with-swords levels of weird, systems-driven mayhem.
I've rumbled with Cumans because I chose the wrong outfit; had my painstaking plans of attack disrupted by roving NPC caravans; gotten embroiled in fights that turned into grand, violent katamaris as more and more people joined in to help or hinder me; and lamented my lack of save-game potions more times than I can count. It's tremendous fun, with all sorts of bizarre variables feeding into the emergent adventures I get into. With about 20 hours in the game so far, I've barely made a dent in the main quest, so preoccupied have I been with poking at the world and seeing what reactions it spits back.




(Image credit: Deep Silver)

Unforeseen consequences​

So I can't actually tell you much about KCD2's plot—though no matter, Fraser has all the deets about its Kevin And Perry Go Bohemia narrative in his preview from last August—but I have such stories to share with you anyway. If you're the kind of sicko who delights when it all spins out of control, welcome home.
Take, for instance, my aforementioned tussle with the Cumans. One of KCD2's opening quests sees you start a bar-fight in the starting town of Trosky. About 10 hours later, once I'd accumulated a bit of money and found myself some nice, noble clothes (by absolutely battering a wandering aristo on the road) I resolved to head back and apologise to the innkeep. After all, she'd probably be more receptive now, since the difference a nice set of clothes can make in KCD is huge. People who treat you like dirt in your starting beggar's gear will bow and scrape if you turn up in some fancy pants and nice jewellery.





I was right, and the innkeeper—whose voice actor speaks with the staccato emphasis of an M1 Garand—forgave me, just so long as I'd help her out and serve the table of scary Cuman mercenaries who had dropped by for dinner. It ought to have been fine, but another diner took issue with foreign soldiers eating at the inn, and my frilly pantaloons entailed a serious hit to my capacity for intimidation (really—my intimidate dice roll was in the gutter).

So I couldn't scare him off from starting a fight, leaving a few farmers and me, in a pair of very voguish spectacles and 'jester's hose,' to face off against four heavily armed and armoured Cuman badasses. It went poorly. Worse, I had ditched off what little actual armour I had some time ago: It was in poor nick and put me over my encumbrance limit. I had no time to go and find armour because the Cumans eventually stand up and leave if no one comes to serve them. I did the only thing I could do: I sided with the Cumans instead, who would be more than capable of dealing with the angry farmers themselves. Suck it, peasants.





(Image credit: Deep Silver)

I had been boxed into a certain course of action by a whole string of seemingly unconnected decisions. Ditching my armour, stealing a noble's clothes, trying to recover some of my lost reputation in Trosky by making nice with the innkeeper, and leaving myself totally unprepared to either intimidate or defeat a hostile opponent left me with no real option but to side with an invading band of mercs over the inhabitants of a town. Material choices, ideological consequences.

Which might sound like the worst thing in the world, depending on the kind of player you are. To me and my people, though, watching on in horror as all your decisions come cascading down on you is exactly what I come to games for, and all KCD2's bristling systems deliver it in spades.





(Image credit: Deep Silver)

It's not all bad news, either. Sometimes it's just plain wacky. Like my aforementioned attempt to stealthily clear a camp of bandits, only to look on slackjawed as an enormous caravan happened to roll by and absolutely smoke everyone in it. Or how about my fight with a highway bandit? It was going pretty well until a passing huntsman decided to intervene and help me. Problem was, he sucked, and promptly pelted my shins with arrows while I tried and failed to manoeuvre my opponent between me and my 'ally'. I died and, having run out of the boozy potions you need to save your game some time prior, lost about 20 minutes of progress.

In my time with the game so far, it really can feel like some of the best parts of Stalker. My only question is how well that philosophy translates to the game's narrative. Will Henry's tale seem as consequence-driven and personal as the moment-to-moment adventures I've had so far? I can't say just yet. Maybe in another 20 hours I'll have stopped prodding the game's systems long enough to find out.

 

[Lyric Suite]

So he caved completely lmao.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/af...ul-and-blundering-boys-day-out-in-historyland

After five hours, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is a beautiful and blundering Boy's Day Out in Historyland​

Check out the arse on that open world!

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 continues the misadventures of Henry of Skalitz, 15th century Bohemian blacksmith's son and chivalric Laddy Lad, who is questing to reclaim his murdered father's sword from some absolute shit of a noble. The prologue starts you off as the handsomely equipped and fully levelled-up bodyguard of Sir Hans Capon - an exasperating gadabout and your bosom chum from the 2018 game. You're on your way to deliver a message to a distant lord, in hopes that he'll take your own lord's side in the on-going civil war. But Plot intervenes in the shape of some suspiciously familiar bandits, who slaughter your retinue and reduce Henry and Sir Hans to a pair of shirtless runaways.

In the process, Henry gets shot full of arrows and loses all of his progression points along with his endgame armour and weaponry, while undergoing a series of embedded, narrativised tutorials and woozy flashbacks that fill you in on the events of the original Deliverance. A few hours later, he wakes up on a bed that isn't his, crusted with blood and filth. It's very much the first 24 hours of the stereotypical British stag party. All it's missing is a tattoo somewhere awkward and a traffic cone full of sick.

Things continue to go sideways - as regards my savegame, at least. Henry and Sir Hans head to a hilltop castle but aren't allowed in, because nobody recognises Sir Hans when he is dressed in burlap lifted from a corpse. Then they get locked in the stocks after Sir Hans picks a fight in a tavern - again, because nobody recognises Sir Hans when he looks like a haybale rolled through a cesspit. The stag party energy is definitely wearing thin, at this point. It suggests the more grown-up kind of British stag do, when everybody secretly hates being there but feels like they have to maintain standards. Waheeey, bois, amirite? Waheey! Ah, I remember this bar. It used to be a Woolworths, and you could get a double Milky Bar for 30p. Comrades, gentlebros, I'm feeling a bit sad, actually. Can't we just go back to the Airbnb and watch Friends?

Finally, Henry and Sir Hans have a massive tiff about Sir Hans's tendency to punch people who fail to acknowledge his station, which causes Sir Hans to storm off like the insufferable blueblood loser he definitely is. Henry is left standing by the stocks on a bright summer morning, penniless and triumphantly masterless - and it's time, at last for Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 to begin. How will you rise from this dire predicament? What species of Henry will you be? A wandering thief? A silver-tongued scholar? A skilled swordsman? A good Christian? A womanising gambler? An unpredictable bum in jester's slippers?

The answer, probably, is all of this and more, depending on the situation or task at hand. Deliverance 2 is once again a freeform open world historical RPG that bustles with systems and practises social mobility like few others, though you're fundamentally beholden to your upgradeable character stats. Among its new features is the ability to switch between three clothing loadouts at whim. This is the basis, I hope, for such chameleonic shenanigans as kicking guards while draped in sackcloth, then transmogrifying into full plate armour like Superman emerging from a phonebooth.

Image credit: Deep Silver / Rock Paper Shotgun
Right now, though, after five hours of play, my Henry is a homely and peaceable flowerpicker. He and I have long since forgotten about reconciling with Sir Hans, let alone avenging Henry's dad. We amble together through the undergrowth of the "Bohemian Paradise" region, running our eyes over festive banks of roots and following the giggle of water to the glitter of hidden brooks. We go fumbling after clumps of eyebright and belladonna amid dreamy spokes of forest light, identifying plants by stem, leaf shape and colour based on a lovingly illustrated herbarium.

We pause, now and then, to wonder whether we should experiment with eating a herb to figure out its properties, or seek the opinion of an apothecary. Ah, but that would mean heading into town, which might involve meeting that oaf Sir Hans again, and it's so nice under the canopy, amirite lads? So calming. Henry does get peckish occasionally, but as luck would have it, there are lots of cabbage fields on the edge of this particular woodland. There's also the occasional bandit who murders us instantly - as in the original game, wearing the right combinations of armour really counts for a lot, and a difference in gear quality is audible in the clatter of blade on plate. But hostiles are easily evaded, when you're already roaming the undergrowth: just look for the investigating rabbit icon atop the HUD.

Image credit: Deep Silver / Rock Paper Shotgun
Deliverance 2's interface design is generally quite restrained and elegant. Menus are a bit stodgy, perhaps: they're rendered in swathes of soft leather, ornamental calligraphy and woodwork, and the insistence on materiality also (seemingly) obliges the developers to simulate the friction of shuffling bits of cloth and wood around. The map screen is a painted wartable hung with starchy paper clouds, and the codex beetles o'er with trivia about the Middle Ages.

There are some familiar HUD fixtures in the shape of a horizontal compass with quest waypoints, together with an indispensable stance indicator around your cursor during combat. As in the first game, you'll need to angle your weapon to intercept attacks, and learning to read the NPC animations beneath the iconography takes practice. But the game is careful not to overwrite its own geography to the point that the geography feels cosmetic. You have to stoop close to the ground to trigger the pop-up for a collectible herb, for example, which means you must recognise it first.

Sir Hans and his antics aside, sticking to the woods like this means that I am avoiding the detail of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's period setting, though I guess my expanding taxonomy of herbs is of a piece with Andreas Inderwildi's analysis of the 2018 game's representational politics. My haphazard foraging is arguably part of what Andreas called a tendency to view history as "an accumulation of facts", both comparable to and actively performed by the accumulation of gear and loot in an Elder Scrolls-style RPG.

As he goes on in that piece, the "realist" idea of history as a puzzle to be solved, a lost unity to be inventoried, does not, in fact, give a reliable measure of a medieval 'world' that consists of scattered and eroded documents, competing perspectives, and accidental or deliberate misinformation. Indeed, the quantitative bookishness of such historical recreation may only disguise or sanitise the choices that go into, say, the presentation of other ethnicities as murderous invaders.

I'm far too early in my Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 career to offer any kind of comprehensive appraisal here. My Henry doesn't even have shoes right now. He hasn't had a bath since the bandit attacks, which is another reason he doesn't go into villages much - as in the original game, you can douse your face and garments at horse troughs, but if you want to impress anybody halfway noble and pass the associated conversational skill checks, you'll want to be appropriately perfumed. But so far, Deliverance 2's ideas about history as a practice and 15th century Bohemia specifically feel in keeping with the first game.

Image credit: Deep Silver / Rock Paper Shotgun
In particular, it settles happily into the concept of a medieval society in which women are ornaments, bystanders, forgiving confidants, and objects of lust. The first time you see a woman in Deliverance 2's world, beyond the intro cinematics, it's as part of an Ovidian stealth tutorial where you and Hans sneak up on some bathers. The first female character you have an actual conversation with is a healer; the second is the healer's daughter, who promptly launches into the role of Henry's bedside therapist.

I don't think this is all there is to Deliverance 2's depictions of women - I've had some relatively non-lecherous chats with at least three, one of them admittedly a brothel owner - but the framework we are working with here is very much Boys Will Be Boys and Oh You (Hands On Hips). I'm interested to discover whether this will change. Deliverance 2's opening is dominated by the chemistry between Henry and Sir Hans, with Sir Hans serving as the unapologetic piece of shit who both enables Henry's boorishness and makes you feel better because you're not that bad. But there are traces of something more engaging there.

In the first game, Henry's relatively humble birth was a core plot theme, in ways familiar from many medieval romance fictions. This continues in Deliverance 2: stag party energy aside, the opening bust-up with Sir Hans is a playable commentary on how dress and appearance are more important than the colour of your blood.

Image credit: Deep Silver / Rock Paper Shotgun
At one point, Sir Hans grandly outlines the divinely ordained distinction between the peasantry, nobility and clergy, only to stumble over the question of which category Henry belongs to, exactly. Perhaps it's just the usual ludonarrative dissonance at play, but I like the idea of a historical fable that is about figuring out the class associations of a character who is "classless" in the RPG sense, able to slip between roles as the occasion demands.

With Sir Hans out of the picture, perhaps I can reinvent Henry as some kind of unbearably precocious proto-feminist. It'll mean I have to stop poisoning him with random forest mushrooms, of course, but I'm willing to make that sacrifice. Anyway, look out for my full review of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 in a handful of weeks.

 

[Larianshill]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/af...ul-and-blundering-boys-day-out-in-historyland

​

Things continue to go sideways - as regards my savegame, at least. Henry and Sir Hans head to a hilltop castle but aren't allowed in, because nobody recognises Sir Hans when he is dressed in burlap lifted from a corpse. Then they get locked in the stocks after Sir Hans picks a fight in a tavern - again, because nobody recognises Sir Hans when he looks like a haybale rolled through a cesspit. The stag party energy is definitely wearing thin, at this point. It suggests the more grown-up kind of British stag do, when everybody secretly hates being there but feels like they have to maintain standards. Waheeey, bois, amirite? Waheey! Ah, I remember this bar. It used to be a Woolworths, and you could get a double Milky Bar for 30p. Comrades, gentlebros, I'm feeling a bit sad, actually. Can't we just go back to the Airbnb and watch Friends?

Reading this is quickly becoming tiring. Aren't english majors supposed to be good at writing?

 

[Turisas]

Reading this is quickly becoming tiring. Aren't english majors supposed to be good at writing?

How fabulously optimistic of you to think they're english majors and not just some random assorted social "sciences" trash.

 

[Infinitron]

Preview roundup:

https://www.thegamer.com/kingdom-come-deliverance-2-final-preview/
https://www.vg247.com/kingdom-come-deliverance-2-preview
https://www.godisageek.com/2025/01/...2-could-be-the-ultimate-rpg-hands-on-preview/
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/2...some-of-the-best-parts-of-games-like-stalker/
https://insider-gaming.com/kingdom-come-deliverance-2-preview/
https://www.trueachievements.com/news/kingdom-come-deliverance-2-preview
https://fingerguns.net/features/2025/01/10/kingdom-come-deliverance-ii-preview-ps5/
https://www.gamingbible.com/features/kingdom-come-deliverance-2-preview-141871-20250110
https://www.thesixthaxis.com/2025/0...view-use-mace-on-bandits-its-quite-effective/
https://www.windowscentral.com/gami...avent-even-gotten-past-the-rpgs-opening-hours
https://metro.co.uk/2025/01/10/king...ands-on-preview-historic-rpg-sequel-22335842/
https://press-start.com.au/previews...l-hands-on-preview-an-incredible-improvement/
https://www.altchar.com/features/kingdom-come-deliverance-2-the-final-preview-aMoJs7F2mD07
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/af...ul-and-blundering-boys-day-out-in-historyland
https://dotesports.com/kingdom-come...-a-satisfying-return-to-a-grounded-open-world
https://www.glitched.online/kingdom-come-deliverance-ii-preview/
https://thenerdstash.com/kingdom-come-deliverance-2-hands-on-preview-a-legend-in-the-making/
https://www.psu.com/news/kingdom-come-deliverance-2-preview-ps5/
https://www.gamespew.com/2025/01/kingdom-come-deliverance-ii-preview/
https://www.gadgetguy.com.au/kingdom-come-deliverance-2-preview/
https://www.ditible.com/deliverance-ii-we-return-to-the-middle-ages-ruetir/
https://steamdeckhq.com/news/kingdom-come-deliverance-2-final-preview/
https://checkpointgaming.net/featur...-final-hands-on-preview-raisin-medieval-hell/
https://www.gamerguides.com/kingdom-come-deliverance-ii/preview
https://www.gfinityesports.com/article/kingdom-come-deliverance-2-preview
https://www.gamingdeputy.com/kingdom-come-deliverance-2-preview-p-1/
https://www.gamesradar.com/games/rp...epublic-what-the-witcher-has-done-for-poland/
https://www.videogameschronicle.com...-big-sequel-seems-like-it-was-worth-the-wait/
https://www.mirror.co.uk/gaming/kingdom-come-deliverance-2s-opening-34451447
https://www.gamepressure.com/editor...m-come-2-deliverance-im-hungry-for-more/zd74b

 

[Konjad]

No point in reading gaming journos, regardless of what game they write about.

 

[Larianshill]

Sir Hans and his antics aside, sticking to the woods like this means that I am avoiding the detail of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's period setting, though I guess my expanding taxonomy of herbs is of a piece with Andreas Inderwildi's analysis of the 2018 game's representational politics. My haphazard foraging is arguably part of what Andreas called a tendency to view history as "an accumulation of facts", both comparable to and actively performed by the accumulation of gear and loot in an Elder Scrolls-style RPG.
As he goes on in that piece, the "realist" idea of history as a puzzle to be solved, a lost unity to be inventoried, does not, in fact, give a reliable measure of a medieval 'world' that consists of scattered and eroded documents, competing perspectives, and accidental or deliberate misinformation. Indeed, the quantitative bookishness of such historical recreation may only disguise or sanitise the choices that go into, say, the presentation of other ethnicities as murderous invaders.

In particular, it settles happily into the concept of a medieval society in which women are ornaments, bystanders, forgiving confidants, and objects of lust. The first time you see a woman in Deliverance 2's world, beyond the intro cinematics, it's as part of an Ovidian stealth tutorial where you and Hans sneak up on some bathers. The first female character you have an actual conversation with is a healer; the second is the healer's daughter, who promptly launches into the role of Henry's bedside therapist.

I don't think this is all there is to Deliverance 2's depictions of women - I've had some relatively non-lecherous chats with at least three, one of them admittedly a brothel owner - but the framework we are working with here is very much Boys Will Be Boys and Oh You (Hands On Hips). I'm interested to discover whether this will change. Deliverance 2's opening is dominated by the chemistry between Henry and Sir Hans, with Sir Hans serving as the unapologetic piece of shit who both enables Henry's boorishness and makes you feel better because you're not that bad. But there are traces of something more engaging there.

You don't hate game journalists enough

 

[Justicar]

Cant wait to play based codextard GAYME the cope is hilarious already

 

[Swen]

The woke pos "journalists" will do anything to sh*t on the game.

 

[Thalstarion]

Many of those journalists read as the sort of individual to get offended if you asked how they'd feel if they had not had breakfast yet.

I'm pretty weary of such nutters whining about class differences in a historical medieval game.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Are they shitting on the game already? Not gonna read any of that shot, fuck gayming urinalists.

 

[Justicar]

Are they shitting on the game already? Not gonna read any of that shot, fuck gayming urinalists.

Nah they are shilling it nigger expect more of your brothers in the game

 

[ADL]

I've been on media blackout for this game. Has Vavra said anything about retirement? I'm hoping he has one or two more games in him, one of them being a KCD-style Mafia game in the first person.

 

[Turisas]

I've been on media blackout for this game. Has Vavra said anything about retirement? I'm hoping he has one or two more games in him, one of them being a KCD-style Mafia game in the first person.

What game dev has put out a decent game when they're past 50? Creative minds have a best used by date, past that you just end up with complete garbage.

 

[Stavrophore]

Can we get a sneak peak/prereview from some open racist/certified non troon aka. quality person who got the game key?

 

[cvv]

Are they shitting on the game already? Not gonna read any of that shot, fuck gayming urinalists.

Only RockPaperShotgun devoted half the preview to some garbled nonsense about historical representashun not being about facts and documents or... something. I don't know, it's often hard to understand the ravings of infected brains.

Oh and Eurogamer seems to be pretending the game doesn't exist since it was announced.

Everyone else acts normal so far.