Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Review – THE MOST AMBITIOUS RPG EVER?

Kingdom Come Deliverance II was really intriguing right from the outset. Diving straight into the thick of it, the game really does not hold anything back. Clearly, the devs have learned what can happen if you start out way too slow! Despite knowing how good the first game was, I must admit, I was still surprised at just how much I enjoyed this sequel.

The Killer Story of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II

The narrative is easily one of the best parts of Kingdom Come Deliverance II. Starting you off in the boots of Father Godwin as you help to defend a castle, before throwing you back in time to Henry and Lord Capon riding to a foreign land was such a great way to give a sense of what to expect, without showing too much. I can’t say I am always a big fan of the ‘start in the middle’ approach. However, with a game like Kingdom Come, where we know that it still has the potential to slow things right down, this introduction worked perfectly—and it only gets better from there. 

With the constant twists and turns along the way, as well as the optional quests that can change the course of events, this story is honestly hard to predict at times. Knowing who to trust and what to believe becomes a central part of the story. There were genuinely quite a few moments where I was caught by surprise, not expecting certain events to take place, or characters to respond in a certain way. And the payoff to these moments was always rewarding narratively, whether good or bad. I won’t say too much more on the narrative though, for the sake of avoiding spoilers.

The Brilliant Dialogue Choices!

This game’s dialogue, both in cutscenes and out in the world, are done so well, that you will feel like you are living in the world at times. However, that’s not to say that this game doesn’t have its fair share of awkward dialogue! Occasionally, characters will have conversations that would only make George Lucas proud! This didn’t bother me too much, but it did make the dialogue just sound a bit hollow at times. 

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II has such a great sense of humour as well. Characters will respond to your dialogue options with some hilarious quips. This helps to lighten the mood of a pretty intense story! And most of the time, it even got a genuine laugh out of me. 

The Brutal Gameplay

If you’ve played the first Kingdom Come game, then you know almost exactly what to expect with the gameplay here. Though there have been a couple of tweaks, more on this later. But for all those who are new to the series, here is a quick rundown. Realism is a key focus of Kingdom Come Deliverance. Often, most games that claim this will still allow for some game-y tropes, whereas here, it’s a lot more strict.

If you walk your horse into a guard—even if by accident—they may attack. Steal someone’s items and try to sell them off; you’ll have to wait for a while before trying to pawn them off, unless you’re happy to get caught. Kill a guard, steal his armour and walk up to his companions; they will notice his armour and attack you. You are in a world that requires you to follow the rules. So if you decide to be a criminal—as you do have a choice—you will have to cover up your crimes in order to not get caught. 

The game revels in these realism mechanics. Oftentimes, it causes the game to be more challenging than you might expect. For example, one mission tasked me to sneak past guards that were on the lookout for me. I had to resist the urge to unleash my inner dark knight with a mass murder problem! Every time I attempted to stealth kill, I would eventually get caught. Whether it was because a guard saw me from a distance, or someone found the body, an alert almost always occurred. This made me have to think about my choices more carefully, and I really enjoyed that.

Combat is Far Superior to the First Game!

This also applies to battle! You actually have to think about the situation you’re in rather than just spamming the attack button. As I mentioned, the gameplay, particularly in combat, has seen some slight changes. Instead of the 5-point star system that was used in the first game, this sequel has opted to a 4-point system (with the bottom being stab). This made combos much easier to pull off than the first. As a result, the combat as a whole feels a lot more fluid. You still use your right stick (or mouse) to choose the direction to attack from, but the combat just feels much smoother. Counters also feel more satisfying to perform, allowing for a lot of those counterattacks to do some serious damage. That is, unless your opponent counters your counter.

Traveling Around Kingdom Come: Deliverance II

The gameplay as a whole definitely feels much better than the first, but it’s still not perfect. At times, riding your horse can still feel quite awkward. Your steed may occasionally be unresponsive as you try to steer it around obstacles, and instead just run ahead causing your head to collide with a branch. Again, this isn’t that big of a deal! It just becomes a little annoying when navigating your horse through tighter areas. But let’s be honest, you won’t use your horse that much, especially when you have access to fast travel.

Whilst fast travel is nothing new, in Kingdom Come II it is done in a really thoughtful way! You won’t feel like you are just skipping adventuring through the plains. Random chance encounters can occur as you travel from place to place, and you have the option to respond to them, or attempt to keep moving. I really did like this aspect of the game, as it removed a lot of the trudging through similar scenery, whilst still allowing me to enjoy the encounters that can be found out in the open world.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Has Some Issues…

Another big positive in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is its visual design. The environments look absolutely stunning and the game features some really decent character models. The only problem is that, in dialogue moments, the facial expressions and lipsync can be out of wack, giving these characters a sort of janky-like appearance.

It’s not too big a deal, but it did make some serious moments come across as slightly funny with all the *ahem* unique expressions. I did also encounter a fair few moments where blurry pixels would flicker around different areas on the screen which can be a little distracting and break the immersion, but this happened relatively infrequently. 

Unfortunately, it was actually the audio department which was the biggest let down in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. I don’t mean the music, dialogue or sound effects themselves, as they all played their parts well. But instead, it was the actual audio playback that was the problem. I frequently had issues with the audio sounding like it was crackling, or sound effects getting cut off too early, as well as dialogue just not matching lip movements or subtitles. Most of my playthrough was with headphones, and I’ll admit that I noticed it slightly less when using my TV’s speakers, but this was something that happened way too regularly for me to ignore. I wouldn’t be surprised if an update comes to fix this up. But at the moment, it can be a little annoying hearing audio cut in and out at random times.

Performance on PS5

I played Kingdom Come: Deliverance II on my base PS5, and I must say, it performs rather well. Mind you, I did choose the performance option for my playthrough, and I am glad I did, because it runs quite smoothly with the game hitting 60FPS relatively consistently. I did try it in fidelity mode, and the performance difference is quite substantial, with the frame rate often dropping significantly. So, if you have a base PS5, stick to performance mode.

I also encountered my fair share of crashes. I had a near-perfect experience for the first 10 hours, but then had the game crash on me multiple times across the next two. Admittedly, after this stint of crashes, the game seemed to stabilise again, as I hadn’t had any crashes since. But it is worth being aware of this, especially with the game’s limited save options, a crash at the wrong time could lead to replaying an entire hour’s worth of content.

Decision

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is an absolutely brilliant experience. The satisfying, yet challenging combat, combined with an exciting narrative, creates a compelling experience that will have you hooked for hours on end. There were a few moments of frustration, mainly with the occasional visual bugs and glitches, but that didn’t stop me from really getting immersed in this sequel’s world. Do yourself a favour and give Kingdom Come: Deliverance II a shot! I’m sure you won’t regret it!

By Samuel Incze – Reviewed on PlayStation 5

Excellent

Kingdom Come Deliverance II impresses with its engaging story, complex characters, and realistic gameplay, improving upon the first game’s mechanics with a more fluid combat system. While the game shines in its narrative and challenging gameplay, it’s let down by occasional visual glitches, awkward facial animations, and persistent audio issues. Despite these flaws, the immersive world. brutal combat and compelling story are very well worth experiencing!

This game was reviewed using a download code provided by Deep Silver and Plaion. The Beta Network uses affiliate partnerships, however, this does not influence reviews or any other content published. The Beta Network may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links that are on the website.

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