Test - Kingdom Come: Deliverance II : Test: Furioses Mittelalter-LifeSim-Survival-RPG

Once created on Kickstarter, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2018 has developed into a remarkable success. The approach of foregoing fantasy and conveying the most authentic Middle Ages was well received by many players. It was precisely this reality that brought the game some criticism, especially with regard to the combat system and the almost endless learning curve. Warhorse Studios praised for the second part improvement without becoming the Kingdom-Come-Dna unfaithful. Does that make the successor a smooth-ironed mainstream title? No, not at all.

Before we turn to the actual game, we have to clarify something that we have seen in some previews in the past few days. Anyone who approaches Kingdom Come: Deliverance II with the expectation of having a light-footed mainstream role-playing game in front of you could not be wrong. The new title from Warhorse Studios, like its predecessor, expects a massive departure from the usual modern role -playing games. It takes time and patience, especially the first ten to twenty hours can be frustrating if you approach the game with the wrong expectations.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II sometimes has more of a medieval life simulation with history (or better stories) and survival elements than from a standard role-playing game. It is more authentic, realistic and how the right life at first also tedious and frustrating. And all without a possible choice of difficulty. Those who do not take the time to learn the mechanics, improve Heinrich's skills with a lot of practice and bring up the necessary patience to fail mercilessly several times will never be happy with the game.

However, if you keep this in mind and get involved in the game, you will be extremely rewarded with a unique role player experience. Anyone who has played the first Kingdome Come: Deliverance can guess what we mean. Because the efforts that you have to take at the beginning will turn into an extremely satisfactory gaming experience at some point when you have the appropriate exercise and the mechanics dominated.

But now to the actual game. KCD2 continues exactly where the first part stopped. At Kickstarter, the game was already planned as a trilogy and so it seems to be. Heinrich is in the service of Hans Capon after the first part. The life -hungry boy nobles who can neither resist wine nor women. On behalf of Hanusch von Leipa and Radzig Kobyla, both known from the predecessor, they should deliver a message to the Lord of Burg Trosky with an alliance offer. Of course everything goes wrong.

A robber robbery puts an abrupt end to the little entourage, Hans and Heinrich can only escape and seriously injured. Heinrich's injury will then use the Warhorse Studios in order to find an excuse in the best video game logic that Heinrich, well trained in the predecessor, becomes an incompetent sausage again and must first find their way back to old strength. We let the developers go through some cheesy, but hardly any other way. Otherwise, the prologue is excellently staged and very entertaining in the style of a buddy movie. The two real actors Tom McKay and Luke Dale, who are also close friends in real life, already deliver a great performance here and their German voice actors are no less.

The two now have to escape their precarious situation separately and without equipment. After the linear kick -off, the game opens and takes a largely open medieval world that staged the Bohemia of 1403 in the middle of the conflict between Sigismund of Luxembourg and Wenzel. History processes the real events of the time and spins its own part. Although Heinrich was historically not existent, as a player you still get the feeling that you are an important part of the events. That is well solved narrative.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II consists of two large, half -open areas. "Half" means that you reach invisible limits on the edges, but which are hardly to avoid otherwise. Zone 1 comprises the rural region around the Trosky Castle with many small settlements, homes, villages and country seats. Zone 2 comprises the entire region around Kuttenberg with its monasteries and castles and of course the very extensive and lively city itself.

The game easily includes the hundred hours of play, of course only a fraction of the extremely exciting main story, which inspires with exciting twists, memorable characters and epic moments such as castle sacrifices. In addition, there are countless side quests, orders and activities that all have one thing in common: they tell small and large stories that also come up with twists, decision -making options and sometimes different solutions depending on the way of playing.

The numerous quests are part of what the role -playing genre has to offer. Be it supposedly simple tasks for the rural population or small campaigns that like to include fifteen or twenty quest steps. Storyl lovers get their money's worth. Especially since it is worth chatting with the countless NPCs to discover alternative solutions, information or not obvious tasks at all. Because not everything is hit directly on the map or in the quest journal. Listening, thinking and a notepad nearby are worthwhile. Fortunately, Warhorse Studios has almost completely dispensed with open-world filling material and collective stuff à la Assassin's Creed.

But you can also spend a lot of time in the game without playing a single quest. The beautiful game world invites you to explore, random encounters enrich your trips (or become danger). With alchemy, forging and dice, there are mini -games that you can also use for a long time to make equipment or simply earn money. The same applies to hunting or a possible career as a thief and burglars. The latter is only recommended to a limited extent because the crime system is very sophisticated.

Already when entering a building or other private areas, a fine or the pillory can mean if you cannot talk yourself out. An accumulation of suspicious events in the area makes you suspicious. In the best case, being caught caught murder or even murder means death in the worst case. A pilgrimage or a drain letter can restore the call. At least mostly.

The authentic game world and the realistic game mechanics quickly turn out to be a curse and blessing. It takes a while for you to get really warm with Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. At the beginning, Heinrich is quite a rag, which means especially in the fighting that every action is subject to a risk. There is not much to get with a lack of abilities and lousy equipment, just as little as with a clumsy choice of words or stupid sneaking and breaking locks.

But that subsides with time. KCD2 is about learning by doing. As in real life, you need training, time, patience and, if necessary, a trainer to get really fit. The game does without a system where you have to spread out points on your skills and attributes. Instead, everything you do affects your values, depending on how you play. If you like to solve problems with words, your speech rises very quickly. Physical activities are rewarded with growing strength and vitality. "Exercise makes the master" is the program here, and if you don't want to fail mercilessly in the game, you will spend a lot of time in practice fights, at the smithy or at the alchemy.

This applies above all to the combat system, which will probably provide a lot of discussion. Already in the first previews there were complaints that you have to parry a lot and some could not cope with it. The combat system is similar to that of the first part and, depending on the weapon, lets you together from different directions, but is a bit less complex overall. This is mainly due to the fact that combos play a larger role, as well as good timing and your own endurance. But also the choice of weapons - dealing with an ax or an arbitrator is much easier than with a sword.

The arsenal has grown somewhat, in addition to swords, axes, mace, shields and arches are also rod weapons, crossbows and primitive firearms. But: If you can handle the sword well, you are not automatically a master in dealing with the ax. As I said: practice, practice, practice. Fortunately, there are trainers, fighters and competitions, where you can let off steam largely safely. And it's worth it. The initial wing around with the self -made cheap sword can be replaced by a relatively skillful, later even filigree blade game with master weapons. To experience this progress is initially frustrating, but ultimately extremely rewarding. As in real life.

In keeping with the variety of weapons, there is also a sophisticated armaments system that is also based on reality. In this way, there are (combat) armor from several layers that protect against different influences. Plates against blades, padded fabrics against impact weapons, chains against stab weapons. In combination, this results in a completely good protection, albeit sometimes at the expense of mobility. No wonder that four (!) Places for upper body protection or two are available for head protection alone alone. Armor also wear as well as weapons. Both have to be repaired with the appropriate kits or the blacksmith over time.

Very nice: There are recently three presets in which you can create different items of equipment and change the push of a button. For example, we were traveling most of the time with heavy fighting equipment, light and quiet stealth equipment and noble clothing for dialogues. But as noble as the clothes may be: don't wash and clean. Nobody likes to talk to a smelly, blood -smeared guy who looks more like a slaughterhouse and shit. Washing streams and bath houses help.

But the fight does not play the main role. Fights are inevitable in the long run, but many tasks and situations can also be solved with words. The way in which your game, but also your skills and your mind are used primarily in dialogues, is absolutely awesome and is getting better and better the more you practice these techniques. So you can talk out of many situations later, if you get caught theft, or find alternative and non -violent solutions from many situations.

In general, KCD2 is a very talkative game. The dialogues are very extensive, but sometimes also provide interesting details about the real story of the old Bohemia. The game allegedly contains 2.2 million words (by the way, all well to excellent and multilingual -style), which would make it the most extensive video game script ever before Baldur's Gate III. The dialogues offer an infinite number of possibilities through the reputation of which one gradually developed through its adventures and decisions, through its skills and even through its strength and threat.

In addition to fighting and dialogues, sneaking is not neglected. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II has a rather complex creeping system that also takes into account the visibility and background noise of your clothing as well as the lighting. Stealth kills or the stun of opponents from the ambush are just as possible as to enter buildings and the looting of closed containers with a castle cracker mini game. Of course there is also a kind of search system in connection with the crime system.

The skill system behind it is also a little different. For many things, as I said, learning by doing, reading books or trainers applies. For every skill you can gradually collect and then get points. However, these do not serve directly to the upgrade, but you choose different perks that make life easier for you. For example, you will receive more steam in your attacks, further refinements of your skills or additional features for horse and dog. Yes, right read, you have your own dog that obeys you, tries to track and eat your hair off your head, fight or run away if you don't treat it well.

There are also numerous buffs through perks or alchemy drinks, but also debuffs through all possible impairments. Sleep is necessary. If you don't sleep, you will get tired, your values ​​deteriorate to fainting. You can sleep in beds, preferably in tavern or store. Food is also necessary, although you have to make sure that every food spoils at some point and you will put poisoning. A juicy hangover after a pregnancy reduces performance as well as the side effects of potions or injuries.

Bleeding wounds even have to be treated immediately with a bandage, otherwise you simply blade and a doctor is not always, never, never, nearby. Injuries even affect individual parts of the body with appropriate side effects. So, as already mentioned, there are many survival and lifesim elements in the game. Eating, sleeping, making injuries, earning money ... Except for diseases and toilet ducts, almost everything that life has to offer is.

As already mentioned at the beginning, the visual implementation of the medieval Bohemia is a dream, especially as far as the environments are concerned, the detailed and stylish in the cryengine. The general design of the NPCs also knows how to like, from most faces to clothing, with sometimes it is noticeable that characters relevant to the story are more detailed than pure ambient NPCs. All dialogues are set to music, mostly in good quality and among the main characters with partly known German voice actors. Only the mixture sometimes leaves something to be desired. The orchestral soundtrack that creates wonderful moods is also great.

Technically, however, there is still room for improvement, which was not to be expected otherwise in a game of this size. We hardly had any serious problems, but we have a lot of smaller bugs and mistakes. Most of the time, however, they are graphics glitches, physics bugs, faulty collision queries and some hip stiff animations with unclean transitions. Except for a "broken" sidequest, we had at least no problems with the game and in around 100 hours we also had "only" two crashes and a few slowdowns in thick vegetation. Incidentally, the day 1 patch was made available to us before the release and has remembered some errors.

However, it can be assumed that Warhorse Studios will still spend a bug fixing for some time. But well, more DLCs are already planned and there will certainly be some updates. For a quest bug, we have already been confirmed that it will only be fixed after the release.

Oh yes, another word about the storage system that was massively criticized in the predecessor. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II relies on a similar but much more generous system. On the one hand, there are automatic checkpoint Saves for important quest steps. That cost us one or the other 15-20 minutes of the game progress, but it was too painful. You can also save on beds and the rescue schnapps is back. However, it is now much cheaper to find in chests or in tavern owners and can also be made with relatively little effort by alchemy. So you can really save at any time.