You have to make your survival capabilities and instincts strong if you want to sustain in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.

Following a six-year break since the first game’s release, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 returns players to one of the most realistic, beautiful, and historically accurate video game recreations of the Middle Ages ever created. Henry of Skalitz returns to the action for his next adventure.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 was released on February 4, 2025. | Credit: Warhorse Studios.

It was well worth the wait since Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 offers something that even its predecessor was unable to: greatly enhanced graphics, a more expansive and satisfying open world, and a compelling, gritty story that is as simple to follow as it is to enjoy. However, it’s not like Henry is a superhero and possesses supernatural powers. He is a normal human being, just like all of us.

Henry is not a superhero in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2

Henry is a normal human being. | Credit: Warhorse Studios.

In Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, it’s very easy to get into trouble in the first few hours. After a brief introduction, Henry is thrown into an open world from the 15th century with nothing—clothes, food, shelter, weapons, money, you name it—and you have nothing. This leads to some interesting situations where your main goal for a long time is simply to keep Henry alive.

Now you might have understood that it doesn’t mean Henry can do everything you want as he is the main protagonist of the game. When the senior game designer of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Ondřej Bittner, was asked about this, this is what he stated (via GamesRadar+):

We dialled back and we only kept things that make you more human, more grounded, but didn’t detract from overall RPG gameplay, which is supposed to be: ‘I’m the hero, I have these abilities, I’m meant to use these abilities to solve a problem.’

It is clear that Bittner has given the subject careful consideration. According to Bittner, the increasing trend is more of a rejection of the “more is better” mentality that many popular role-playing games take than a means of making games blatantly more difficult. Additionally, he thinks that playtime will feel richer the more you force players to keep it reactive.

Some of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2‘s more complex features aren’t as terrible as they first appear to be. Bittner notes that you would have to “try really hard” to die of starvation and that Warhorse’s role-playing game is very different from “Don’t Starve Together” or “real survival games” aside from its restricted save system.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is closer to the reality ground

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is not like other RPGs. | Credit: Warhorse Studios.

Bittner has also stated that all of these necessary survival mechanics are there “to remind you that Henry’s just a human.” That kind of puts limits on other things you can expect. If your character has to eat and sleep, you’ll be more careful in combat because surely they’re not a superhero. So it’s kind of grounding Henry.

To make sure that trotting around Bohemia is still enjoyable, Bittner also identifies other parts of the game that deviate from hard-edged realism. For instance, its alchemy system is “very much fantasy,” and compared to more restrictive games with comparable features, Henry’s carrying capacity is still significantly higher despite its limitations.

It’s important to strike a balance because the over-gamification of a system can take away from any immersion it may provide. Alchemy, blacksmithing, and even the requirement that Henry sharpen his sword in order to keep it in combat condition are all elements that contribute to the game’s medieval feel, but they were purposefully kept fairly basic. Even the upcoming Assassin’s Creed game should learn something from this title.

“We didn’t want to marry rich representation with very complicated or layered gameplay,” Bittner says, explaining that the development team was extremely selective about which features were included in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. And the development team is pretty confident in the game as well.