REVIEW | Kingdom Come: Deliverance - sober instead of epic
Kingdom Come: Deliverance creates one of the most atmospheric open worlds I've ever experienced. To enjoy the great strengths of the medieval role-playing game, you have to forgive the medieval role-playing game, however, many things.
Kingdom Come bears much resemblance to Gothic, Elex and Co., for example, in its greatest strength: almost everything in Deliverance subscribes to the goal of creating a vibrant open world. And that succeeds. From the crude dialogues to the regular everyday life of the people to the believable landscape design of the game world - the atmosphere of Kingdom Come is a board!
And hey, you can even go hunting for boars.
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The Story
The story of Kingdom Come: Deliverance is mediocre. Sounds hard at first, but the story achieves its goals: smith son Henry is sent in the wake of catastrophic events from his home village of Skalitz across the Bohemian land and thus through all major areas of medieval life.
As players we experience the bustling trade in the town of Rattay, immerse ourselves in the unadorned routine of a Benedictine monastery in Sasau, poach in the woods, explore quarries and mining tunnels, examine the construction of medieval siege equipment, get a feel for all the flourishing crafts of the 15th century.
Blacksmiths, bakers, landlords, batsmen, hunters, gamblers, charlatans and Hussite "revolutionary-priests" - in the 30 to 40-hour main quest alone, hardly no area remains untapped. Heinrich has to take care of war-disabled refugees, learns the fear of plague, superstition and evil witches firsthand.
He learns the armor of a knight, but still fights behind the tavern and, and, and. To dive into so many areas of a virtual society in an open world creates an incredibly dense sense of being in the midst of everything. The price paid by the game is reflected in the actual plot: The narrated story is a rather shallow, conventional heroic journey.
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Down to earth hero's journey
Yes, Kingdom Come does without the lofty super-epic of a Chosen Knight who single-handedly saves the world. One is a tiny gear in a much larger aristocratic conflict whose dimensions unfold only after the end credits in the epilogue.
This gives the campaign noticeable credibility. But also in the "small format" exciting and innovative stories can be told - here, Deliverance exploits its potential far too rarely. Heinrich transforms from a harmless youth to a hardened warrior, comes across a big conspiracy and moves in the campaign from one straw man to the next.
This results in some wonderfully staged battles, and occasionally offers very entertaining moments.
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Deliverance is not a skyrim
But quite a quest-based story role-playing game. Sure, there are already some bandits or other attractions in the world to discover, but you should not be fooled: What drives the player really forward, are the stories of the numerous main and side quests.
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Fetch Quests
Anyone throwing a look into his quest journal after nearly 30 hours of play could quickly reproach Kingdom Come for the wrong allegations. There you can find jobs of the quality class "bring me 20 bunny legs", "collect ten poppies" and "steal five tabards". However, behind these tasks, unlike the dull collecting quests of a Mass Effect: Andromeda, almost always entertaining and / or atmospheric activities are concealed.
For example, in order to reach the armored coats, at night Heinrich has to secretly break into the armory of Talmberg Castle. The hare legs, however, presuppose a successful hunt: Behind the killing of animals hides an atmospheric ride into the Bohemian forest and the skillful handling of the bow.
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No quicksave
Kingdom Come saves occasionally when accepting or performing quests, sleeping in your own bed and using a special item. In theory, this should educate players to be careful and, in case of doubt, force them to live with mistakes because they do not want to play 30 minutes again.
Most quests include our failure and continue anyway. In practice, the saving potions are very expensive at the beginning. So you end up at the fateful crossroads: I still have an appointment, must actually go out, but lose 35 minutes of progression. So now you run back in a tavern, pay the host, and sleep for an hour in the Bed to save.
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Is Kingdom Come riddled with bugs?
And with that we would be at the question of the bugs. The good news first: Kingdom Come plays roughly good. I did not have a single game crash in over 60 hours, the campaign could be mastered without any major problems and in general you can not speak of a bug fiasco here, as in Gothic 3. In detail, however, various glitches and small bugs, for which the developers would have had to take a few more weeks .
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CONCLUSION
Kingdom Come is without a doubt one the most daring role-playing games of recent years. It subordinates almost everything to the great goal of creating a credible medieval experience. If need be, also the fun of playing. An example of this is the first drill on the bow when I am finally trained to become a soldier after several hours of play.
My arrows fly past the target, while I am mocked by a noble - pardon - asshole. No, that does not feel good. But it suits my role as a completely untrained blacksmith apprentice. If you can get involved in it and get along, to be anything but a hero.
Because in many ways, Kingdom Come is more like an everyday simulation than a classic RPG. I have to sleep, eat, treat injuries as well as illnesses and even pay attention to my personal hygiene. This always erodes into real work and can sometimes even annoy hard, for example, if I can not just finish the game and save, but first fulfill the quest and then still have to traipse to the next bed.
Many players will hate this and leave Kingdom Come disappointed after a few hours, especially as it is technically anything but mature. However, those who can afford to renounce comfort and genre conventions when immersed in a fascinating medieval life can not miss Kingdom Come. But maybe wait another two weeks for the biggest bugs to be removed.