KINGDOM COME: DELIVERANCE
Young knight lights up the dark ages
MEDIEVAL EUROPE was a dangerous place, we’re told. Death could arrive at the point of a sword from any direction, and squabbles between rulers could have devastating consequences for the poor as their effects trickled down the social pyramid.
Into this world is flung Henry, the son of a blacksmith, who spends his days brawling with pals, and delivering nails for his father, a man who knows more about warfare than he lets on. An invading army crashes the party, destroying his village, killing Henry’s parents, and forcing him to flee to the next town. From here, he finds himself the plaything of the local lords and of fate, as he tries to recover a valuable sword, and gain revenge on the man who killed his family.
KCD’s systems, from the rigid social hierarchy to the way abilities play off one another—such as the need to learn to read before you can do alchemy—seem harsh as you lurch from bed (which saves your game) to breakfast table to make nagging icons go away. This isn’t a survival game, surely.
In its quest for realism, KCD touches on survival tropes, but they’re not the heart of the game. Henry is. He’s a likable lad, and will stir your emotions as he grieves for his parents. But he’s also a blank slate, ready for you to mold. There are no standard RPG classes, only a list of skills you improve by using them, and perks to unlock. There’s also a startling number of equipment slots, enabling you to layer up armor.
Unfortunately, the game isn’t without issues. We repeated one sequence many times, constantly being killed by soldiers before eventually escaping, only to have the game vanish, and return us to the desktop, taking our unsaved progress with it. Later, we were unable to climb higher than halfway up some stairs. Our horse’s legs sank into the ground. Reloading clears the bug, but that brings up another issue....
The save system. In the base game, you save when you sleep or at developer-chosen checkpoints while on a quest. There’s also an expensive alcoholic drink that lets you save, at the risk of getting drunk. This makes progress risky, and prevents savescumming, so you’re always grateful when the sun goes down, and you head off to bed. Within days of the game’s release a mod was available to “fix” the problem, and while it’s nice not to have to trudge all the way from the last bed you slept in after getting slaughtered at a bandit camp out in the wilds, it removes the sense of Henry’s adventure being divided into discrete days.
KCD is an ambitious project, filled with love and detail. Its forests are lush, its villains evil, and watching its amiable hero climb the social ladder on his quest for revenge gives a sense of accomplishment. It’s a shame about the technical issues, but that’s what patches are for.