Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 has been a massive success, with Warhorse Studios’ medieval RPG selling over two million copies since its release earlier this month. This wasn’t unexpected, as the original was a cult hit with a dedicated audience that required just a little more polish and refinement to break into the mainstream. Its sequel does just that, and then some.

When I previewed the game last year, I was taken aback by how the series’ sheer jankiness weirdly was untouched despite the sequel being grander in scope, more ambitious in its narrative, and willing to let the player go anywhere and do anything without falling apart at the seams. It does occasionally break, but these foibles are easy to forgive when the overarching package is so good.

Warhorse Lets You Go Anywhere And Do Anything

I think of Deliverance 2 in the same terms as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It represents a similar fulfillment of the design ambitions of CD Projekt Red and its goal to make Geralt’s final journey a fantasy blockbuster without equal. When compared with The Witcher 2, it’s hard to deny that Wild Hunt is a fundamental improvement in every conceivable way, while keeping the core appeal of its characters, questing, and monster-hunting intact. Both KCD2 and TW3 perfect the feeling of being truly free in an open world while still occupying the role of a key character we will inevitably grow to love, criticise, and care for.

I’m impressed that the game is willing to offer us so much freedom while still letting us craft a voiced character with preconceived motivations. That’s a hard balance to strike.

But what floors me most about Deliverance 2 during the time I’ve spent with it is how it balances its hardcore dedication to historical accuracy with moment-to-moment gameplay that is undeniably video-gamey. Like the best immersive sims, I can choose to tackle most of the situations I encounter however I like.

I can sneak into a stronghold using everything that my inventory can offer me to be a fleet-footed ninja, or I can march in with sword in hand and slay countless guards until I’m surrounded by bodies. I will pay the consequences and most of the fighting will be impossible to conquer, but it’s possible, and that alone is just brilliant.

You can also become a character who is their own person while being shaped by actions taken and words spoken throughout an experience designed to last for hundreds of hours. It is a miracle that each decision and mechanic is able to flow together without discord, and all the options are available to players without worrying about the game collapsing in on itself.

Over the past several years, we’ve seen open-world games and RPGs alike offer the player greater means of experimentation on roads that are defiantly non-linear.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 And Baldur’s Gate 3 Are Kindred Spirits

Baldur’s Gate 3 is another game I keep thinking about whenever I stumble upon something ingenious in Deliverance 2. It can be the simpler things, like finding an unorthodox route into a location, or trying something experimental to finish a mission or kill the enemy before me, only for it to work without issue. The game has created a set of rules and a wide selection of mechanics I can bend to my will and feel incredible for doing so.

It also tells a compelling story with characters worth caring about yet manages to make its gameplay systems the star of the show. Time and time again, it has been proven that these are the sorts of games that players want, and that playing games is better when developers trust them to learn systems on their own terms and take advantage of them in unexpected ways.

Combine that with nuanced dialogue, great characters, and an inviting world, and you have a recipe for success. The future of blockbuster video games belongs to experiences like this or Baldur’s Gate 3 where mechanics are complicated yet rewarding and stories are layered yet easy to follow in the grand scheme of things.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 gives me the feeling I had when stepping into so many other grandiose virtual worlds for the first time, and it warms my heart to know this medium can still accomplish such a thing. Now I just need to find enough time to play more of it.