Kingdom Come: Deliverance already has plenty of mods, the most popular being unlimited saving, but most of them are small, convenient tweaks. From today, however, modders can download official tools, hopefully inspiring larger projects.

Warhorse Studios has released modding tools on Nexus Mods, giving tinkerers a trio of tools called Storm, Skald, and Swift, that will let them fiddle with everything from text to AI hobbies and routines. You can find instructions for getting started on the wiki.

As well as the modding tools, Warhorse has released its modified version of the CryEngine Sandbox Editor and more than a dozen tools and editor extensions. You'll also be able to get your hands on the raw data that makes up Kingdom Come: Deliverance, so you can get a clearer picture of how the developers put the elaborate RPG together. 

It's a lot! I managed to muddle through the game without even once getting the hang of the combat, which I thoroughly enjoyed regardless, but I quite fancy returning for some more duels and low-key medieval adventures. 

I'm eager to see how many ambitious overhauls and total conversions get attempted, but we'll have to wait a bit to see the fruits of the new tools. In the meantime here are the best Kingdom Come: Deliverance mods you can grab right now. 

There's a mechanic in Kingdom Come: Deliverance that limits where you're able to save your game, and how often you're able to do it. As the game originally shipped, you had to either sleep in a bed or drink a bottle of rare Saviour Schnapps in order to save your game. Modders decided this was bullshit, and almost immediately created mods that removed the mechanic from the game, allowing players to save wherever they wanted.

Soon, modders will have even more power over how to change Warhorse's medieval life sim. The developer has announced that official mod support will be coming to the game in the form of several developer tools.

"Mod support is the last thing we are doing right now, the last thing we want to release for Kingdom Come Deliverance," says Tobias Stolz-Zwilling, PR manager at Warhorse in an interview with Gamepressure. "Right now, we are working on modding tools so that people can do their own stuff – Steam Workshop is already working."

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is built in the CryEngnie and already has a boatload of mods to change the way the game works. We even have a list of the best Kingdom Come: Deliverance mods you can install right now. But developer Warhorse says the new tools and Steam Workshop support will give modders more robust control over what they make for the game, including the ability to design brand new quests.

You can now download and play Warhorse Studio's medieval RPG, Kingdom Come: Deliverance as well as sci-fi strategy, Surviving Mars, as the early unlocks for August's Humble Monthly if you're a subscriber,

Kingdom Come: Deliverance was released in February last year and Andy Kelly scored it a not-too-shabby 84 in his review so now would be a great time check it out if you haven't already. Similarly, Surviving Mars was released in early 2018 and has had a number of DLCs and updates over the past year, one of which saw Fraser kidnapping botanists to keep his Space Race colony alive.

For the uninitiated, you can subscribe to Humble for $12 (around £10) a month and there is no minimum period so you can cancel at any time. Along with these early unlocks, you'll get more games when the bundle is live in August.

If you missed it, Kingdom Come: Deliverance's most recent—and reportedly final—DLC gave players the chance to experience the 'poop throwing majesty' of Bohemia (Andy's words, not mine) as a woman in a new, standalone questline.

The fourth and, apparently, final DLC release for the exceptionally good medieval RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance, A Woman's Lot, will be available on May 28. As the title suggests, the expansion will give players the opportunity to experience the poop-throwing majesty of Kingdom Come's game world as a woman: Theresa, a potential love interest for Henry in the main storyline, whose family was killed in the early stages of the game. 

Accompanied by her dog Tinker, Theresa will play through her own separate, standalone questline in the expansion, although it will ultimately tie into the main story too, as you'll witness the battle that begins the game from an entirely different perspective. "A Woman's Lot provides the last puzzle of the Skalitz story, as you find out what happened just before Henry was found unconscious," publisher Deep Silver said. 

A Woman's Lot will also be the last piece of the Kingdom Come: Deliverance Royal Edition, which will bundle the Treasures of the Past, From the Ashes, The Amorous Adventures of Bold Sir Hans Capon, and Band of Bastards DLC releases together with the enhanced version of the base game. It was originally scheduled for release on May 28, but Deep Silver announced today that it's been pushed back slightly, to June 11.

THQ Nordic has today acquired Warhorse Studios, the developers behind Kingdom Come: Deliverance. As well as the studio, the acquisition also includes 'all intellectual property rights.' The studio will be a subsidiary of Metro Exodus publisher Koch Media. 

The news comes exactly one year after the release of the medieval open-world RPG, Kingdom Come: Deliverance and has now sold over 2 million copies across all platforms. 

The game started off with a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign back in 2014, and while there were a number of bugs and glitches to iron out at launch, the overall realism and attention to detail did prompt a positive reception. You can read what Andy made of it in our review here.

Of course, THQ Nordic is no stranger to acquisitions; just last month they obtained the rights to the action-adventure game Outcast and last year saw them grab Carmageddon as well as a number of other games and studios. 

Here's what says Lars Wingefors, CEO of THQ Nordic AB, had to say about all of this. "Warhorse Studios is one of the leading independent studios in Europe and I am proud to welcome them to the THQ Nordic group. Kingdom Come: Deliverance, which has now sold over 2 million copies, has been a great success since the release exactly one year ago. I look forward to continuing to witness the owners run the studio and drive the creative process for many years."

We'd love to see what else is on THQ Nordic's shopping list.

Some spoilers for the opening of the Amorous Adventures of Bold Sir Hans Capon follow.

One of the standout characters in Kingdom Come is undoubtedly Hans Capon. He makes a terrible first impression, the very picture of a stuck-up, self-regarding lord. But over time he warms to you and reveals himself to be a charismatic, thoroughly likeable character—something Warhorse was clearly aware of, as they’ve made the hedonistic, wine-loving heir to the Rattay throne the focus of its latest paid-for DLC expansion.

The Amorous Adventures of Bold Sir Hans Capon, to give it its full, unwieldy title, can be accessed after completing the quests Next to Godliness and Robber Baron. Capon will tell you about a woman in Rattay he’s fallen for, and asks for your help in wooing her—without her knowing. Keeping your love for a woman secret, Capon tells me, is all the rage in France, and he wants me to help him win her heart secretly. The first stage of which is recovering a family heirloom, a necklace, that he lost in a drunken dice game.

I travel to the tavern in Ledetchko where Capon lost the necklace, but the local dice champion tells me he already lost the heirloom to a fancy-looking chap who was last seen at a river crossing near the town of Sasau. I travel to Sasau and comb the river for clues until I find the nobleman in question—murdered and, importantly, no longer in possession of the necklace. The savage nature of the killing leads me to believe bandits were responsible.

As I’m investigating the crime scene, a well-spoken man calling himself Sir Anselm of Domky emerges from the woods and tells me the nobleman was killed by bandits, and that they have a camp set up nearby. I instinctively reach for my sword and get ready for a bit of brigand slaying, but Anselm has a more subtle plan in mind. He asks me to pose as Alphonse, the dead man, and infiltrate the camp to find out who the killer is—and maybe find that necklace I’m looking for in the process. I agree to help him and sheathe my sword.

Making sure I know enough about Alphonse to deal with any questioning in the bandit camp, I grill Anselm about the dead man. Where he hails from, the lords he’s served, things he enjoys. Apparently he’s a keen dice player (no surprises there) from Slany and once worked for Prokop of Luxembourg. I make a mental note of these details, hoping they’ll save my skin later on, and get ready to pose as Alphonse. But there’s one problem: I look like shit. I’m wearing a raggedy shirt and a ramshackle collection of battered armour. It’s obvious I’m no lord.

I visit my house in Rattay and access my stash, where I have heaps of clothes and other junk I’ve pilfered and purchased over the course of the game. I find a fashionable cap with a feather in it, some nobleman’s hose, other assorted finery, and suddenly rustic, battle-scarred Henry looks like a prancing toff. Capon would be proud. I also stop in at the bathhouse to clean myself up and get a fresh new haircut and beard trim. Satisfied I no longer look like a peasant, I head to the bandit camp and announce myself to the guard.

Immediately I’m glad I quizzed Anselm about Alphonse. The guard asks where I’m from, assuming Prague, and I confidently correct him, saying I’m actually a native of Slany. He lets me in, but tells me that the bandit leader—presumably Alphonse’s killer—is busy, and that I should play some dice to pass the time. As I explore the camp and eavesdrop on the foul-mouthed bandits, I learn that the champion of a dice tournament wins a precious necklace: the very same one that once belonged to Capon before he foolishly lost it.

I throw 1000 groschen into the pot and enter the tournament, but I absolutely stink at Kingdom Come’s dice minigame, and I lose spectacularly. But I have another plan in mind. I ask the tournament organiser who won, and he tells me it’s a guy called Pechuna. I corner him and congratulate him on his victory, and consider buying the necklace off him or pickpocketing it while he sleeps. But where’s the fun in that? Instead I ask him how he’ll be celebrating, and he tells me he’s walking through the woods to Sasau to drink. Walking through the woods. Alone. With the necklace I need in his pocket.

I follow Pechuna through the trees until we’re well away from the camp, then I pull out my sword and run it through him. He has no armour, and he doesn’t know I’m there, so the ‘fight’ is over in seconds. Then I grab Capon’s necklace, which will help the cocky lord begin his quest to win the heart of that lovely lady in Rattay. A nice final detail: as I look through Pechuna’s possessions I notice that he’s carrying loaded dice. The swine cheated! I mean, he is a bandit, but what about honour among thieves? Suddenly I don’t feel too bad about stabbing him in the back and leaving him to rot in the forest.

I’m immediately won over by The Amorous Adventures of Bold Sir Hans Capon. This is a brilliantly constructed opening quest with a lot of different outcomes. And while Kingdom Come can often be quite self-serious, this DLC seems, so far, a lot more light-hearted. I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes next, and what trouble Capon’s romantic quest will undoubtedly get us both in. The DLC is out now and costs £8/$10. We’ll have a full review up on the site soon. And next time you decide to try and swindle someone in a dice game, make sure they don’t have a sword stuffed down their silky pantaloons.

Watch the first trailer for Kingdom Come: Deliverance's next DLC, featuring a loved-up Hans Capon above. And know that the action role-player's Amorous Adventures is due next week.

So, what's going on above? Well, the bold Hans is in love, says publisher Deep Silver, and requires Henry's guidance as he attempts to woo romantic interest Karolina. Things are far from straightforward, though, and a lost family jewel, a magic love potion and "the most romantic poem of all" all promise to thwart Cupid's arrow. 

That's sort of teased up there, as is the Rattay Combat Tournament—a contest fit only for the fiercest warriors, keen to hone their fighting skills. Enter, win and net Henry some unique armour parts. 

The fanfare that accompanied Kingdom Come Deliverance at launch may have subsided, but it still holds strong on our list of the best RPGs on PC. Here's how we describe it there:

In this historical RPG set in the muddy fields of Bohemia, 1403, you play as a peasant called Henry who gets swept up in a war for his homeland. It's a detailed RPG, with a deep sword fighting system, hunger and thirst systems, crafting and more than a dozen equipment slots to fill with meticulously modeled gear inspired by the raiments of the time.  It's also surprisingly open-ended. If you want to wander into the woods and pick mushrooms for meagre coin then off you go, just be careful of bandits as you explore the pretty rural locales.

It's by no means perfect—there are plenty of bugs and wonky moments—but this is an RPG in the Elder Scrolls vein. A few bugs can be excused when the wider experience is this atmospheric.

Kingdom Come Deliverance's Amorous Adventures is due on Tuesday, October 16.  

Warhorse Studios has released a teaser trailer for its next serving of Kingdom Come: Deliverance DLC, called the Amorous Adventures of Bold Sir Hans Capon, in which you'll help Sir Hans win the heart of Karolina, the butcher's daughter. 

I hated Sir Hans early in the game, but he slowly grew on me, so I'll probably be happy to lend him a hand. He wants Henry to sneak some jewelry and a love letter into Karolina's trunk but, judging by dead bodies and the angry butcher in the trailer, it won't be quite as simple as it sounds. In total, it should take you a chunky 10-15 hours to complete, Warhorse told PCGamesN.

You'll be able to pick up the quest at the end of the game or by making friends with Sir Hans earlier on.

We don't yet have a concrete release date, but Warhorse says it'll arrive in roughly a month alongside a free DLC called Tournament, which adds combat tournaments throughout the world. You can compete in them to win armour sets and money,  but first you'll have to finish a quest chain that will last around five hours.

Amorous Adventures will be followed by a number of other paid and free DLCs—the two big, story-driven ones are called Band of Bastards, due late in the year, and A Woman's Lot, which will arrive next year. For the full DLC roadmap, click here.

The Kingdom Come: Deliverance DLC From the Ashes is live today, and developer Warhorse Studios has rolled out a new video providing a closer look at what players can do when they're given the job of bailiff of a village being rebuilt on the ruins of a bandit camp. 

From the Ashes is a little different from most DLC releases because it's not an "extra," but is integrated into the primary campaign. As the bailiff, you'll make the calls about how the village is rebuilt, but it's not city-building sim; instead, it's more of a financial management system, where you tell your Number One Guy what you want (and ensure he's got the cash to cover it), and then stand back while he makes it happen.  

Different types of buildings will cost or generate money, but more importantly they open doors to new and unique opportunities. A stable, for instance, will enable you to purchase new horses that aren't available anywhere else, and having an alchemy table in your town hall eliminates the need to look for one elsewhere. You'll also have the opportunity to higher special NPCs to join you on your adventures, and help settle disputes between your citizens, which will influence their well-being and your finances.

Eventually, the village will start churning out regular revenues for you, unless you botch the job. Screw things up enough and your erstwhile benefactor will step in, liberating you from the weighty responsibilities of management that are clearly too much for you to handle. (I guess he hadn't heard about the poop-throwing thing when he decided to put you in charge.)

Kingdom Come: Deliverance goes for $10/£8/€10 on Steam, GOG, and the Humble Store.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance has rolled out a new Hardcore mode, alongside its latest 1.6 patch. And if you thought survival in 13th century Bohemia was challenging before, trying staying alive minus fast travel, quick saving and compass indicators. 

Then try taking on board two permanent negative perks—such is a requirement of the new mode. Ailments cover everything from Nightmares that inflict short-term debuffs, to Tapeworms that heighten your appetite, and Claustrophobia that lowers attacks whenever your helmet visor is closed. 

The Somnambulant perk, however, is my favourite. "There is a slight chance you will wake up somewhere else than where you fell asleep," explains this Steam Community update. "Provides quite a challenge when you wake up in an unknown place and can't see your position on the map. Very rarely you can also sleepwalk your place to some secret areas."

Which reminds of a more gruelling slant on Skyrim's A Night to Remember side quest. The full list of negative perks can be read here. 

Hardcore mode also prevents Waypoints from being seen unless the player is up close, combat is more realistic—"strikes have a more realistic impact"—traders pay less for goods, and repairing items is more costly. Moreover, in the absence of compass indicators players must determine the time of day against the sun's location in the sky, which sounds pretty neat.    

Read more on KC:D's Hardcore survival mode this way, alongside patch notes for update 1.6. There, developer Warhorse Studios says more on the action role-player's incoming From the Ashes DLC is "coming soon".

Update: Since publishing the above, Warhorse has released a brief trailer for its From the Ashes DLC. Here's that: