Kingdom Come: Deliverance review | PC Gamer
Our Verdict
Bugs and performance issues aside, Kingdom Come is a seriously satisfying role-playing experience set in a rich, reactive world.
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NEED TO KNOW
What is it? An open-world RPG set in medieval Europe.
Expect to pay $60/£40
Developer Warhorse Studios
Publisher Deep Silver
Reviewed on GTX 1080, Intel i5-6600K, 16GB RAM
Multiplayer None
Link Official site
£5.79
View at CDKeys
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View at Amazon
The early hours of Kingdom Come are surprisingly peaceful. You help your father, the town blacksmith, at the forge. Run errands for your mother. Cause trouble with your mates. Flirt with your girlfriend. But just as you’re getting comfortable with protagonist Henry’s simple life, a mysterious army attacks the village, burns it down, and kills everyone he loves. This is the brutal flashpoint for the game’s epic tale of war, political turmoil, and vengeance, and I was genuinely devastated, and angry, when it happened.
It helps that Henry is such a likeable hero. There isn’t much to him, but I think that’s the point. He’s so normal, so unassuming, that his presence provides a firm, relatable foundation for the story. As he reluctantly leaves his old life behind, becoming a page for a lord who takes a shine to him and finding himself on the frontline of a bloody war, he’s just as overwhelmed by everything as you are. But his spirit and determination keep his head mostly above the water, and he’s an effective guide through the complicated culture and politics of this harsh, unsympathetic medieval world.
Kingdom Come is an RPG without the dungeons or dragons. There are no goblins, enchanted swords, or mages. You’ll never cast a spell, slay a vampire, or fulfil an ancient prophecy. And there’s something refreshing about how it trades these familiar fantasy tropes for something more understated and realistic. It’s by no means a perfectly accurate recreation of what life was actually like in the Middle Ages—Henry would probably die of dysentery or something in the first act if it was—but it does a good enough impression of one.
The simulation that governs everything is impressively deep. If you get caught stealing, you’ll end up serving some time in jail. If you unsheathe your sword during a fist fight, your opponent will back down and maybe even apologise. Nobles will be more willing to speak to you if you’ve had a bath. If your reputation in a town is especially high, people on the street will shout your name and sing your praises. If you drink too much, you’ll wake up with a hangover.
Take off your clunky plate armour and you’ll make less noise while sneaking. Eat rotten food and you’ll contract food poisoning.
Like many games with this level of ambition, Kingdom Come is plagued by bugs. The simulation is dense and complex, but also feels like it could collapse at any second
These little details keep piling up, layer upon layer, creating a world that is thrillingly dynamic and reactive. And this makes the game, at times, feel more like a Thief-style immersive sim than an RPG, letting you approach objectives in different ways, game the systems, and be creative. NPCs follow routines based on the time of day, which can be learned and exploited—particularly if you choose to pursue the thieves guild-style quests given to you by a shady character. It feels wrong turning the good-natured, God-fearing Henry into a light-fingered criminal, but it’s a great way to make some extra Groschen (gold, basically), which is in short supply for a lot of the game.
One quest involves stealing something from a man’s house, and gives you an early taste of this reactivity. You can approach him during the day and simply ask to buy it, or you can sneak into his house at night and steal it while he sleeps. But he has dogs, and they’ll bark if they hear you creeping around, so you have to deal with them too—either by distracting them with some discarded meat or, if you can live with yourself, killing them as they sleep. But this might wake him up, and he won’t take kindly to you being on his property. And all of this is a product of the game’s rich, all-encompassing simulation, rather than a series of scripted events arranged by a designer.
But this all comes at a cost. Like many games with this level of depth and ambition, Kingdom Come is plagued by bugs. The simulation is dense and complex, but also feels like it could collapse at any second. There’s relatively harmless stuff like characters getting stuck on walls or floating in mid-air in cutscenes.
But sometimes it’s more severe, like the archery contest where my opponent refused to take his shot, trapping me in an endless limbo. Or the conversation that looped the same three lines of dialogue over and over, forever. Throw in some crashes to desktop and other janky weirdness, and you’re left with a game that sorely lacks polish.
It doesn’t run very well either. Jarred has put together some benchmarks of Kingdom Come, but on a PC with a GTX 1080, an i5-6600K overclocked to 4.5GHz, and 16GB of RAM, I struggled to maintain a steady frame rate—even after significantly lowering the graphics settings and resolution. It’s mostly fine in the countryside, but as soon as I enter a town or anywhere with a lot of geometry, the game stutters badly and makes moving around feel sludgy and unpleasant. Which is a shame, because this beautiful, expansive stretch of medieval Europe deserves better. The forests in particular are stunning; deep and lush and mysterious, like stepping into another world.
And while the setting isn’t as vivid or dramatic as more ostentatious fantasy worlds like Skyrim, Thedas, or Skellige, it feels more real than all of them.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance guides
Another thing to note about Henry is that, while he can handle himself in a fight, he’s far from a master swordsman. Melee combat in Kingdom Come is weighty and violent, and every battle feels important. Make the slightest mistake and you’ll end up dead, which forces you to think carefully about each strike, block, parry, and feint. You can swing your weapon in five directions, and fights boil down to second-guessing your opponent’s next move and reacting accordingly. But it’s when you’re facing multiple enemies at once that things get really difficult, and I rarely survived an encounter with more than two foes, even thirty hours into the game.
It doesn’t help that Henry is a fragile soul. In battle you’ll sustain injuries that will seriously hamper your ability to fight, and a bad one usually means you’re done for.
You can improve your chances by wearing multiple layers of armour, but being draped in plate and chainmail has its drawbacks too, negatively impacting your stamina. And the ailments don’t stop there. Henry can get sick, tired, hungry, drunk, hungover, overfed, malnourished, and a dozen other status effects that will make him less handy in a fight. Keeping him fed, rested, and healthy is something that requires constant attention.
Sleep in a bed and your injuries will heal, and if you own or are currently renting the bed from an innkeeper, the game will save. You can quicksave as well, but doing so requires bottles of expensive booze called Saviour Schnapps that have the unfortunate side effect of getting you drunk. Limiting saving to these two options is frustrating at times, but it does give your decisions more weight knowing you can’t just easily reload and try again. There are, thankfully, some mid-mission autosaves too, often before a difficult section.
For those of us who prefer to avoid combat altogether, you can usually talk your way out of trouble.
I spent the game honing Henry’s speech skill, which is improved by successfully convincing people to see your side of things in conversations. Similar to Oblivion, Henry learns by doing. So your horse-riding improves as you explore, your swordsmanship increases in battle, and your bow gets more accurate with every arrow that hits its target. I’ve always liked this levelling system, because it creates the illusion that Henry is slowly getting better at the things he does, rather than arbitrarily mastering them after amassing a certain number of experience points.
A good variety of quests keeps things interesting, from large battles and castle sieges, to more sedate activities such as hunting, settling disputes, and robbing wine cellars for drunken lords
A lot of modern RPGs diminish your agency by overusing map markers—something Kingdom Come deliberately avoids in its quest design. If you need to track someone down, it won’t mark their exact location on the map, just the town they live in.
And it won’t mark the location of a bandit camp, but the swathe of forest it’s hiding in. I can imagine this being frustrating for some people, as the marked area can be quite large and the directions vague. But I find it immensely satisfying, making me feel like I’m actually exploring and using my brain rather than blindly going wherever the developer tells me to.
A good variety of quests keeps things interesting, from large battles and castle sieges, to more sedate activities such as hunting, settling disputes, and robbing wine cellars for drunken lords. There are also times when the game turns into an entertaining police procedural, and Henry proves to be a talented amateur detective, like some kind of medieval Poirot. The story can feel quite dry and and self-serious at times, but there are some fun, memorable quests including an encounter with a priest of questionable morality and an eventful hunting trip in the woods with the aforementioned wine-loving lord.
Kingdom Come is a mess of bugs, and there’s the constant feeling that independent developer Warhorse is biting off more than it can chew.
But there’s a charm to its scrappiness, and it does enough interesting stuff that I’m willing to tolerate the creaky framework struggling to prop everything up. It’s one of the most satisfying, rewarding role-playing experiences I’ve enjoyed on PC for a while, but the inconsistent performance and the game’s tendency to completely break does test my patience from time to time.
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Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Bugs and performance issues aside, Kingdom Come is a seriously satisfying role-playing experience set in a rich, reactive world.
If it’s set in space, Andy will probably write about it. He loves sci-fi, adventure games, taking screenshots, Twin Peaks, weird sims, Alien: Isolation, and anything with a good story.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s female Eivor is the series’ best protagonist
It’s all about that growl. When Eivor talks, even when joking around with her mead-soaked comrades, there’s always an edge—a promise that, if shit goes down, she’s ready to whip out her axe and start chopping off heads.
It’s a simmering ferocity that’s with her at all times in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla , and when a raspy, snarling threat doesn’t prove that she means business, that’s when the whirlwind of destruction begins. I’m going to swoon again.
While I’ve yet to see the credits roll on Valhalla—it’s approximately 10 million hours long—I’m still ready to call it: Eivor is Assassin’s Creed’s best protagonist. Desmond and Conner rightly get dunked on a lot, but otherwise it’s a series blessed with a lot of entertaining characters. Syndicate often gets forgotten, but Evie and Jacob were a wonderful odd couple, and then there’s Odyssey’s Kassandra, who does tend to overshadow the rest. But now we’ve got Eivor.
There are actually two Eivors, male and female, but I’m only giving the title to the latter. Their lines are identical and they are essentially the same character, but the voice performances make a huge difference. Magnus Brunn lends his voice to male Eivor, and he’s got plenty of experience from his stint playing Cnut (not that one ) in The Last Kingdom.
As Cnut, he was loud and energetic, all fired up and ready to screw over Danes and Saxons alike, but as Eivor he’s a lot more restrained. His voice is softer and his tone is more thoughtful, and while it’s a good performance, it doesn’t feel like an entirely comfortable fit for the character.
(Image credit: Ubisoft)
Cecilie Stenspil’s Eivor is also quite restrained, but in a way that suggests she could become unrestrained very quickly. Whichever version you play, this is not the popular image of a Viking berserker, but one that’s a bit more nuanced. Eivor is a person first, and it’s her relationships that define her more than her love of raiding and boozing. Some of these relationships hit harder, however, with female Eivor. The dynamic between Eivor and her brother, for instance, or Eivor’s friendship with the village seer, feel meaningfully distinct, even though all the words are the same. When she helps another Dane root out a traitor and reclaim her settlement, there’s this undercurrent of women fighting hard to succeed in a masculine society, and you just don’t get that if you’re playing as a burly guy with a beard.
That reading is based on something entirely unspoken. Valhalla presents the Danes as extremely egalitarian—there’s plenty of evidence they were a lot more advanced in this regard than the Saxons, but this is a whole other level—and, like Odyssey, nobody cares if Eivor is a man or a woman. This erases issues that still exist today instead of confronting them, but there’s also something to be said for being able to play a Viking game as a woman without being constantly reminded that some people don’t think you should be able to do that.
9th century England is still undeniably full of people trying to out-macho each other, however, and to thrive in that world Eivor, and women like her, end up adopting a way of doing things that would be considered typical blokey behaviour, at least at the time. While Valhalla doesn’t have anything explicit to say on the topic, as far as I’ve seen, it can’t help but say things simply by being set in this period and by having a female protagonist..jpg)
(Image credit: Ubisoft)
So yeah, female Eivor all the way, with a tiny exception. Valhalla’s default setting switches from female to male when the story calls for it, which is not all that often. Why and how it does this is deep spoiler territory, but the important thing is that the female version is the primary, canon protagonist, and you’ll play her for 90 percent of the game. You can choose to play exclusively with just one of them, but I think it lessens the impact of an important story beat, so I recommend playing it on default as Ubisoft intended. And I’m increasingly convinced that this was the original plan, with the ability to play male Eivor for the whole game added to placate executives with a reputation for sidelining women. While Ubisoft has been pressured to start cleaning house, all the people who were fired or stepped down over accusations of sexism and workplace toxicity were around during Valhalla’s development. So blame them if you’re sick of me calling her «female Eivor» like I’m Quark .
Despite their similarly gloomy origin story and talent for killing people, Eivor is not another Kassandra. Eivor is a leader, not a mercenary, and one that takes oaths and loyalty seriously. She’s more authoritative, and less likely to crack a joke. While she’s charismatic, she doesn’t have Kassandra’s easy-going, roguish charm, but I’m a bit sick of charming heroes that love their banter. Joss Whedon ruined it for everyone. I’d much rather a driven, sincere protagonist. And this is not a dry game. It’s probably the silliest Assassin’s Creed of the lot. A woman that sounds like Monty Python’s Terry Jones lets you command her army of cats. You can feed a woman snake eggs to make her emit noxious gasses. It’s weird. Eivor plays it straight and lets everyone else make a fool out of themselves, and occasionally she jumps in with a quick putdown or wry retort. Most of the time, though, she looks bemused.
Really, she reminds me of Geralt. Yes, I’ve tricked you into reading yet another PC Gamer article about our best boy.
There are a lot of similarities though. I mean, one of the biggest ones is that Valhalla is the most Witchery thing I’ve played since The Witcher 3. Just look at this thing:
(Image credit: Ubisoft)
The tone and aesthetic all harken back to The Witcher 3, and throwing Eivor into the mix only solidifies it. She’s not just Geralt with a big axe, but their gruff, I’m-done-with-this-shit demeanour makes them kindred spirits. Eivor’s a lot more personable, though. She can turn off the gruffness and eagerly play with some kids, and she’s got a lot of respect for people who Geralt would likely overlook. Her experiences are just more accessible and human, even if she often comes across as a stone cold hardass.
I’m not entirely convinced that she’ll gain the longstanding popularity enjoyed by the likes of Geralt and Kassandra, though, even if she absolutely deserves it. Kassandra was immediately likeable, and Geralt’s been developed over the course of multiple games, improving each time.
Valhalla begins in freezing Norway, where you’ll spend much of your time hoofing it over massive mountains with a stoic, quiet warrior that you’ve yet to become familiar with. It wasn’t until I hit the warmer climes of England that I also warmed up to Eivor. Like a good friendship, you need to put in the time.
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla tips : Dominate 9th century England
- The best armour in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla : Dress to kill
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla map : Never get lost in England or Norway again
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Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he’s been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings.
He’s also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he’s not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.
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genres.
There are many of them: games with survival elements, shooters, action games, RPGs and others. Open world games are especially popular. Their beauty is that gamers get into different worlds and can study the environment for days on end. In this article, we have collected 15 of the best open world games. nine0003
Content
What does «open world games» mean
Top 15 open world games
What does «open world games» mean
There are at least a few large open world locations in a game not connected together. If you add them up, then in the end you get a large-scale world. Usually, open world games are taken on by larger studios that already have experience working with similar projects. The most famous developers of open world games are Ubisoft, Rockstar Games, Nintendo and other companies. nine0003
Let’s figure out how to distinguish a good open world project from a bad one? If developers set out to create an open world game, they need to understand the scope of their work.
In a good open world, it should just be interesting. And this is not only about tasks, because not only missions, but also various events can make the world interesting. It is also important that the world itself seems alive — as if something is constantly happening in it, even without the participation of the player.
Top 15 open world games
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
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The third part of the cult series «The Witcher» is familiar to every gamer. The open world of the project is considered one of the richest and most vibrant among other games. In this role-playing action game, you have to take on the role of a witcher named Geralt and face many dangers. Dangerous monsters, valuable treasures, interesting characters and mesmerizing landscapes await you in the open world.
The Witcher 3 was especially loved for its plot, charismatic main characters and interesting gameplay. The game world is huge, it is full of mysteries and impressive events that will definitely be remembered forever. The project developers are already working on a new part, but its release date is still unknown. nine0003
Mafia III
Gamers and critics took the third part of Mafia coolly. Some even jokingly claim that there are two parts to the Mafia series, since the third one is very different from the concept of the franchise. The project was criticized for poor graphics and optimization, as well as for the lack of charisma of the main character and monotonous gameplay.
Despite the shortcomings, the game has two advantages: the atmosphere and the open world.
The action of the project takes place in 1968. The creators were able to convey the spirit of that time through the characters, their lifestyle, cars and other details. There are many interesting places in the world of Mafia III that are worth visiting. nine0003
Divinity: Original Sin 2
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This project is a turn-based strategy game with a large open world to explore. At the beginning of the game, gamers will have to choose the race of their character, which will determine the gameplay. There are five races in total: human, elf, lizard, dwarf and undead.
Gamers love this game for its variety, interesting characters and open world. Divinity: Original Sin 2 has four large locations that will offer gamers exploration of territories, battles with enemies and search for treasures.
Musical accompaniment, combat system and pumping also stand out. nine0003
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The cult RPG from Bethesda has long received popular love and has become one of the most famous games in the industry. The developers will take you to a fantasy world filled with dragons, undead, people and other creatures. You have to take part in a civil war, determine the fate of some races and become a living legend of Skyrim.
In the open world of Skyrim, you can face vampires, become a blacksmith, build your own estate, and even start a family. In other words, all actions in the big world are limited only by your imagination. nine0003
Dead Island
The first zombie game in our selection.
Dead Island will throw players on a resort island filled with the living dead. From the start of the game, it will be possible to choose one of several characters with their own unique skills. For example, in a project, you can become a master of hand-to-hand combat or firearms. There are two games in the franchise, and a new part is already in development.
Dead Island is believed to have an open world, but in reality the developers have created large locations that connect to each other. As a result, they form a huge territory that is filled with secrets, powerful weapons and the dead. nine0003
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
Franchise S.T.A.L.K.E.R. especially loved by players in the CIS. GSC Game World studio managed to create a unique shooter that revolves around the Chernobyl accident.
During the explosion of the nuclear power plant, radiation was released throughout the city and beyond, terrible monsters appeared, gangs began to operate, and surviving stalkers explore local territories and try not to die.
The open world of this game is one of its main features. Players can explore locations adjacent to Chernobyl, find valuable resources and fight opponents. Especially S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is appreciated for its atmosphere and memorable characters. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is in development. 2 due out in 2023. nine0003
Far Cry 5
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Ubisoft is known not only for the Assassin’s Creed franchise, but also for the Far Cry shooter series. At the moment, there are six numbered parts and several more branches.
The latest, Far Cry 6, was released at the end of last year. You can safely include any part of the series in our selection, but it was the fifth part that got into it, and for good reason.
Far Cry 5 provides gamers with plenty of space in Montana, USA. The plot tells about the Sid family, which resemble a real sect. They kill people, blindly following their leader in the person of Joseph Sid. The open world of the shooter is full of animals, picturesque and interesting locations, as well as dangerous tasks. In addition, Far Cry 5 has good and beautiful graphics. nine0003
DayZ
Another zombie game in our selection. This project grew out of a modification to the military shooter Arma 2. As a result, the game quickly gained popularity and conquered many gamers. In DayZ, you start the game as an ordinary person who is destined to survive in a harsh world full of zombies.
You have to take care of the state of your character, face other players and test yourself for strength. Basically, in the open world of DayZ you can find endless fields and forests. Also, of course, you will come across buildings and houses that store valuable resources. nine0003
Middle-earth: Shadow of War
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This action role-playing game is perfect for all fans of science fiction and the Lord of the Rings universe. The project is a sequel to the original called Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. In Shadow of War, Nurn Island, Gorgoroth, Cirith Ungol, and other locations populate the large open world of the project.
Compared to the original, the locations in the sequel are much more diverse and wider. The game received good reviews from critics, but ordinary gamers did not like the project.
Despite this, the game still has many advantages: from a rich open world to addictive gameplay in your favorite universe. nine0003
Assassin’s Creed Origins
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It is from this part that a small restart of the Assassin’s Creed franchise is considered. The developers decided to experiment and add role-playing elements to the familiar formula of the series, which were supposed to enliven the game and add freshness to it. As a result, it turned out that way — Origins was received very warmly due to new ideas and an unusual approach to the famous franchise.
The action takes place in Egypt, and the main character is a Medjay named Bayek. The open world of this game is really huge. Large locations, oases, expanses of water and mesmerizing desert landscapes are available for exploration.
Origins was also praised for its interesting gameplay and a fascinating plot, which is based on revenge. nine0003
Fallout 4
Fans of the Fallout franchise received a real gift from Bethesda in 2015. The company released a full-fledged fourth part of the series and pleased not only fans, but also those who were not familiar with the franchise.
Fallout 4 takes place in a post-apocalyptic world destroyed by a nuclear holocaust. Players need to take on the role of a survivor and explore a dangerous open world. In the course of passing in the game world, gamers will meet dangerous creatures, allies, interesting tasks and atmospheric locations. Also in the game, you can build your own settlements and monitor their condition. nine0003
GTA 5
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Another Rockstar Games game in our selection.
The second part of Red Dead Redemption was released in 2018 and received accolades from both players and critics. This project is a prequel to the entire first part and tells the story of the gang, which included the hero of the original Red Dead Redemption.
The world of Red Dead Redemption 2 features hunting, fishing, treasure hunting and more. In this project, every landscape is picturesque, and every character you meet is remembered for its charisma and interesting story. The plot is based on the story of Arthur Morgan, a man who makes difficult decisions and changes his life path. nine0003
Death Stranding
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Hideo Kojima’s most controversial and unusual game. Even before its release, Death Stranding was full of mysteries and mysteries, and after the release, pressing questions did not receive direct answers.
In the world of Death Stranding, only small settlements with survivors who do not go outside and use the services of couriers remain from familiar America. One of them was the main character named Sam, played by the famous actor Norman Reedus. Sam must go through all of America and piece by piece reunite the once great country. nine0003
Death Stranding is a large open world where you have to deliver cargo, face mysterious monsters and deal with armed people. The game world can hardly be called alive, but its unusualness and uniqueness sink into the soul.
Elden Ring
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The real «bomb» this year was Elden Ring. This is the biggest and most unusual game from Software at the same time. In spirit, it is a hardcore action role-playing game in the spirit of Dark Souls, but the main difference between Elden Ring was the presence of an open world.
