The year is 1403. On the orders of the Hungarian king Sigismund, Cuman mercenaries raid the mining village of Skalitz in Bohemia, a major source of silver. One of the survivors of the massacre, a blacksmith's apprentice named Henry, joins the service of Lord Radzig Kobyla who leads a resistance movement against Sigismund's invasion.
It is par for the course for a protagonist to start off weak, the intent being for the player to mold them into something worthwhile over time. This is also true of Henry, except that he starts off significantly weaker than is typical for most games. We're talking no skills in every area, including blacksmithing, the very craft he was raised on. Henry may even lose a fist fight to the local drunkard within the first hour. The level of commitment required to improve Henry's skills can be discouraging at times. Lockpicking for example, was extremely hard (at least on console) for the first one to three levels. During the tutorial with a very easy lock, I managed to break every lockpick I was given (about 20) and never came close to actually opening the chest. I failed the "easy" training session so many times that the game actually gave up on me. My lockpicking skill hadn't improved either and I was no closer to understanding how the lockpicking mechanic even worked
It makes sense though. Henry is meant to be a filthy, disposable peasant in a time when social status and lineage determined everything about someone. Henry really has to work to build himself up, to prove to the nobility that he is worthy of the position he has been gifted. Gaining those first few levels will take a lot of effort, but once you have them the game starts to become trivially easy.
It is so easy to mess things up that I started role-playing Henry as a complete dolt. Riding atop his mighty steed, Pebbles (the worst horse in the game), he would show up late to every battle, and offend every person of status. He pigs out on free gruel pots wherever he finds them and turns down comfy beds in the castle for the squalor of a run down shack, preferably with a straw bed intended for livestock.
The player is expected to legitimately "role play". For example, Henry will get hungry and need to eat. He will also get tired and need to sleep. Eating spoiled food runs the risk of contracting a sickness, and sleeping in someone else's bed will earn you the ire of its owner. Every aspect of Henry's appearance will impact his interactions with the NPCs. Clothing and armor will accumulate dirt and wear down over time, requiring repair and cleaning if you want to make a good impression. Alternatively, blood drenched attire can be used to intimidate. Dark clothes, lacking in shiny trinkets or noisy metal pieces, make sneaking easier.
There are multiple ways to approach a quest objective as well. During an early reconnaissance mission for example, you can weaken the enemy force by poisoning their food, sabotaging their arrow supplies, and by stealing their gear while they sleep. You could even don a disguise and pretend to be one of their own, but will be found out if your gear is too damaged or if you fail to play the part convincingly. At the end of the day Kingdom Come is still a game. So everything from reading to sword fighting is tied to skill levels that determine how effective they are. If you ever find yourself struggling with something, a few skill points in the right area will make all the difference.
Just like in real life, fighting is something the player is encouraged to avoid, particularly when outnumbered. Not all fights can be avoided - bandits wander the woodlands, Cumans lay in ambush, and thieves come out at night. Kingdom Come's fighting mechanic is based on real life combat - strikes or stabs to specific areas of an opponents body. Each hit or block uses stamina, which will leave you vulnerable if it is depleted. The player is encouraged to stay in motion, remain unpredictable with their strikes, and even bluff in order to get the upper-hand. Even the gear each combatant is wearing will factor into the fight: how much it weighs, how much of the body is armored, its impact on visibility, and whether it protects against cutting or blunt weapons. It is an elegantly simple system that is simultaneously tricky to master.
Unprotected, vulnerable areas like the face can lead to an instant kill.
There is a steep learning curve to the various mechanics that is further compounded by how poorly the game explains itself. There is an extensive tutorial and codex section, but even that did not adequately explain all of the games systems. For example, I was assaulted by a bandit early in the game and died multiple times because I had no idea how to draw a sword - I didn't even know that that was something I had to do. I had taken the combat training tutorial and read the codex entries on the subject, but having to draw your weapon (and the associated controls) were never mentioned.
You can outfit your warhorse with a better bridle, horseshoes (speed), saddle (carry capacity), and caparison (armor). However, the horseback combat is fiddly and imprecise - clearly an afterthought. The horse gear also wears down incredibly fast, making it impractical for use in battle. I still appreciate the effort they put in, even if most of it is just for decoration.
I was just as confused by the narrative at times. For example, during my attempted escape of Talmberg Castle (where I was being kept against my will), I was caught trying to pick a lock. As punishment I was jailed for a day and then thrown out onto the road just outside of Talmberg. My goal was to get out of Talmberg, but didn't Radzig want me to stay on Talmberg grounds? Were the guards not informed? Other times I couldn't understand what the game expected me to do, or what assumptions it intended for me to make. There was this one side quest that waned me to lay down traps for some escaped songbirds. I knew where to place the traps but not how. Apparently, the player is supposed to drop the traps using the same action that is used for disposing of unwanted items. The game's logic can be puzzling. I would lose or gain reputation without understanding why. Henry would lash out at Nobles and get away with a lecture, but if I needed five minutes to get supplies and repairs done before a major battle that would be the end of me. I even saved three grieving widows from bandits and the game made sure to tell me, in no uncertain terms, what a terrible person I was for doing so. I had Henry messing up so much (at least by the game's standards) that I couldn't understand why Radzig kept someone so incompetent around.
One other minor complaint is how Kingdom Come: Deliverance opts for one manual save backed up by an autosaves system. The problem with this system is that the game needs to be bug-free, or very close to it, otherwise you run the risk of an entire playthrough being rendered mute by a single glitch. Not to mention how far back the player can be set if they get a game over and the last save/autosave is from hours ago. I had this happen for entering a private residence (the guards barracks) while looking for a place to sleep and then not leaving the area fast enough. I even had to repeat one section 12 times because the last autosave trapped me in a section where I was half dead and unable to re-supply. I also had to spend 5 to 10mins each time searching the forest because the game autosaved right before the search, but not again after finding the target.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance lacks clarity and can be punishingly unforgiving, but its ambition is to be admired. There is plenty of pure-RPG fun to be had provided you can forgive the rough edges.
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