Kingdom Come: Deliverance Review (mrbunnyban)
TL:DR; An immersive experience in 1400 medieval Europe, Kingdom Come priotises gritty realism in it's open world and has great writing. Players looking for a more casual experience (say, Skyrim) may be turned away by the difficulty as well as lack of content.
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This is really a case of recommended for certain players, but you'd best know what you're getting yourself into if you are considering this title.
Inevitably, comparisons to Skyrim abound as a lot of Kingdom Come's systems are reminiscent of the latest in the Elder Scrolls series. But to be sure, Kingdom Come is *not* catered for the Skyrim crowd. The MC, Henry, starts as a lowly peasant. He's almost useless in combat. Heck, Henry cannot learn basic combat skills until *after* the 2-3 hour prologue. Once you play long enough, Henry becomes a powerhouse who can take out large numbers of enemies solo. So the game has a reverse difficulty curve, starting difficult and getting easier as the MC grows in power.
Lack of content and exploration
There are no 'dungeons' to raid in Kingdom Come. Which makes sense given the setting, there are no ruins fileld with monsters and ancient treasures in a game set in medieval Europe. This is not a fantasy game.
The countryside is bare and peaceful for the most part. A forest is just a forest, it is not a forest full of wonders and ancient secrets. There's a lot of empty space with little to no content to encourage exploration.
Apart from the rare bandit camp (and a specific event/location that is plot relevant), there's hardly any combat content to be found while exploring the wilderness. To help add combat content for the player to deal with, the game is reliant on ambushes along the main road. While travelling from city to city I often encover 3 ambushes along the way.
Poor combat system: Defense is the best offence
The combat system feels awkward and awful at first. That's acceptable for any new system. Dig deeper however and you'll eventually find that in the late game, melee combat has a serious flaw - it is generally better NOT to attack. This is due to the presence of the "master strike"; an automatic, unstoppable riposte which is sometimes rewarded to the player and enemy when blocking with the right timing. High level enemies will counter your attacks with a master strike very frequently, so the best tactic is *not* to attack and instead wait to block at the right timing in hopes of a riposte. The timed block system cuts out the combo system.
Yes, there is a feinting system, which the player can theoretically master in order to get past master strikes. But the feinting system is very finicky, mastering feinting may require dozens of hours with the martial trainer to get the hang of the system, which hardly anyone does. Relying on master strikes or alternatively stealth/bow is generally preferred.
With these faults, how can I recommend the game? Because it offers something worthwhile.
Dedication to realism -> Immersion
The dedication the game has towards historical realism of medieval Europe lends itself to an immersive experience. It's the same reason some people prefer to play Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six instead of Destiny - these players like the realistic elements of the game. This is the major reason to play Kingdom Come Deliverance, in my opinion.
All npcs are fully voiced, which helps the immersion as well.
Great writing
This is one open world game where the main plot is worth finishing. Heck, all the side quests are worth finishing for the story. The writers really went out of their way to craft believable characters who are true to the setting they are living in. References to historical events are very well integrated into the main plots and side plots. Players don't have to think very far to see how these political events are very relevant to what is happening here and now to ordinary folk. Well done.
Rather than an open world exploration game, see this as an immersive historically accurate depiction of medieval life for a knight-errant.