Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Gold Edition

KCD2 is by in large everything I wanted out of a sequel of the first game. Every system from the first game is intact and given tweaks to feel more polished without losing the immersive elements. The branching quest design is still here and does an excellent job of funneling the player down more content if they want. The storytelling is still great and the increased production value has bolstered it through gorgeous visuals, architecture, voice acting, and some of the best cutscene direction I've seen in any RPG. The only glaring issue I have with 2 is the lack of gameplay bite by the end, similar to KCD1. My initial concern was the sequel losing what made early game KCD1 memorable. However, even with the game starting Henry with better bare minimum stats, it found a good narrative excuse to start him at rock bottom again and building yourself up during the Trosky region kept me engaged with scouring for whatever content I could find. This dynamic flips once you hit the Kuttenberg region of the game where now you get to flex what you built up and it's fun... for a while. Once the initial high wanes though, you're just left with a game where every enemy can be master stroke'd once or twice, every dialouge skill check passed with ease, and a borked economy. Equipment hunting also becomes about player taste in fashion because late-game equipment is a very small leap in stats compared to what can be already obtained mid-game. The silver lining is that you can basically rush through the main quest once you feel this, similar to KCD1. Unfortunately, the sequel is much, MUCH longer than the first game (even excluding side content), so even bum rushing everything feels hankered by this. In a really backhanded way, it is a testament to the quality of the writing and quest design that I still kept doing side content just because I wanted to see what kind of scenario Henry would be thrown into next. Overall if you like KCD1, the sequel is a pretty safe bet.

I think my last high praise review to this was lost, but just came to say that after hours upon hours of gameplay, I've changed my mind. You WILL run into game breaking bugs. For a AAA game sold at such a premium, especially for gold edition, this is a slap in the face. Combine the game breaking bugs with their save system and you have a recipe for disaster and frustration. I kept lying to myself that it's not so bad, but it really is. People have a finite amount of time for play, so how would that make them feel to play for hours on end or even just complete a few quests in an hour, just for the quest to break, rendering all that effort wasted. Not to mention not running perfectly like butter on pc specs greater than their recommendations. Cryengine blows, and they should've waited at least another year. WAIT FOR A SALE! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T BE ME :(

It can't be that in the year 2025 there are still games in which the number pad is unusable because many keys are hardcoded. Comments from other people, use a controller, take the mouse in your left hand, play it the way it's supposed to be played. That's arogant and yes, it's also discriminatory. The times when left-handers were forced to write on the right are long gone. I now have to install mods, rewrite inis by hand and hope that I can then play the game. I loved KCD1 and was looking forward to the second part. I think it's great that games also cater for minorities, because everyone is different but left-handers have been forgotten for years because of the whole issue. The only place where I encounter problems in everyday life is in video games. As soon as I've had a chance to play the game, I'll adjust the stars. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

It's nice RPG, but the fighting mechanics are terrible. I never had the feeling that the game was reacting properly to my actions. Or I constantly did something wrong, because I am just incompetend. Either way, fun quickly declines. There should be some way to simplify fighting for those not so skillful.