Don’t give up on Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 – you’ll regret it

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is a tough game to get into, but those who do will find a medieval wonderland and one of the best open-world adventures in living memory – but it may take some perseverance. 

Once you’re set loose on the open world of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, returning players will instantly know the drill. New players, though? Well, they’re in for a rough time in the first few hours. 

You see, Henry starts his new adventure without his gear, horse, dog, or any documents that prove he’s the squire of a noble. He’s also covered in excrement, so that’s nice.

Those who are used to open-world RPGs may think they can simply “Skyrim their way through it”, but once they’re overpowered by a single bandit or ripped apart by a pack of wolves, they’ll soon start to realize that this is a very different experience.

We’re not in Skyrim anymore, Mutt

Soon, the game’s obtuse mechanics will start bearing down on you. You need sleep, but now the kindly old woman you befriended is having you arrested for taking a nap in the same bed where she nursed you back to health. 

You need food, but you have no money to buy any. So you go back to the inn to carry more sacks and are chased away after being mistaken for a beggar. You think if you can kill a bandit, you can take their gear and look a bit more respectable, but they effortlessly slay you every time.

You decide to hunt some weaker creatures to level up a bit, but you’re outnumbered by the wolfpack, who stun-lock you to death when you try to run away. You go in search of Mutt to make combat easier, but you’re too weak to complete the side quests required to find him. Oh, and you still need sleep and food.

After over ten hours of this, it’s very easy to become disenchanted by Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and give up. Your misfortune compounds and it becomes hard to justify spending any more time with this game. You’re stuck in a cycle of failure, and that’s not fun. 

The issue is that you know this is a good game. You’ve read the reviews, and you’ve got that friend who always talks about how much they enjoyed the first game. They’ve told you stories about how they became an epic warrior, resplendent in their gleaming armor while they rubbed shoulders with royalty after being instrumental in saving their kingdom. 

Yet, here you are, starving, sleep-deprived, still covered in dung, and running away from a wild pig after making the mistake of poking it with your stolen butter knife. 

Becoming worthy

It’s then that you realize, you’ve felt this feeling before, this futility, this desire to overcome an obstacle. This isn’t the first time a game has told you you’re not good enough and challenged you to do better. Games like Dark Souls, Elden Ring, and Dragon’s Dogma 2 also did this, and once you rose to the challenge, these became some of your favorite games of all time.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is a lot like these experiences in many ways. It’s a game that wants you to engage in it’s mechanics. To surrender to them and forget the conventions of other, more straightforward, RPGs. Those who do this, those who persevere and push through the pain, will soon start to win, and eventually, the game will open up like a flower. 

Like failure, success also compounds in Kingdom Come 2, and once you start succeeding, you’ll soon start having a great time. The memories of you covered in waste and being eaten by wolves become laughable, and may God have mercy on the souls of any bandits who are stupid enough to mess with you. 

While our advice for those struggling in the early hours of Dragon’s Dogma 2 was to forget about quests and just live in the world for a while, developing your understanding of it, this is only half true for Kingdom Come 2. Sure, knowledge of how the world works is great, but the best advice for surviving this game is to take advantage of the benefits early quests give you.

For example, when you visit the miller to try and get a wedding invitation, you’ll be given your own bed and access to food. This is a great help, so that’s two fewer things you need to worry about. Following this questline will deliver more nice things, each of them making your life easier.

Working smarter

It’s important not to waste your time on activities that don’t provide any immediate benefit. These are all things that can be done later when you’re more equipped, powerful, and savvy. This game works differently than many others; for instance, rather than doing all the associated side quests that appear during the hunt for Mutt, you can simply go to where he is and reunite with him straight away. 

Having Mutt by your side from the start will make combat much easier and help to prevent your progress from being bricked by constant failure. If you’re ever struggling in the game, then revert to the main quest, as this will somewhat hold your hand and get you back on your feet.

This is always better than just living in the wilderness and existing in a downward spiral, burning yourself out on side quests that are too difficult for your current level.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, is admittedly hard to get into, but once you do, it becomes easy to love. Soon, you’ll be that friend telling someone else about it and urging them not to quit. After all, Audentes Fortuna Iuvat!