I’ve been playing Kingdom Come: Deliverance pretty solidly for the last few days, but it’s a colossus of a game, and I’ll need to put more time in before I’m comfortable reviewing the thing. In the meantime, here are some scattered impressions from my first 25 hours in Bohemia.

The setting is beautiful

I wasn’t sure about the idea of a medieval RPG without any dungeons and/or dragons, but I’m finding the grimy, understated realism of Kingdom Come’s setting really refreshing. The world isn’t as vivid or dramatic as places like Skyrim or Skellige, but it’s enormously atmospheric, with some of the finest virtual woodland I’ve ever seen in a game. I recommend taking a break from questing, finding the nearest forest, going for a wander, and listening to the birds. It’s wonderfully peaceful, at least until a wild boar knocks you on your arse.

It rarely holds your hand

In a lot of modern RPGs I feel like I spend more time blindly following icons on a map than exploring. This is a problem Kingdom Come brilliantly avoids by only marking the general area where something you need to find is. If you need to track someone down, it won’t mark their location on the map, just the town they live in. And it won’t mark the location of a bandit camp, but the swathe of forest it's hiding in. This forces you to do some of the legwork yourself, making for a much more satisfying and immersive role-playing experience.

The world reacts to you

I’ve been sharing notes with other writers who are playing the game and I love that we all have stories to tell: about quests we completed differently, fun stuff we found while exploring, or moments of accidental chaos. A complex simulation governs Kingdom Come’s world, and while it’s a bit creaky and prone to bugs—it often feels like it could collapse at any moment—it makes for a wonderfully dynamic, reactive world. You can go to jail for a variety of crimes, highborn NPCs will be friendlier if you’ve had a bath, troublemakers will back down if you unsheathe your sword, you'll get a hangover if you drink too much… and those are just a few random examples. There's a lot to discover.

You can get creative

This reactivity extends to the way the quests are designed. There are multiple ways to approach objectives by gaming the systems and being creative: to the point where Kingdom Come often feels like an immersive sim masquerading as an RPG. Sneaking into a man’s house at night, keeping his dogs quiet with scraps of meat, stealing a ring from a chest in his bedroom as he slept, I couldn’t help but think of Thief. And that’s just one of several ways to get the ring. Other people I spoke to took a completely different approach, including one who just killed the sleeping dogs with a bow. Jesus.

It’s buggy as hell

But all this comes at a cost. Like many games with this level of depth and ambition, Kingdom Come is a festival of bugs. Some of these are harmless, like characters getting stuck on walls or floating in mid-air during cutscenes. But in some instances I’ve been left with no choice but to reload a save or, in severe cases, completely restart the game. In an archery contest my opponent refused to take his turn and left me trapped in an endless limbo. After a tavern brawl, a three-second loop of my character grunting wouldn’t stop playing, forcing a restart. And I’ve had a couple of good old-fashioned crashes to desktop.

And that’s fine

Here’s the thing: I don’t care that much. I usually have a low tolerance for buggy games, but I’m having so much fun existing in this simulated medieval world that it hasn’t deterred me from playing it once. I’ve always had an affinity for scrappy, ambitious games that bite off more than they can chew, and Kingdom Come falls neatly into this category. You’ll just have to decide whether its general lack of polish is charming or, well, annoying. I’m leaning towards the former, although I imagine some of you won’t be quite as forgiving.

Shame about the performance

One thing that definitely isn’t charming is the performance. I have a GTX 1080, an i5-6600K overclocked to 4.5GHz, and 16GB of RAM, and the frame rate is all over the place. It’s fine in the countryside, clinging to 60fps with a few dips to 50-55. But when I go somewhere with a lot of geometry, like a big town or a castle, it sinks as low as 20-25fps. This makes moving around feel sludgy and unpleasant. I tried lowering my resolution from 1440p to 1080p and bringing the graphics settings down to medium, but the stuttering was still there. I’m not sure if this is a problem with my specific setup or the game itself, but the inconsistent frame rate has been a problem since I started playing—and is continuing even after installing the latest, patched up version of the game.

The save system is... interesting

My worst gaming habit is quick-saving every five seconds. About to pick a lock? Quick-save. Moments away from a big fight? Quick-save. But in Kingdom Come, you have to drink booze called Saviour Schnapps to quick-save, which gets you drunk and is quite expensive to buy. So I just don't bother. I rely entirely on auto-saves, which happen at key points during quests, and sleeping. But you have to own or rent the bed you sleep on for it to save. It's a clunky, slightly arbitrary system, but does give your decisions more weight.

You can be a detective

Occasionally Kingdom Come turns into a medieval police procedural. Henry finds himself investigating a brutal murder on a horse farm, which involves questioning people, chasing leads, and hunting for clues. It's a long, entertaining series of quests, and it's even possible to completely screw up a line of investigation, forcing you to find some other way to solve the crime. Henry doesn't have Geralt of Rivia's fancy Witcher senses to help him find the culprit, but he's a competent amateur sleuth all the same.

Henry is a nice boy

I’m surprised by how invested in the story I am. The setup didn’t sound particularly interesting or imaginative: bad people burn village down, man embarks on quest for vengeance. But the easy, likeable charm of protagonist Henry—the unassuming son of a blacksmith thrust into a world of lords, ladies, war, and politics—gives the game a solid, relatable foundation. Strong supporting characters and varied, unpredictable quest design make for a compelling narrative, and I genuinely care about this lad.

But Geralt he ain’t

He can handle himself in a fight, but within reason. I learned this the hard way when four hard-looking bandits clad in armour were trying to squeeze some information out of me. I told them to bugger off and they destroyed me almost instantly. Because of course they did. You almost have to rewire your brain when you play Kingdom Come and remember that you aren’t Geralt: you’re just some bloke who’s a bit nifty with a sword, but basically untrained. The combat is fantastically weighty and violent, and every single fight (of which there have been surprisingly few for me) feels like it really matters.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a really interesting game, and as soon as this is published I’ll be wading back in for more swords and not sorcery. Look out for the full, less rambly review in the next couple of days. Come check the game out at the PC Gamer Weekender in London this week, too. We'll also have the developers on-stage.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a massive game, and the lengths it goes to simulate life as Henry—a nice boy, complete dork, and unremarkable swordsman—can make navigating an unforgiving medieval land quite the challenge. Things we take for granted in similar RPGs can have a permanent effect on your playthrough, and without the dough or deft sword arm to bribe or slash your way out of trouble, chances are you'll be spending a lot of time in jail (or dead). Don't worry, whether your goal is to become a valiant knight or roguish thief, we know a few tips and tricks that will make your first venture into 1400s Bohemia relatively easygoing. 

The 'real' game starts when you get to Rattay, so don't delay too much 

The first 10 or so hours of Kingdom Come can feel a bit frustrating without a proper combat tutorial, a reliable horse, money, or incentive to explore the world. Push through until the main quest brings you to Rattay, the point at which you get the actual combat tutorial, the means to make some money, a bow, and a few quests in, a horse. Mine is named Pebbles and we'll never be apart. Here, you'll also start getting more frequent side quests and incentives to explore the entire map. None of this is to say you should rush through the early hours, just don't veer too far off the path before getting your medieval adventurer's starter kit.

You're meant to suck at combat at first 

Henry is going to feel slow and clumsy with a sword to start, but that's baked into the role you're playing. He wasn't born an expert swordsman. You need to get him there through training, leveling up, unlocking combos, and perks. You'll also just get better through natural play. Until then, here's a few things to keep in mind. Enemies are dealing with the same systems you are, meaning if they swing a lot or block a lot of blows, they're likely going to be low on stamina. Try to keep track of how much they've been swinging, blocking, and time your flurries for when they're likely their most tired. Take stock of what kind of armor your enemy is wearing, too, as each material handles weapons differently. It won't matter that much in the early game, just try to aim for the skin or thinnest clothing. One decent jab to the face can take down the toughest looking brutes. 

Learn new skills and train with Captain Bernard

To accelerate your combat skills, spend some time with Captain Bernard in the combat yard outside of Rattay. Once you reach certain levels, he'll teach you new moves, like the riposte. And while you train, you'll also level up your weapon arts as you would if you were in actual combat.

Don't eat too much 

The inclusion of a hunger system might make you want to hoard food and chow down as much as possible before heading out on an adventure. But, as with many of the systems in Kingdom Come, the game is one step ahead. Eat too much and you'll actually get a debuff that makes you slow and sluggish for a few minutes. A pig's head stands in for the debuff too, which is quite the mark of shame to carry with you throughout a world that operates on class and appearances. Don't be like me and get gutted in a river because you're too full to escape some amateur bandits. 

And save your inventory food for life on the road 

Speaking of hoarding food, don't do that. If you inspect food items in your inventory, they have a quality stat that denotes what kind of risk they pose to your health. Leave them for too long and you're almost guaranteed to get food poisoning, a status effect that drains your health and stamina over time. If you're near civilization, chances are there's a pot of stew nearby you can eat from without much worry. Otherwise, only spend money on a few food items if you're venturing out. Don't be wasteful, Henry. 

Poison your enemies' food, you monster 

If you find deadly ingredients, you can sneak up to an enemy camp's cookpot, usually at night, and drop whatever you like into the stew. Come back the next day to see how your buds are doing. Let us know your deadliest recipes. And don't taste any yourself, no matter how good it smells.  

Don't punch too many people in town 

Unless that's the Henry you want to be, I suppose. I'm not too clear on what affects the system yet, but your reputation with each town is kept in check. I do know that getting into fistfights with people in broad daylight doesn't do it any good. Now when I walk through Rattay I can't get across town without a guard stopping me to check my person for stolen goods. As a self-professed thief Henry, life has been difficult. Dig into your character menus to see how you stand with each community and be sure to play nice, if you can manage. 

If you're the sneaky type, be sure to pay Theresa's uncle ASAP 

Once you wake up in Rattay, you'll be in debt to the miller that paid your medical expenses and housed you during your recovery. You can pay the guy or do him a favor. Opt to do him the favor, even if it sounds a bit unsavory for a good lad like Henry. Dark times call for dark measures. Once you find the ring and deliver it, you'll unlock a merchant that buys stolen goods and a thievery questline. Get rich while taking the nobles down a notch. A fair exchange. 

Buy at least two lockpicks right away

Whether you're a valiant Henry or not, you're going to run across some early instances where the only thing standing between you and your goal is a locked door or chest. Be sure to buy at least two lockpicks as soon as you can. Don't use them on anything too hard or they'll snap right away. Instead, practice the unlocking minigame on some easy or very easy chests, and don't get too sad if you break a pick in the process. Once you get the hang of it, the only way you'll break that second pick on easier locks is through sheer clumsiness. Once you get Theresa's uncle on your side, he'll also offer to teach you how to lockpick. You can either pay him for a quick boost or practice on a chest he has out back. 

Repair your gear 

While adventuring your gear’s quality will drop, represented by the broken shield icon. If it gets too low it can never be repaired, so make regular stops at towns to get your stuff fixed. Armorsmiths fix armour, tailors fix clothes and gambesons, cobblers fix boots and shoes, and weaponsmiths fix weapons.

Choked-out people don't stay unconscious forever

In most games, if you knock someone out they function as a dead NPC except you get to live with a clean conscience. Not so in Kingdom Come. People come to pretty quickly, sometimes 30 seconds or so, though that time may vary on conditions we're not quite sure of yet. If you're going to knock someone out, plan on making a run for it before they get up and try to return the favor.

Save your Saviour Schnapps for risky maneuvers  

At the start of Kingdom Come, you'll get three bottles of Saviour Schnapps for free. If I could reach out and grab you by the shoulders and shake you, I would. Cherish them. Keep in mind that the game autosaves often while questing, and that you can always pop down for a nap in a nearby bed to save too. Saviour Schnapps should be used only when you want to try something risky, like breaking into a noble's room and stealing all their shit. It doesn't help that Saviour Schnapps are pricey early on, usually 100 groschen or more. Save your money for more useful stuff, like nice gear or bribes. 

Cheat with your bow aim 

Stick a small piece of tape or paper to the center of your screen, or pinpoint it by shooting some arrows at the practice range in Rattay. Henry still sways like a drunk at first, so you won't be able to bullseye bandits with ease—it's just a tad easier than without it. Know that great shame comes with this. To break the roleplaying contract is a grave sin. If only headshotting bandits with arrows wasn't so grimly satisfying. It's just so damn difficult.

Historical RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance isn't out for another ten days but modders are already working on a Game of Thrones total conversion mod. The mod, called Seven Kingdoms, will feature a role-playing story set in the Riverlands during the War of the Five Kings, and it's from the same team that created the Game of Thrones conversion mod for Total War: Attila. 

The modders are halting all work on the Attila Seven Kingdoms mod and focusing their efforts on Kingdom Come: Deliverance because the RPG is better suited for the project, they said. "While we were able to bring the main armies and characters from Game of Thrones into Attila: Total War, it offered very little modding support and potential for new features. For example, a campaign set in Westeros could not be created," they said in an FAQ. 

"Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a brand new game utilizing the powerful CryEngine. This means it's easier to create quality assets and to render them with next-gen shaders. The open-world and story-driven aspects of the game are better suited to the Game of Thrones universe, giving us much more potential for new features and gameplay modes. Most importantly, Warhorse Studios stands behind the modding community and has been very vocal about supporting mods."

The full game comes out on February 13, but the team have already started creating  3D assets for the mod, including weapons and armour. The mod will be "loyal to the TV show", rather than the Game of Thrones books, and the team haven't decided which characters will make it in yet, but the Riverlands setting gives them lots of options.  

"This location was selected because it closely resembles the visuals of the KC:D game (trees, buildings, etc) and is best suited to the original game's storyline. Dozens of armies were present in this hotly contested area (Stark, Lannister, Tully, Bracken, Karstark, etc) along with gangs of bandits and freeriders roaming the countryside. With two warring sides, dangerous no-man's-land, and civilians caught in the middle between it all, it's a content-rich environment and the ideal location for an open-world mod."

The team has no release date planned for the mod, but you can read more about the project on its ModDB page.

Thanks. DSOGaming.