Whoever says that history is boring needs to play Warhorse Studio’s Kingdom Come: Deliverance. From what we saw at PAX East, this experience brought to the PC, PS4, and XBox One will almost certainly change their tune. Most of us have only had the past presented to us in hyper-condensed textbooks intended to get the bare minimum of necessary information crammed into our skulls. What that type of history leaves out, though, is the interpersonal relations and individual struggles experienced by those who lived through momentous parts of our pas
That personable take on history is where Kingdom Come shines and boy are the Warhorse people themselves personable.
Not only were the staff at their PAX East booth friendly and enthusiastic, they had team members wandering the showroom floor dressed in period armor, complete with beaked helms, lobstered gauntlets, sabatons… you name it! If you heard the sound of rattling metal or scraping leather, chances are that you would turn around and find a knight walking past carrying a staff with the game’s title and studio printed on a flowing black flag. The game’s lounge area even had the benefit of sitting right next to Blizzard’s grand World of Warcraft monument. Lots of traffic heading to that fantastic display soon found themselves drawn to this perfectly medieval game.
Playing as Henry, the son of your village’s blacksmith, the player soon becomes immersed in late-medieval life and then enmeshed in a war that tore apart Bohemia in 1403. As a villager-turned soldier, the player does not see life in the Holy Roman Empire, but experiences it.
The gameplay is reminiscent of Skyrim and other open-world epics, while leaning heavily into realism. Each blow that you deliver jars the camera, each time you take a hit you are less able to fight, and you will watch as you cut the strings from each purse you steal. Oh, and that’s not to mention the dirt, blood, and other grime that accumulates on characters depending upon what they are doing. Pair that with branching storylines and it really feels as though you are a part of the world that you are playing in.
“Everyone in AAA games is saying ‘Oh, online multiplayer is what is popular. It’s what everyone wants,’” says Warhorse Studio’s Public Relations Manager, Tobias Stolz-Zwilling, “but we started making this game and people were saying ‘Yes, this is what we want’ and they’re still saying that. Even people who didn’t back us or only just found us.”
Speaking with Mr. Stolz-Zwilling, he mentioned how sales for Kingdom Come shattered all of the studio’s expectations within the first week of release. Soon after, they had broken the one million sales marker. Considering that Warhorse is a Kickstarter company, that is laudable to say the least.
“It took a long time, but we are proud of what we have made.” -Tobias Stolz-Zwilling, Public Relations Manager
The Kingdom Come Kickstarter project began back in 2013 and soon met their minimum funding goals. By the end of the year, they were looking at meeting their first stretch objectives with backers still popping up like daisies. They have since brought on historians and architects among other consultants to ensure the nearest historical accuracy that they can manage, plus addition in-game gear, graphics updates, and a whole suite of other perks made possible by their eager backers.
“We could not have done this without our backers. We would not be here at PAX. We owe everything to you.” -Tobias Stolz-Zwilling
If you want to learn more about this game and its vivacious team, visit their website, Facebook page, Twitter, or their YouTube channel!
