Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Review

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is a brutal and colossal game, with every instance of combat requiring your full attention, every need requiring consideration, and every quest requiring a few hours of your time. It’s intentionally tedious, slow-paced, has plenty to explore and get lost in, and is a great in-depth RPG for fans who are underwhelmed with more recent RPGs.

Following on directly from the end of the first game, Henry and Hans arrive in the Trosky region to deliver a message to Otto Von Bergow, but things can’t go that well right off the bat. With an exciting opening, you’ll quickly find this game is a lot more action-packed than the first, while the story of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is a significant step up in terms of narrative quality.

How To Survive February As A Gamer

With a mammoth selection of massive triple-A games, you’re going to need to brace yourself.

However, the core feeling is still present. Everything is paced well, the characters are interesting, and there is so much dialogue to dive into, making this one of the deepest RPGs in recent years. With a supposed 2.2 million words in the script, it would be the longest script for a video game ever, even beating Baldur’s Gate 3, and after playing, this doesn’t surprise me.

A Story For The History Books

It’s not all politics and lost swords, however. I mean, it is a lot of politics and lost swords, but there’s also a heavy focus this time around on Henry’s continued journey, and the effects of his trauma, violence, and the revenge he still wishes to seek out on his seemingly ever-growing kill list.

In dream sequences where he sees his blacksmith father Martin, we get a deeper look at these conflicting morals and feelings Henry is dealing with, adding depth and stakes to Henry’s arc as he battles his demons, while the country battles invasion, occupation, and fears of war.

Paired up once again with Lord Hans Capon, it’s hard to not root for these characters. What started in the original as a rich snob and peasant boy dynamic, we now see a whole new side to the two, with a Merlin and King Arthur-style relationship that continues to evolve. The performances here by Tom McKay and Luke Dale are incredible, with so many moments that project just how much these actors enjoy the roles. The mocap performances fully sell these characters as two friends, from worrying to bickering, in all the best ways possible.

You also have a rag-tag band of nobles, lords, criminals, and people of other cultures who all come together to stand against the rule of Sigismund and want to free Wenceslas. These characters take the game a step further from generic historical tropes to being an excellent story told within a grounded history with complex dynamics.

In my time not spent with these characters, however, I was spending hours exploring the historically recreated Bohemia. In Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, there are two maps to explore, each with plentiful locations, side quests, and distinct environmental styles. A standout, however, is the city of Kuttenberg itself.

Entering Kuttenberg for the first time was overwhelming. I spend over an hour just walking the streets, exploring the buildings and alleys, the markets and taverns, the bustling livelihood, and the array of businesses set up. It doesn’t feel like standard video game cities where ‘there’s the blacksmith’. This is a city, there are, like, seven smithies.

It doesn’t feel like standard video game cities where ‘there’s the blacksmith’. This is a city, there are, like, seven smithies.

But the fact that every street and every interior is seamlessly connected to the whole map, which is extensive and gorgeous in itself, with dense forests that actually feel like forests, sparse villages where you’ll find interesting activities, and long-forgotten ruins of time and war that provoke questions and mystery. Each region is distinct, every town is unique, and every direction you head will lead you to something of interest. It feels like a natural world to explore, in the sense that walking through the forest is less like finding goblins and ancient artifacts, but more like finding some… bigger trees. And honestly, that’s lovely.

Side quests are plentiful, extensive, and avoid repetition entirely with so much entertainment value. I once decided to stray from the main quest and take on some side quests for a bit, so I started one nearby. Five hours later, I had wrapped up that same quest, and I couldn’t believe the time that had passed – and so often this happens, where a quest just feels fleshed out and unmissable, despite just being down a backstreet or from a far-out-the-way farm and entirely irrelevant to the actual story.

And then we have the fleshed-out crime system: Henry can be thrown in the stocks for days, whipped in the middle of town, branded a criminal – in which he actually receives a long-lasting brand on his neck that people will recognise – and if you still don’t learn, you’ll be executed. And yes, you get to experience it. I’ll never commit a crime again.

Live To Fight, And Look Good Doing It

As for combat, there are some slight differences and additions worth noting. First off, while the first game featured five directional inputs and a stab, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 sticks with just four directional inputs, with the lower direction being the piercing movement. It’s a minor change with a major impact, but at its heart, this is the same system

The change means you can take a bit of stress off the thought of directions, and instead think about your further tactics, movements, and managing multiple foes. But this doesn’t make it easier – the game’s combat is as brutal and unforgiving as the original, and you’ll still have to take great care, not only to defeat your opponents, but just to keep yourself alive. At least you get a 15th-century shotgun this time.

Also, please wear a helmet.

The original game had some fantastic scenery and an impressive world, but Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, while heartily familiar in most aspects, is miles ahead in technical achievement. I’ve been playing on the base PS5, and the game looks incredible – the open fields of luscious grass, the dense looming forests, the busy streets and alleys of Kuttenberg, almost everywhere in this game had me stopping just to look around, taking it all in, finding beautiful areas and scenes that I hadn’t witnessed before.

Even the increased frequency of cinematic cutscenes shows just how gorgeous the game can be, using a mix of in-engine rendering to create some incredible emotional moments and visual set pieces. So often I would put down the controller and watch these scenes unfold, on the edge of my seat, completely engrossed in ways games rarely make me feel.

The graphics are phenomenal, and while there were a few issues with the lighting during this early period of the game, the majority have already been addressed by an update pre-launch, which has settled my mind about the state of this game and the support it receives.

Composer Jan Valta returns to create something truly special, which has all been recorded via live orchestra in Prague, and wastes no time in giving you that very specific ‘Kingdom Come: Deliverance’ feeling.

It is an excellent sequel that does exactly what it should do – it stays true to the original, keeping the core fundamentals and vision intact, while building upon it spectacularly, creating an experience that not only outshines the love for the first game, but provides a newfound appreciation for Kingdom Come as a series, with an RPG sandbox of choices and freedom that we hope for but rarely see in many other games.

While I can expect some hiccups with the technicalities behind the scenes, being such a large-scale game from ambitious beginnings, many have already been addressed, and where these things impose, the rest of the experience lifts, and the ambitions and achievements charge through like never before. With improved controls, quality of life, and so many additions to what made the first game great, this is truly a bigger and better game for fans and newcomers alike.

Audentes Fortuna Iuvat

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is, in almost every way, the RPG that so many fans have been asking for. With Baldur’s Gate 3 taking the world by storm, amidst so many other RPGs that widely missed the mark, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 presents a colossal, in-depth, beautiful, masterfully designed game right at the start of 2025. The performances are excellent, it’s a major technical step up, and evolves the game beyond its foundation into something that embraces modern audiences without losing its identity. The original game turned away many due to its slow-paced, tedious aspects and technical shortcomings, and while the sequel exceeds on a technical level by far, the biggest shame will be if people still give it a miss because of the almost simulator-like mechanics.

In an age where games are fighting harder than ever just to succeed, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 should not be one to pass you by, as a return to form for the RPG genre. It’s not just a game about history – it’s a game that feels like it’s making history.

Reviewed On PlayStation 5

RPG

Action-Adventure

Open-World

Systems

Released: February 4, 2025
Developer(s): Warhorse Studios
ESRB: Mature 17+ // Use of Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity