Kingdom Come: Deliverance

The game Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a true marvel. Playing as Henry, the son of a blacksmith in early 14th century Bohemia, one is directly immersed in realistic and uncompromising stories of succession and politics. Despite the courteous spirit of the period, whether it is the weight of the church, the motivations of the characters and the political forces, everything is very well presented and proposes an adult glance on this time, not so well known and of which our contemporary glance is often caricatured. The game is not difficult but requires a lot of training to better master the gameplay and especially to unlock for example parries and ripostes. But fighting more than one opponent, even an average one, will remain dangerous and you will have to manage your stamina and cold blood with precision. Hunting for example becomes a real challenge and not a simple shooter. You will also have to be careful with your equipment, be sometimes presentable or stealthy, but above all well protected. This gameplay is really pleasant and the first person view makes the game even more immersive. As for the adventure, it allows us to see the importance of this region at this period of history and to be moved by the fate of the people embarked against their will in this fratricidal war. If we had to find some flaws, they would be a lack of depth in some quests and frequent back and forth. For the rest, everything is almost perfect. This game fully succeeds in its historical incursion into Central Europe. Play it without hesitation!

I have just finished this game in hardcore mode. It is one of the best games I have ever played. Great applause for environment artists. Great story and It was sad when I was going to end this game.

I feel like somewhere a cabal of RPG developers got together and someone said, "First and third-person RPGs are awesome! People feel so immersed in the character they can almost forget it's a game. So, what can we do to interrupt that experience?" The answer. Cut scenes and taking choices away from the player. Many recent RPGs do it, some are worse than KCD, but KCD is pretty bad. You want to pick some herbs? Cut scene. Want to talk to someone? Cut scene. I'm a few hours in and I think my gameplay so far has been more cutscene than actual play time. Add to that the forced choices and scenarios. I just passed a part where you're exploring a village and get jumped by bandits. I got blitzed and killed, but I felt it was unfair, so I reloaded. Blitzed and killed. I ran my ass off and got away on the third try! Got to the city gates. Oh... even though the gate is open, I can't walk through. Invisible wall. FML, I guess I have no choice but to get killed, well I'm going to take as many of the bastards as I can with me. Run and hide, ambush the weakest one without a weapon. I hit him literally a hundred times and he would not die. Something about the encounter bugged the entire game, so I couldn't die either I just dropped to 1hp. So now I guess I have to re-load again and just fall on my sword like a good little boy because that's what the game forces me to do. "Open World" "Non-linear" my ass. Also the combat system is pretty frustrating. I guess it might get better as I level up. A lot of players are saying that, so here's hoping. TLDR, if you want to spend $30 to pull your hair out, go to a barber. It costs the same but it's less painful.

If you like button mashing to win a fight, I would highly suggest you skip this one and go with Skyrim. Button mashing will probably get you killed. If you like to think about your fight to win, this is the game. If you want a great story, get this game. If you want to experience life hundreds of years ago, get this game as it gets every last detail from the era. If you game is to have a fantasy RPG, then this is definitely going to disappoint. Note you will spend your first hours trying to get out into the real open world. This is on purpose. If you do no learn what it has to teach you prior to going out into that world, you are going to die. No way around it. You cannot expect to explore without knowing how to defend yourself as you are going to get jumped by bandits or enemy patrols sooner or later and you will need to know what you are doing to survive. Spoiler alert.... Going after a murderer and having to join the monastery as a monk to find him is going to be painful. You will learn to appreciate the life you have after experiencing that one. Those that have been there know what I am talking about.

This is one of the very few reviews I've ever written for a game, and I'm doing this because this masterpiece and Warhorse Studios deserve it. This masterfully realized Czech medieval life simulator ruined the open world genre for me, because I know probably nothing will top this for my personal taste (I'd be very happy to be disproven). Everything is meticulously cared for: the 3D models of humans, animals, weapons, armors, buildings (much care for materials, scale of the brickwork etc.), the beautiful, varied and lifelike environments (every tree, rock etc. seem to be placed with thought), the beautiful music I've grown very fond of, the english dubbing, the amount of research put by the studio in the history of the places where the game is set, and that is reflected in the beautifully intricated and convincing lore, and in the ingame codex. I played in hardcore mode, so without fast traveling, and never grew bored of wandering the map. Combat is very interesting, well designed, and satisfying, even if not perfectly balanced; I've found combos hard to be performed successfully, and I ended up not using them very often. Other than that, the feeling of striking the opponent is very realistic, and it's enhanced by the well designed sound effects. It's not a perfect game, but the merits far outweigh the defects. I played the final version of the game I think, so haven't experienced many bugs, apart from the occasional crash, or the (rare) sudden death upon descending from the horse (happens when you're on a steep area, or in the bushes, I believe). Maybe the worst one is when you go close to some enemies and they don't react for quite a bit. Another small defect is the facial animations that are a bit stiff, but it's to be expected when you have so many characters, and not a big deal in the total experience. An unforgettable game for me, it'll never leave my hard disk, and I'm looking forward to KCD 2, hoping it'll be up to the magnificence of this first chapter.