Review – Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (Xbox Series X)

“Fortune favours the brave.”

Hailing from Prague in the Czech Republic is Warhorse Studios, delivering their highly anticipated, medieval magnum opus: Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. Being a sequel to its 2018 predecessor, KC:D II raises the bar in literally every way, acting as an immersive RPG sim and history lesson to boot; portraying a hyper-realistic retelling of one of the most turbulent and bloody periods of Medieval Europe. Following my preview from earlier in the month, and ahead of its imminent release tomorrow (February 4th 2025) I’ll be going over the 100+ hours I’ve spent with the Xbox Series X version of the game since early January; detailing the good, deconstructing the bad, whilst ultimately discussing whether it’s worth your time and money at the £59.99 asking price (UK Xbox Store).

Much like the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Warhorse Studios’ Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a game that holds a special place in my heart (shameless plug for my review of the 2018 game here). Originating as a Kickstarter campaign back in 2014, KC:D was a bit hit or miss when it launched in February 2018; billed as a hyper-realistic, historically accurate RPG, the game delivered a period accurate recreation of the medieval Kingdom of Bohemia (Czech Republic in the modern day) that explored an original story starring the peasant son of a blacksmith (our dashing rogue: Henry) within the backdrop of the siege of Stříbrná Skalice (Silver Skalitz) in 1403. Despite absolutely nailing the game’s setting, the game was plagued with bugs that gave the game a somewhat uneven reputation, with some praising the setting, story scope and game mechanics despite the bugs, with others not being able to see past the swath of technical issues. I was in the former camp, giving the game a solid & certified 95% score back in Feb 2018, that could have been seen as too high; but I saw something in the game that I haven’t seen since the TES IV: Oblivion (hence why I mentioned it before) and that was the game’s lovable but clunky jank, that gave it an identity all of its own (outside of the excellent medieval world building).

Embracing the Jank

By jank, I mean the general types of bugs and glitchy game situations that just happen to take place with almost perfect comedic timing, becoming a meme all on their own. Oblivion was and still is the king of this (the game’s NPC AI is legendary) and with a familiar looking UI to KC:D, it was very easy to remember the game fondly when playing Warhorses’ flawed masterpiece. Thankfully, several patches and DLC later has restored a lot of sentiment with the community, with the game going on to develop a significant cult following, with sales in the region of eight million copies as of the end of last year. Following the announcement of the sequel early last year, the hype for Kingdom Come: Deliverance II has been steadily growing, with some very lucky bar stewards (myself included) getting the game a whole month ahead of release for review coverage, and what I can (finally) officially say is that the game is nothing short of a masterpiece (warning, there will be minor gameplay and story spoilers ahead, if you fancy playing it for yourself and want a short, first impressions from yours truly, then check out my preview here).

Audentes Fortuna Iuvat: Our lad Henry and Sir Hans Capon embark on the second chapter of Warhorse Studio’s Medieval Epic.

As aforementioned in my preview (once again, click here) KC:D II picks up where Kingdom Come: Deliverance left off, in that Henry and Co leave Rattay to head towards Trosky Castle, at the behest of Jobst of Moravia, to deliver a message to Sir. Otto Von Bergow, offering an alliance to band together against the usurper: King Sigismund of Luxembourg. En route, our retinue sets up camp, but are soon overwhelmed by a group of outlaws that have settled in the area. Escaping with nothing more than their underwear, Henry and Capon are left to fend for themselves in the wild, losing any proof that they are messengers on behalf of the Lords of Leipa. After being nursed back to health by a local herb woman, and some machinations later, Capon and Henry soon find themselves embroiled in a plot to fight against Sigismund and the very future of Bohemia, making them question both their honour and alliances along the way, changing them forever in the face of adversity. That’s a brief synopsis for the story of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II that one can give without giving away any major plot points or character developments, but in terms of its narrative, it’s leaps and bounds above that found in the original, both in terms of the quality of the game’s writing (a 2.2mil word script is no joke) as well as the general weight of player choice in relation to the growing tensions and high-risk/high-reward stakes that the region is currently embroiled in. I don’t want to go in too deep into the story, as I believe it’s one that should be experienced firsthand, but across the 100+ hours I’ve played of the game so far, I’ve never been so immersed and invested in seeing a story through to its end. Player choice is key here, throughout the game are scenarios that will leave you questioning whether you made the right choice, making you analyse your own honour (or dishonour) with outcomes and consequences that genuinely caught me off guard.