Kingdom Come Deliverance II preview: a game that will put us medieval everywhere

Kingdom Come Deliverance is one of those projects that I have been able to follow from its conception in a modest presentation at the late E3 to the ambitious development of the sequel presented last year by Warhorse Studios in Kutná Hora. Kingdom Come Deliverance II is a reality, and after the first hours of gameplay, we can confirm that it is more than just the continuation of a dream, but a complex reality that will arrive on February 4th on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and PC, and that it even runs excellently on platforms such as the Asus Rog Ally X.

The formula of 30, 90 and 250

As Tobias Stolz-Zwilling, Global PR Manager of Warhorse Studios, told us in the preview, the effort of a team that started with only 30 people and ended up exceeding the size of the original studio by up to 8 times, showed us the care they put into the details, both in the visuals, the story and the gameplay.

First impressions of the final version of Kingdom Come Deliverance II

It is important to note that we played this preview on the PC version, which we tested in different configurations to see both the experimental version (the most visually realistic), the ‘very high’ graphics version with DLSS in quality mode, and the medium version with FSR active in quality mode on the Asus Rog Ally X.

Before we move on to the visuals, let us take a look at the gameplay, as we did in last year’s hands-on. We begin the story at the feet of Henry, who goes on a mission with his good friend Hans Capon to deliver a message that is of vital importance, so in order not to fall into the realm of spoilers, we will skip the plot completely and focus on the type of missions, submissions and mini-games that we can find.

From the very beginning, even before the combat tutorial, we can and we really recommend you to try the dice game, a kind of dice game that is well explained and honestly very addictive. This mini-game will be found throughout our adventure, and if we do a good job of exploring or accepting certain offerings, we can get “loaded” dice that can help us better monetize our bets.

Something we really liked is how the narrative component takes you in such a way that when you least expect it, you get caught up in a side mission that requires nothing of the main mission, or to put it another way, a simple task like moving sacks of flour can end up in a fight.

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For example, we met a messenger who had lost a letter, and in order to “justify” to his employer that he had lost it, he asked us to punch him in the face so that he could argue that he had been assaulted. Of course, this is where the charisma and fame that you create or want to have in the game come into play.

Another interesting point is that in our case we wanted to lead a more diplomatic “life”, but the more we tried to solve the problem “the good way”, the more we ended up in all kinds of problems. Even some of them ended in disgrace, so often the diplomacy of strikes or medieval threats can be a good way to find the solution of conflicts without casualties.

The character development system seemed to us to be one of the best we have seen in the genre, as it evolves naturally as you progress, taking for granted that eating, bathing, bandaging, sleeping, taking potions, and so on will help you maintain a balance within the game. It’s important to wash your clothes, because if you don’t, people will start making derogatory comments, and you’ll also have to have them repaired if they get damaged.

The battles, although rough, have improved a lot and in some cases do not end in fatalities, since there is the possibility of surrendering or that our rival also does it, the blocks are a core part of this system, in fact, from the beginning, we can choose our style of play between soldier, counselor or explorer.

The first are more focused on using weapons and wearing heavy armor, the second are more focused on the gift of speech and words, and the explorers are more focused on playing in stealth mode.

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Another point that we thought was very well done is the creation of objects, because to create potions, for example, you need a recipe and supplies, without forgetting that these can expire. For this reason, it is often necessary to dry them in special places and, above all, to mark them on the map so that they will last.

From a historical point of view, we found it really amazing how every time you find something, like a place where they camped, the codex is updated with a short and very well-documented quote to understand everything.

Finally, we would like to point out that up to the point where we arrive (more than 10 hours), there is only “fast travel” at certain points that you unlock, marked in blue. There is a reason for this, because time and everything around us is alive, and most of the time you have to travel on foot or by horse. Some fast travels are only given when you complete a mission, return to certain points to not lose the thread of the story or depending on some of our decisions.

Visuals that make you live in the Middle Ages

We have to highlight the experimental mode of Kingdom Come Deliverance II’s visuals, which can only be achieved with the following configuration:

In this mode, we were able to get over 60 FPS in native 4K resolution, but it really seemed out of this world, especially when we got a thunderstorm at night, as the game changes the weather in real-time. The lightning reflections on the water and how even the textures of the environment changed felt like some of the best we’ve seen in the genre.

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Moving on to the visuals in “very high” we were able to see in another setting with:

We saw visuals averaging over 60 FPS, even with DLSS enabled in quality mode. These were not far from the experimental mode, but at the texture level we can say that it was closer to a console experience.

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How does Kingdom Come Deliverance II run on the Asus Rog Ally X?

The configuration that we found to be the most suitable for a smooth game on this laptop was to use the visuals preset in the middle, with the FSR active in quality mode and the 17 W mode, with a refresh rate of 60 Hz and a resolution of 720. We were able to maintain an average of over 50 FPS and moderate battery consumption to play longer, but the game also looks amazing on the Asus handheld.

Kingdom Come Deliverance II is one of the titles that will be talked about in 2025, and although we only have a few hours, it is shaping up to be one of the best RPGs of the year.

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