Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Review - Well Executed Revenge

Henry makes his return to Bohemia in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. Riding by the side of Hans Capon, a simple mission takes a turn for the worst, launching him toward the targets of his revenge. It's a captivating narrative filled with twists and turns, fleshed-out characters that grow throughout the game, and a satisfying conclusion. 

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Transports You to Historic Central Europe 

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is an open-world RPG that kicks off at the end of the story. You're thrust into the action as Godwin, the secondary character you play as, before looping to the beginning. There you take control of Henry, the hero of the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance, as he escorts Hans Capon on a messenger mission. Things go awry as the group is attacked by bandits, the letter stolen, and the duo is left with nothing. After separating, Henry has to figure out how to get into Trosky Castle, meet with Otto von Bergow, and find Hans Capon. 

Immediately I was struck by how gorgeous the environment is and how realistic the people are. Small facial tweaks, wrinkles, and blemishes are present on almost every character you meet no matter their importance. The care in designing a beautiful game is fully apparent. 

After the opening sequence of events, you'll be able to explore the first map to your hearts content. There are a plethora of side quests, tasks, and treasures to find in the great outdoors. On top of that, there are dice to play and shooting competitions to partake in. I easily could have spent 20 or more hours honing my skills before even moving forward in the main storyline. Things get complicated when you do progress in the story, as Capon and Henry are able to meet von Bergow, only to get thrust onto the frontlines of the war raging across the region.

The expansiveness continues into the second map, where the side quests can rival the time spent for the main quests. This region is larger than the first, with bigger settlements and more points of interest. Here, you'll find plenty of action, whether it be defeating enemy soldiers, exploring mining tunnels, high-stakes dice games, or poaching a variety of game.

The main story has you stealing from the king, racing after a member of the church from Rome, and slaughtering all the enemy soldiers you can handle. For those looking for the best bang for their buck, you'll definitely be able to dive into Bohemia for at least 60 hours, getting the most for your money. 

When it comes to the quality of the story, the narrative really shines. The story is consistent, covers multiple plot points across the various characters, and the dialogue is well-developed. Characters have unique personalities, with Dry Devil being a angry drunk, Adder being consistently aroused, Otto von Bergow being a silver-tongued politician, and Katherine being the world-weary woman. Hans Capon shows the most growth throughout the game, starting as a spoiled noble who makes senseless decisions at the cost of others and transforming into a thoughtful noble who cares for those under his wing. 

The quality of the story isn't just apparent in the cutscenes and major dialogue, but also woven into the environment of the world. Passing villagers will remark on current events, nobles will discuss political choices you've made around dinner tables, and the town crier will shout out what city was last razed. The information available in the codex reflects the historical research done by the development team and this reflects in the daily life of the people.

The downfall to this relates to the choices you have. While you make different decisions that can affect dialogue or reputation, the impact on the main story is negligible. The largest is whether to burn down a village or not, which can dictate access to side quests later on, but doesn't do anything besides that. For the most part, the choices you're offered only relate to the summary of the actions you receive at the end of the story. From a design perspective, it makes sense, but from a player perspective, I wished the choices had more weight in the story outcome. 

Technically, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is a solid game with some performance issues that can cause freezes and crashes. There are a few bugs throughout, like missing item names, typos, and glitching through walls. This will affect certain players more than others, especially those with older PC setups. The bugs, however, didn't affect overall gameplay and were more cosmetic than anything else. The most notable issue is when you meet Zizka for the first time as Godwin, as the audio and subtitles do not match. This occurs one other time towards the endgame, but is an easy fix that Warhorse Studios can quickly address.

The biggest issue comes with the controls. Both keyboard and mouse and controller don't quite feel 100% smooth. Some things, like general gameplay and horseback riding, are better with a controller. Others, like selecting weapons or items, feel better with a mouse. Both encounter issues with pickpocketing, which can cause you to fail the minigame due to slow reactions and having to consistently use a button to move the selector to the next item. This can also impact potion making, which requires multiple timed stages that can be thrown out of sync due to slow movements. 

Overall, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is a solid game with tons of content available to play through. This alone makes it worth the purchase, but the stellar narrative work and visual design make it an RPG that fans of the genre should check out, regardless of having experienced the first in the series. Many of the issues with the title can be addressed through future updates, with the controls being the largest problem players may consistently have. 

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II was reviewed on PC with a copy provided by the Warhorse Studies over the course of 84 hours of gameplay - all screenshots were taken during the process of review.