Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Reddit take
AI summary of the Reddit excerpts below — not a quote
Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a highly immersive, realistic medieval RPG that polarizes players with its "zero-to-hero" progression and technical "Eurojank." While praised for its atmosphere, unique mechanics, and deep role-playing, it is frequently criticized for its steep learning curve, clunky combat, and a restrictive save system that some find disrespectful of their time.
Pros
- Deeply immersive and realistic medieval setting with a beautiful Bohemian countryside.
- Rewarding progression as the protagonist Henry evolves from a useless peasant to a capable warrior.
- Unique RPG mechanics for lockpicking and pickpocketing that offer more depth than genre standards.
- Strong value proposition, with the Royal Edition frequently available at a significant discount.
- Highly regarded Nintendo Switch port that maintains immersion despite hardware limitations.
Cons
- Steep and often frustrating initial learning curve where the protagonist is intentionally incompetent.
- Combat can feel sluggish, unresponsive, and unintuitive, especially when managing the camera lock-on against multiple enemies.
- Persistent technical issues including bugs, optimization problems, and clunky UI design.
- Restrictive save system tied to specific items or quest milestones can lead to significant loss of progress.
Caveats
- The game is frequently described as "Eurojank," characterized by high ambition but a lack of AAA polish.
- Combat training with NPCs like Captain Bernard is considered mandatory by the community to make the mechanics functional.
- The game's commitment to realism often results in mechanics that do not respect the player's time.
Best for
- Fans of immersive, realistic RPGs who value historical atmosphere over traditional power fantasies.
- Patient gamers willing to invest significant time into learning complex, non-standard systems.
Avoid if
- You prefer fast-paced, intuitive combat or traditional "hero" power curves.
- You have limited gaming time and find restrictive save systems or technical bugs deal-breakers.
This summary uses balanced time weighting with about a 122-month half-life. The evidence is drawn from a window with a median age of approximately 409 days, reflecting a mix of long-term player sentiment and more recent reflections.
Sentiment
23 positive (37%) · 13 mixed (21%) · 26 negative (42%)
Trust + time weighted score: -5% · raw score -5%
What redditors said (10 of 62)
Kingdom Come Deliverance is a great game, but it can be very frustrating to play. When you grab this game and play, just remember you're playing as a peasant. So the game will be quite difficult in the beginning. It's a great game though!
Based on the way it has started I am very excited, it hits a lot of notes that I absolutely love.
The combat lock is super sticky and while I don’t expect Henry to be medieval John Wick, I do expect him to at least be able to quickly change targets. ... The combat lock prevents this from being a possibility and running away basically means certain death whether you have armour on or not.
Parent context: Fighting a group of Cumans or Bandits is miserable though and even worse when you’re going for the “Merciful” trophy. The combat system simply isn’t designed to manage crowds effectively. … Reply: In the end, the biggest issue with combat system I had was the too powerful, and easy, masterstrike. It discouraged initiative too much.
Being lost in the forest at night with no save and no sun in hardcore mode is one of the best horror experiences I ever had
The combat in these games really does feel like the designer did not play any other games and decided to build a combat system from the ground up without looking up ANY help. It's like how you might design combat if there was nothing better.
Parent context: Great write up! I gave this game a shot a while back. Reply: I wanted to like it, but it didn’t do anything for me.
The combat system, which I know gets a lot of flak, actually isn’t too bad once your skill level is high enough. You may even be able to handle two or three low-level enemies at once. But the system completely falls apart when facing larger groups. It reveals a frustratingly sticky lock-on system that makes enemy management almost impossible.
The narrative itself has a brilliant hook, but is held back by far too many meandering quest lines, which ruins the pacing and results in a game that is a slog to get through for first time players.
It’s a brilliant, albeit flawed game that asks the player for patience, commitment, and a willingness to embrace its rough edges in exchange for one of the most immersive RPG experiences of the last decade.
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