Gaming

Kingdom Come Deliverance: Where It Doesn’t Deliver

Kingdom Come Deliverance by indie studio Warhorse is a unique take on Medieval RPGs. With an unwavering stress on realism and immersion, the game punishes players for taking the combat for granted while tacticians are handsomely rewarded.  In our review, we said how Kingdom Come Deliverance does not threaten masterpieces such as Skyrim and Witcher 3, but that is probably a good thing. Warhorse studios has created a very special RPG that is in a class of it’s own.

Kingdom Come Deliverance: The Good

If there is one thing Kingdom Come Deliverance does exceptionally well, it’s the combat. The combat system in Kingdom Come Deliverance is far more complex than any other RPG (hell more than any game in general). It puts the clumsy fighting mechanics of Skyrim to shame and even Geralt doesn’t have anything on Henry’s classy combos. (vistex.com)

At first however, the combat feels impossible and might even come off as broken to some, but after dying a hundred times you start getting used to it (not the dying mind you, the mechanics). Executing a sword combo while fighting a baddie is unbelievably satisfying, be it cos it makes taking down foes significantly easier or cos you actually feel like a pro executing a move the vast majority of gamers fail to. Regardless, the combat in Kingdom Come Deliverance although quite unforgiving, is and will be the absolute gold standard of sword based RPG combat for a while.

Another aspect of Kingom Come that checked all the right spots are the survival elements. This is hinged on the player character’s stamina. Stamina is dependent on a whole lot of variables. Nourishment of the character (derived from food), energy (based on rest) and in combat, attacking, deflecting and pretty much anything (that can consume stamina in real life) drains stamina. This is another part of the gameplay that I was really impressed by.

Kingdom Come Deliverance: The Average

That was all that is perfect in Kingdom Come Deliverance. Now, let’s talk about the mediocre and the glaring flaws of the game. The story and side quests are really well scripted and are on par with what Witcher 3 and other notable RPGs have to offer. But the thing is in quantity they are a fraction of Skyrim’s side quests . The main story especially feels lacking, almost like Warhorse decided to chuck half of it at the end to release the game in a hurry. The romance arcs also don’t make much sense and fail to make much of an impact.

Kingdom Come Deliverance: The Baaad

Henry is sad. He’s a badass now…but there are no bad guys left

Speaking of a hurried release, the game was plagued by technical issues at launch, but a lot of them have been ironed out. Unfortunately despite Warhorse’s earnest efforts, there are still a lot of bugs and clipping issues. The lip sync is way off, the AI of the characters is Skyrim bad and they get stuck every now and then.

Even the combat at times is marred by bugs. The player will randomly get stuck, or your foes will teleport, or lay motionless on the ground while you hear them taunting you. Reloading an older save often fixes this but it still makes the whole experience bitter.

Lack of content is a major bummer in Kingdom Come Deliverance. It takes a while (and I really mean a long while) to adapt to the harsh mechanics of the game, but by the time you get used to them most of the main story and enjoyable side quests are over. This leaves the player with activities that are essentially fetch quests. These are more or less randomly generated and are a bore.

Warshorse has made an enormous Medieval Bohemian Serfdom for Kingdom Come Deliverance, but many towns and villages are there just to make it big. They add no notable content to the game. This was one of my biggest disappointments with this game. I have completed the main story and side quests, and I’m far from bored of the mechanics, but there are no interesting quests or activities left.

Kingdom Come Deliverance is nothing short of a gem in the treasure chest called the RPG genre, but it’s still raw, preventing the majority of gamers from experiencing Warhorse studio’s maiden title. However, from what I have heard Kingdom Come still sold rather well with more than 1 million units which is decent for an indie studio. They can still salvage this ore of a game. All it needs is more content and lots and lots of fixes. This may seem like a daunting task,  but it’s very much doable. A couple of solid expansion packs and continued patches/fixes should do the job. What are your opinions? Did you play Kingdom Come Deliverance? What do you think of it? Can it be salvaged and how?

Areej Syed

Processors, PC gaming, and the past. I have been writing about computer hardware for over seven years with more than 5000 published articles. Started off during engineering college and haven't stopped since. Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Divinity, Torment, Baldur's Gate and so much more... Contact: areejs12@hardwaretimes.com.
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