KCD 1 is often described as a middle ages simulator (pottage and castles, not yachts and Eric Clapton), but really it's a hardcore spin on the kind of classless first-person RPGs Bethesda have been making for decades. The plot is middling and bizarrely outdated in its presentation (think cheesy '90s action-adventure film), but the player freedom is fantastic and the worldspace is one of the most detailed and believable in the medium. While the historical stuff isn't always well-intergrated in the story, and some characters coming across less like actual peasants and more like bored museum guides with a turnip business on the side, it is detailed and fascinating. The amount of research that must have went into the game is staggering. And it's not just knights and politics, either. I was studying the weavework in fences. Deciphering the frescoes in churches. I once put a hostage situation on hold because I was so impressed with all the spinning cogs and creaking pulleys in the local windmill. I started thinking about 15th century crop rotation. I cooked medieval meals. I found out about pottage. Maybe Jan Hus really was a damnable heretic. I divorced my wife because she doubted transubstantiation. I got duolingo to learn latin. My kids never reply to my pigeons. I was at Arby's waiting for my lawyer to call back when I decided to found my own fiefdom. There was an island off the peninsula that looked ideal. I wanted to get a galley but the guy at the dock only had yachts. Whatever. It's pretty cold here. I've only got 3G. The yacht radio is blaring Tears in Heaven. Still, the turf hut's coming along nice. It's going to have amazing fences.
