I guess it’s no surprise to anyone, by what I’ve written in my review last year, that I really didn’t like the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance. It wasn’t just because I was tackling a Switch port; I legitimately thought that the original version was a buggy and overly complicated slog of an RPG focused way too much on realism, and not on, well, fun. When Kingdom Come: Deliverance II was first announced, I simply wasn’t hyped for it. All I could think of was that it would be more of the same, more of the damn focus on realism, feature bloat, crappy combat, and jank. I never said I was a wise man, though.

I needed to get this out of the way right from the getgo because, nearly 80 hours later, I cannot stop playing Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. It took me a while to write this review because I just can’t stop playing it. Despite some issues I will talk about in detail, I am in love with this title, and I can safely say it is one of my favorite RPGs of all time. Who would have thought…

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II begins right after the ending of the first game, which might be a bit confusing for those jumping into it right from the getgo, but nothing a quick hop into a plot summary can’t help. Our lovable, Bristol-accented protagonist Henry is escorting nobleman Hans Capon to a castle in order for its lord to become allies in the ongoing feud against Sigismund, the usurper king of Bohemia. After a quick stop at a nearby pond, Henry and Hans are attacked by a savage group of bandits, rendering them naked, beaten up, weakened, on the verge of death.

After miraculously managing to reach the house of a shunned herbalist, both men manage to heal themselves, setting off on a journey back to their original objective… but without any money, experience, stats or notoriety. They are devoid of resources in a faraway land, meaning they will have to start everything over, from the very bottom. Given how Henry wasn’t born a nobleman, he doesn’t mind working his way back to the top, but tensions with Hans Capon result in both lads going separate paths for a good chunk of the story. And then… a lot of crap happens before, during, and after the original main objective is met. A lot of crap I simply do not want to spoil.

I loved the story. The combination of unexpected plot twists, likeable characters, impressive setpieces, some legit funny icebreaking moments, and outstanding writing, has resulted in one of my favorite plots in… well… most RPGs I’ve ever played. Do you know the feeling when you’re playing a well-written, open world game, in which you are enjoying the story so much, you simply don’t want it to end? You want to explore every nook and cranny, talk to every single NPC, and delay the critical path as much as possible. The world is engrossing, the characters feel real, the dialogue is sublime (actually featuring more lines of dialogue than Baldur’s Gate 3). As crappy as medieval Bohemia must have been, I didn’t want to go away from it.

And oddly enough, it doesn’t mean that the excessive amounts of realism and immersion from the first game were gone. In fact, they’re still here. You gotta sleep at night, feed yourself regularly, wash yourself after a blood-soaked fight, think about your appearance, and so on. It didn’t work in Shenmue, it annoyed the hell out of me in the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance, but here… it didn’t bother me, not in the slightest.

The “planning your schedule and going to bed” routine almost gave Kingdom Come: Deliverance II a Majora’s Mask vibe to me. I would wake up knowing what I would do, planning my day in advance, giving myself certain goals to achieve over the next few in-game hours. Or I’d just say “screw it” and explore parts of the map I hadn’t been to before. Better yet, the days I’d just decide to fully embrace the personality of my character and be the most despicable outlaw Bohemia had ever seen…

I love how Kingdom Come: Deliverance II gives you a borderline scary amount of freedom to build your RPG character like you want. Do you want to avoid conflict as much as possible? Just focus on dialogue, diplomacy, and “wisdom” stats. You’ll become a silver-tongued genius who can convince anyone to do your bidding with your knowledge and charisma. You can be a brute if you want to. If you’re in the mood, you can make a fortune as a sneaky pickpocketer with a knack for lockpicking. There’s no limitations as to what you can do, and thanks to a pretty genius morality system, you can do anything in between. You can come up with a character like mine.

In short, my build was comprised of immense levels of charisma, great dialogue skills, amazing lockpicking abilities, but also a despicable lunatic who’d murder anyone after helping them out in a quest, kill drunkards on the street to sell their loot, or even casually mutilate cows and sheep on nearby farms whenever he felt his swordfighting or axe-wielding skills were too low. In short, my Henry was the Czech version of Patrick Bateman.

I’d invade a church and kill the priest so just he wouldn’t rat me out for stealing some golden crucifixes available there. Early on, I started focusing on robbing graves in order to sell some rare jewels, as well as being able to equip myself with better gear. Those cows I’d kill in droves, I’d butcher them, and thanks to increased survival skills, I’d be able to collect actual premium meat cuts and sell them for a hefty price to the local butcher. The list went on and on…

It’s not like you can do whatever you want and escape without being punished, but if you’re sneaky, or do things when others aren’t nearby, you can pretty much do whatever you want in the game. The true kind of RPG, where story events would unfold differently, depending on your actions. Thanks to the previously mentioned excellent writing, there would always be a well-written line of dialogue depending on the outcome. Maybe this was the entire reason I loved Kingdom Come: Deliverance II so much. Pure freedom to play my own role in a wider world. I was even able to overlook some of its gameplay design choices, which, sure, were inhereted from the original, but felt more palatable this time around.

I hated the combat in the first Kingdom Come: Deliverance. With a passion. It made no sense, it felt overly punishing, and too reliant on trial and error. At first, I also hated the combat in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, but I started noticing it felt less punishing, and more accessible. Animations felt faster, enemies ganged up on you less often, and a brand new combo system made the game feel more rewarding for those willing to actually be aggressive in such a setting. I focused most of my energy on axe-wielding, meaning that I would eventually become so strong with a heavy weapon, that enemies wouldn’t even be able to properly defend or parry. I’d break their shields with some attacks.

Furthermore, I feel like the game features so many builds, possibilities and mechanics to explore and take advantage of, so I can’t complain that much about one system I wasn’t fond of. A crossbow could catch a foe off-guard, cripple him before he’d even notice me, and I could also tell me dog to bite a fool’s ankle to make him drop his defenses for a few seconds, only for him to eventually get demolished by my axe attacks. And that’s just one possibility. As previously mentioned, you can be a stealthy assassin killing everyone in their sleep with a dagger, or a bonafide diplomat basically convincing anyone to do your bidding with your knowledge and charisma. The game doesn’t tell you to focus on anything special, so you’re free to be whoever you want to.

It’s almost a case of “a sum of parts so impressive that the flaws (in this case, mostly subjective) feel irrelevant”. Add in the absolutely EPIC music, and phenomenal voice acting, and what you have here is pure freaking art. The only thing left for me to discuss is the graphical side of things, and no, it’s not bad at all. But at the same, I feel like I should explain as to why, in theory, the score is a bit lower than the rest of what Kingdom Come: Deliverance II has to offer.

Environments are absolute gorgeous. It might be a bunch of grass, hills, the occasional hut, and a lot of cow feces, but it’s an impressive achievement. It looks real, feels real, and it was crafted with CryEngine, showcasing those alternative graphical engines still have their place in gaming despite the borderline monopoly imposed by Unreal. Character models, on the other hand.. are a bit of a mixed bag. If you’re a main character in the story, you look convincing enough; you’re well animated, and your facial expressions don’t look like you came straight from a Disneyland animatronic ride from the 70s. Side characters are different, though. They do look like animatronics, and everyone is really ugly. I guess taking care of your skin wasn’t a priority during plague times, but even the teenagers look middle-aged.

Regardless of my opinions on the visuals, one thing needs to be acknowledged: this game is superbly well-optimized. Playing it on an RTX 3060, I was able to run it on high settings, averaging 70 to 85 frames per second, even when on crowded city environments. The occasional glitch would tank the framerate to the mid-30s, but a savefile reload would solve any issues. As a friendly reminder, you can save whenever you want if you just decide to quit the game as well. You don’t need Savior Schnapps like they’re Resident Evil‘s Ink Ribbons.

I don’t remember the last time I was so engrossed in an RPG like Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. Calling it as good as Baldur’s Gate 3 or The Witcher 3 is not an overexaggerated take: I legitimately loved it more than I could have ever predicted. The story is sublime, the writing is magnificent, exploration feels rewarding, and the game truly lets you build your character the way you want. It allows you to complete objectives and have a blast with its world in the way that best suits your personality. I had a hard time writing this review because I simply couldn’t stop playing it. This is what an addictive game feels like, and I urge you to give it a look, even if you, like myself, hated the original.

Graphics: 8.5 Environments are absofreakinglutely gorgeous, whilst character models feel a bit like a mixed bag (except Henry, he looks great). The game is also incredibly well-optimized.	Gameplay: 8.0 At first, I still hated the combat. I’m still not a big fan of it, but I feel like it’s more intuitive than before. There are loads of other builds, possibilities and mechanics to explore and take advantage of, so I can’t complain that much about one system I wasn’t fond of.
Sound: 10 The voice acting is astonishing, and the soundtrack can get utterly epic at times. To be honest, I have no complaints. It’s fantastic.	Fun Factor: 10 I don’t remember the last time I was so engrossed in an RPG like Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. The story is sublime, the writing is magnificent, exploration feels rewarding, and the game truly lets you build your character the way you want, allowing you to complete objectives and have a blast with its world in the way that best suits your personality.
Final Verdict: 9.0

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is available now on PS5, Xbox Series S/X and PC.

Reviewed on Intel i7-12700H, 16GB RAM, RTX 3060 6GB.

A copy of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II was provided by the publisher.