Kingdom Come: Deliverance

I just completed the prologue. I have no idea how to min-max Kingdom Come, and I'm glad I don't. Approaching the game like "Medieval Skyrim" doesn't seem to work, so I'm just failing constantly, where failing means dying, and barely surviving by the skin of my teeth. Survival is a constant hunt for food, money and shelter. For the entirety of the prologue, there never seemed to be a moment to let my guard down. Because you're always starving, there's really no time to relax and take in the scenery and BS around. So, I've been working hard at making myself likeable. Each player has to pick two additional character flaws at creation, and mine produced a character particularly ill suited to injury, so, I'm well suited to socializing. For the first time in a RPG, I feel like I'm roleplaying. Quests, at least thus far, feel like you've got numerous ways you can complete them. Hopefully this is the case throughout. I'm sure we've all played games with spectacular introductions but where it's obvious the developers ran out of resources or time by the game's end. Giving the benefit of the doubt here. It's spectacular thus far and I can't wait to load up again.

This game is a real gem! It keeps a very decently acurrate mediaeval depiction of a small area of the Holly Roman empire (Bohemia) at the very beginning of the XV century (so gothic era). At the same time, it doesn't let realism go into the way of having fun in the game (probably having an ultra realistic peasant as the protagonist wouldn' t be much fun). How the hostory goes, it actually goes into its way to do a credible but unlikely story arc that explains how you end being a warrior befirendling novility and saving the world from all kind of evil. If you are interested in the time period you got an excellent codex that explains every detail and even what was disregarded to favour a more fun experience. I like how combat evolves. If you pay attention, you can actually feel how you can turn into a proper warrior, and the game subtly improves your character. Just don' t dispair at the start of the game: It can be rutless, and you might lose hours of progress if you are not careful at the hands of an unarmored bandit armed with a stick. It gets easier and better as the game progresses, so don't worry. Bugs: There are some, but not game breaking. At one point I press save from the main menu and the game froze. I now avoid it by drinking "saviour schnapps" from the inventory. I heard there are some bugged missions, but haven't encounterd one yet. Mechanics: Saving is usually done with that item, you can craft it yourself or purchase it, but that is something to take in account, because I advice that every time you see a trap or enemies and they have not spotted you, you drink one. Trust me, it sucks to lose hours of progress if you don' t

A phenomenal pseudo-RPG with realistically merciless combat, and tense and balanced relatively complex stealth mechanics. A huge amount of content, a wide variety of quest types, well-written believable characters, a strong sense of historical authenticity, and the most beautiful medieval countryside visuals you can find. It also has decent mod support. Unfortunately the game suffers from really poor performance optimization. Unstable 40fps is what you will have to get used to. Also I'm not a fan of over-reliance on "immersive" first person animations for every interaction. Especially ones that flop the character's head around all over the place. Animators should understand what the vestibular system does. Mind you that this is coming from a fan of Oblivion and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. -so many "horrible bugs" are just endearing to me. Also, the game crashed only once during about 80 hours of playing.

I bought this game on sale almost a year ago and finally installed it. I can't believe how good it is and I'm kicking myself now for waiting so long. I haven't experienced any bugs. Better than most open world games out there, yes, even Skyrim, and I've been playing that nonstop since release. The combat is awesome but challenging. I wish there were more mods and dlc's for this, though, but it's worth a few playthroughs in any case.

The look and feel of this game sucked me in right from the first few minutes of playing. You're not the heroic knight crushing enemies from the start, you are a lowly peasant whose world gets turned upside down in the worst way. This game is not for the casual gamer, it rewards practice and patience in spades. I actually got a good way into my first play through before I figured out how a lot of stuff worked and it was me that was making it difficult for myself! Fighting is probably the hardest thing I found to get my head around. You have to be smart and equip yourself with the appropriate level of equipment for your current skills just as you would in real life. Load yourself up with heavy plate and a bastard sword at the start and you will get your ass handed to you quick. There are so many things that you can do and it can seem daunting at first Hunting, Alchemy, weapon maintenance, etc but once you play it all becomes natural and easier as your skill improves. You can lose yourself in this wold so easily as it is beautiful, trotting over fields and over hills just taking in the view. The life going on in towns and villages can easily be taken for granted but if you stand back for a minute and look around, the small details in this will amaze. Simple things like people waking up in the morning and washing and then going about their daily work just make this feel alive. I could rhapsodise about this game and make this into an essay. Suffice it to say this game has a lot going for it if you take your time and enjoy the experience.