Alright I’ve been in kind of a gushing mood on games lately but I’ve been playing some good ones. I picked up Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 and am just absolutely addicted. It’s one of those games I have to force myself to turn off, and for all the reasons I normally hate in games but in here it’s really good. I played the first but didn’t get super far and now I’m wishing I had played it through; I don’t think I was playing it correctly.
The game operates more like a sim than an arcade game, but to be honest it’s not a super demanding sim. You do have to eat and work and bathe and sleep. In games this kind of thing can come off as annoying, but there is no ‘fast way’ to do stuff. Alchemy? It is step by step putting things in the cauldron, boiling them, mixing them, grinding them, etc. Takes minutes for one potion. Same with blacksmithing: you have to heat up the iron to the correct degree then hammer the whole thing out, to a rhythm, and in shape. Hammering the same spot will ruin it.
I think the lack of a ‘fast way’ is honestly a boon here. I rolled my eyes at first, but these mini-games are fun and rewarding and you can sell what you make for money which you need. I now look forward to hammering out a couple horseshoes or swords for some spending money.
The eating/washing stuff has the potential to be a pain, but as long as you are doing work for someone there’s usually a pot on the stove they’ll let you eat out of (careful not to overeat, there’s a stat debuf) and all towns will have a trough you can splash yourself clean enough in to talk to the townsfolk. You do both at least once a day, but it’s not a huge bother to take care of. And it matters; if you go too long without bathing, you get the ‘reeky’ debuf and then NPCs will literally smell you before they can see you. Friendlies won’t want to talk to you and will charge you more, but enemies you are trying to sneak kill will be alerted by your stench. The game is FULL of stuff like that and I am here for it.
The game is also very cinematic and story-driven. Combat isn’t for everyone, but once you pick it up it’s very manageable if a bit frustrating when you are outnumbered. And it does story decisions better than almost anyone outside of Mass Effect or Baldur’s Gate 3; the choices you make affect the game world in a very real way. I caught a guy stealing and turned him over to his local lord when I had the chance to let him escape; I later found him swinging from a tree and took his shoes. I couldn’t help but wonder if he had other quests or something if I had let him live.
Anyway, let me sum up. This is a super story-driven, choices matter medieval game with a hardcore-ish world and more reality than what normally gets portrayed in video games. And it is bugging me that I can’t be playing it right now.