Warhorse Studios, the developer of the large-scale role-playing game Kingdom Come: Deliverance, is preparing to release its sequel on February 11, 2025. The project promises to be larger and more detailed than its predecessor, while remaining faithful to historical accuracy and hardcore gameplay.
Image source: Deep Silver
At gamescom 2024, Wccftech journalists were able to not only try out an early version of the game, but also talk with Martin Klima, executive producer of Warhorse. He shared development details and plans for the future.
Klima said that work on Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 did not begin immediately after the release of the first part. The team only focused on the sequel after the release of the latest DLC. Despite the fact that the authors considered different engines, in the end it was decided to stay with CryEngine. According to Klima, this is justified by the fact that the team spent a lot of time modifying it to suit their needs, so the final result was technically suitable for the second part.
The game will have two huge regions, between which you will be allowed to move freely after a certain plot point. The developers paid special attention to optimization in order to avoid the performance problems that the first part had.
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The combat system, the hallmark of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, will remain true to its principles in the second part, but will become more accessible. Now the attack uses only one button, and the type of attack – piercing or slashing – is determined by the impact zone. Here the developers strived for simplicity and naturalness: initially, combat control seemed too cumbersome to them, so they decided to reduce the number of buttons used.
New types of weapons have been added to the game: halberds, crossbows and, of course, firearms. Klima noted that although the “firearm” can be an absolute solution in some situations, it is still inaccurate and takes a long time to reload. And the executive producer also avoided answering the question about possible misfires when using it.
Warhorse employees strive to create a truly living world, where NPCs live their own lives, and are not just waiting to meet the player. To achieve this, a lot of work has been done on AI and dialogue.
«Let me give you an example: we recorded a huge number of lines of dialogue, and almost half of them were not related to the plot of the game at all. – said Martin Klima. – These are NPC reactions to player actions, such as when you steal something, when you enter an area where you shouldn’t be, when characters find a body, or when they open their chest and realize it’s empty. It’s very subtle; even depending on what was stolen, you may get different reactions.”
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 will feature a “quick dialogue” system, clearly taken from Red Dead Redemption 2. In the first part, the activation of any conversation between the main character and a random character went through a special system that turned on a scripted camera and paused the character’s actions. This technical solution worked well within the context of the story, creating a cinematic effect, but the developers wanted something lighter and more natural, without sudden camera switches when the characters continue to move.
Especially for the sequel, the team first created a system of short remarks (for example, “yes” or “no”) that did not require launching a cumbersome dialogue system. Later, the authors realized that it had much more potential, and added the ability to greet passersby and exchange short phrases with them. Klima denies that this is a direct copy of Red Dead Redemption 2, although he admits that everyone on the team plays games and influence from other projects cannot be ruled out.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 will be released on February 11, 2025 on PC (Steam, EGS), PS5, Xbox Series X and S.