Following media previews, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 has been embroiled in nonsensical controversies, first for its inclusion of Black characters, and then for its allegedly unskippable queer romance scene. With rumors spreading that its pre-orders dropped as a result of its diverse cast, Warhorse co-owner Daniel Vávra has been quick to speak up and correct the narrative.
On Friday, January 10, the Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 preview embargo lifted. Since then, players have analyzed every publically available inch of the upcoming medieval RPG.
While the 2018 original was criticized for its lack of diversity, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 has come under fire for the opposite. Branded ‘woke’ by some, the game’s inclusion of people of color and queer romance has prompted an online backlash.
A video from Sunday, January 19 claims that said controversy has resulted in “mass pre-order refunds as developer loses trust.” It claims that between KCD2’s increased diversity of characters, coupled with a statement in the game’s Steam community terms and conditions that prohibits “modern political or religious discussions” and discrimination, has led to “a lot of pre-orders being cancelled.”
Vávra has been quick to dispute this, writing in a Monday, January 20 post that “Our pre-orders haven’t dropped because of backlash. The sold/returned copies ratio is the same as it was. What happened is, that the preview hype has naturally waned and nine massively discounted games entered the chart. Monster Hunter is down as well.”
In a January 19 thread, he also confirms that “there are NO unskippable cutscenes in our games. Anybody who claims otherwise never played them.” He goes on to state that “gay characters were already in KCD1. If you want Henry to try a same-sex adventure, feel free. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to.
“[Kingdom Come Deliverance 2] takes place in one of the richest cities in Europe which was besieged by a massive foreign army. That’s the reason why the life in such a city is more diverse than the life in villages which were featured in the first game.”
This explains the presence of Musa, who appears to be the Black character seen in leaked screenshots. “Musa came to Bohemia with an invading army as a member of the royal court of King Sigismund, whom he met thanks to his engagement at the court of Sultan Bayezid. He’s an educated noble and renaissance man from the Kingdom of Mali.” The Kingdom of Mali was a West African territory that existed from 1235 until 1670.
“At the same time, Musa is a very unusual figure for the local Bohemian folk, and many of the situations around him in the game stem from this. So his presence makes sense and creates lots of interesting situations in the game. The way he talks and behaves has a reason. Everything displayed corresponds to the morals and social norms of 1403 Bohemia and is only there to make an interesting story, and not at all to appeal to a ‘modern audience.’”
At the time of writing, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is tenth on Steam’s wishlists chart and 37th on the top seller chart, behind Monster Hunter Wilds and other behemoths like Civilization 7 and Elden Ring: Nightreign. You can read more about what to expect from Warhorse’s sprawling medieval adventure in our Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 preview.
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