Kingdom Come: Deliverance Review - 5 Ups & 5 Downs

1. Up: It's Charming, Unique And Ultimately, Lovable

Here's a question: Why does Dark Souls get to "get away with" so many obtuse mechanics and an overall feeling of having restrictive, "deliberate" combat? Why does Monster Hunter get to have one of the weirdest senses of progression in gaming history?

Why don't these games get chastised for being "awkward" as an objective negative, and others get torn in half for what could be thinking outside the box?

The answer tends to centre around a level of intent, or passion, behind the creation - enough to get across that all this finicky, off-kilter thinking is actually intentional.

To some degree - or, as much degree as you can afford when confronted with unresponsive combat, fidgety animations and brutal survival mechanics, anyway - Kingdom Come is another one of those games. It has a confidence; a sense of "No, you come to me" behind its systems, and an overall charm that exudes from every pore.

It's taken the better part of this decade to develop, but Warhorse clearly had a very specific vision for how they want you to feel. You see it everywhere from the sun setting on a good hunt, to listening to the patrons of any local tavern discuss how the political landscape is shifting around them. You notice it in how you need to literally learn to read, before you can obtain skills from books.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is awkward as all hell, but like all acquired tastes, once you're on the other side you'll be glad you put the time in.