Summary
Ever sinceKingdom Come: Deliverance 2was announced, the marketing focal point has been clear: “Bigger and Better.” Not only isKingdom Come: Deliverance 2’s open world literally bigger, but the sequel is improved in every regard, from combat to immersion. Part of that latter aspect is how players take on the role of Henry, son of a Blacksmith, in 1403 Bohemia (which would eventually become the modern-day Czech Republic).
Providing this immersion and a window into the past no doubt relies on strong pillars of story and gameplay, which Warhorse Studios proved its strengths with inKCD1, but it also depends on being as authentic as possible to the history of the game. It’s not simply a backdrop for a fantasy story; all the key events ofKingdom Come: Deliverance 2are all real, historical events, filled with real historical personages. That still remains a balancing act because neither isKCD2a simulation game nor is it aiming for 100% accuracy. Game Rant sat down with Warhorse Studios PR Manager Tobias Stolz-Zwilling, in Kutná Hora (Kuttenberg as it was known then and inKCD2), to talk about the studio’s approach to historical authenticity.The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Historical Authenticity in KCD2
Q: Can you talk a little bit about the approach to historical authenticity in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2?
A: Historical authenticity is something we are trying to maintain, but this is not a simulation game. We don’t aspire to be 100% correct because that is just impossible, but we are trying to get as close as possible to how it really was or at least try to have a plausible explanation for how things could have happened in 1403. We also do not sacrifice gameplay over realism because it is, first and foremost, a video game that should be fun. The realism, authentic part is the toolbox we’re using to craft the world, to write the quests, to use the characters. Real historical characters are running around doing the stuff they’re supposed to do. The story is based on real events. The places you will be visiting are real existing places, some of them still standing today. When we talk about the main storyline, it is all based on historical events, and you’re able to’t change those. Some things have to happen. You just have the chance to explain how they happened, but the side quests are usually the humorous ones, the crazy ones, and they should usually tell you something about the commoners' problems andeveryday life in the Middle Agesand such.
We really attempt to show players a picture of the Middle Ages, 1403 Bohemia, as closely as possible. To achieve that, we have historians on the team, well one big historian who consults everyone else. She works with the universities, museums, reenactors, the cities directly, and so on. Because KCD is a big thing here in the Czech Republic, that’s a big advantage because they open all the doors for us and want to be involved.
Q: You’ve lived here for 12 years. Could you talk a little bit about what it’s like to see your home turned into a video game?
A:You know what’s funny? Whenever I’m on panels or something, people treat me as if I was some history buff or something. I know the story of the Czech Republic, but very tightly connected to Kingdom Come 1 and 2. The Middle Ages and 1403, everything that’s around there, but that’s me personally.
However, if you take the entirety of the Czech Republic or Czech gamers, I think pretty much every gamer here knows about KCD, and there’s some kind of pride in that game. KCD1 was relatively successful in the world, but it’s very rare that music, film, books, or whatever crosses borders. KCD crosses borders. We showed the world Czech history, European history, and people identify with that, but not only the gamers, which is great, but also different politics reached out to us. For example, there are the so-called Czech centers. That’s like an organization that is investing in Czech tourism and focused on attracting foreigners. I don’t know, and they want to use Kingdom Come Deliverance as a representation of the Czech Republic as a cultural export and such.
KCD is not just a video game here. People are playing it, not even gamers, and they just want it to be a “this is our game” kind of thing. It’s really great that it breaks the perception that video games are just for fat nerds in the basement or something like that. This has become a phenomenon here in the Czech Republic. It is something like theWitcher for Poland, right?
Q: Working with these historians and the history of the game, has there been anything you’ve learned that has really surprised you?
A:What I think surprised me most, personally, is that there are so many common misconceptions nowadays about the Middle Ages. People think everything was dark and muddy, everyone had black teeth, everyone was dying, every wound was lethal, and so on. I mean, that’s not true. They, of course, took care of themselves. They had great teeth because we have bad teeth, nowadays, because of our diets. Back then, they had good food. They took care of themselves. They had some form of pride in clothing, and when they were wealthy, they painted their houses to make them beautiful. They wanted to show off, same as we are showing off that we have a great game today.
That’s something that is a little annoying, but most people know about the Middle Ages from movies and everyone then puts in the fantasy elements. EvenGame of Thrones was really cool in the beginning, the first few episodes, but then they started to make it more fantasy-ish. That’s fine. It’s this kind of genre, but no one else tried to make a video game that really tries to tell a story that really happened, or be authentic or realistic, which is good for us, I guess, because then we are kind of unique in the market. But it’s weird that we rather stick to the dark and muddy and black Middle Ages.
Q: You’ve mentioned Warhorse having to fill in some blank spaces when it comes to the history of certain things. Could you talk about that process a little bit?
A:Absolutely. When we looked at the story of KCD1 and KCD2, we looked for an era that was documented enough so that we could jump from the main events that were happening. We know that Silver Skalitz was burned down. We know that King Sigismund of Hungary occupied the city and was trying to steal the silver from there because he needed that money to finance some other wars, so on and so on. That was great. Within those historical frames, we also looked for a story that is blank enough that we can tell our own story, which is the story of Henry, son of a blacksmith,Henry of Skalitz, so the player can find their own way there.
Whenever there were blanks, though, in the reconstruction, how things went, or how things worked, our historian jumped in. She was, of course, checking the designs, the quests, the languages, and everything, but she then tried to find the best possible or the most educated guess of what it could have been or what it could have looked like. For instance, here in Kuttenberg, there was a town hall that burned down. Everyone knows that there was one, but no one knows what it looked like. They know that it had an astronomical clock.
How we did it was first inspired here by the Czech Republic because there are more astronomical clocks around. We tried to look at how they looked on average here in the region. If we can’t find anything here, then we go to Europe. If we can’t find anything in Europe, we try and check the world. But in the cases where there were blanks and the consultants couldn’t help us, we’ve tried to find the most plausible explanation for it.
Immersion and History in KCD2
Q: Being an immersive RPG is another one of the game’s pillars. Could you talk about that approach alongside the history of the game?
A:Whenever you do something in the game, we want you to feel involved in it. The cutscenes, the minigames, the features, it’s all the little things. I think KCD is all about the small details. When you run around the city and you have no pants or whatever, they will call you out. If you’re crouching in the middle of the city, they will say, “Dude, what’s wrong with you?” Like we want the world to react to you. We want it to be living and breathing. We want the world to be believable.
We even went so far as to check the night sky in the year 1403, at how it could probably have looked like, and tried to find a star constellation in that area of that time, early Summer. Even that one is somewhat accurate. It’s not important for the players, per se, but the ones who actually realize that will be extremely happy about it. What we want is for you to do and experience the stuff.
When you do the backsmithing, for instance, it’s not like you push a button and then all of a sudden you have 15 daggers in your pocket. You have to heat the iron in the fire. You have to put it on the anvil and bash it in the right rhythm. If you do it right, Henry will start to whistle, which lets you know you’re in the right spot. This might sound tedious to someone, but the point is not the tediousness. The point is that A, we want to show how it was done, but B, if you as a player want to get involved and you are interested in that, do it this way and you will like it. You will feel immersed deeper in it because the end result is something that you created, that you earned, and I think the feeling is the best.
On the contrary, if that is something you do not want to do, there’s no need. You don’t need to do blacksmithing, you don’t need to do alchemy. You don’t even have to fight if you don’t really want to. Sometimes you have to, but generally, you can avoid it. We are trying to offer you different solutions for pretty much every one of the main quests, at least, and give you the choice of, “Okay, what would you do? What would your Henry do?” and let you come up with a solution that fits your playstyle.
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Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
WHERE TO PLAY
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is an exhilarating Action RPG, set amidst the chaos of a civil war in 15th Century Bohemia.You are Henry of Skalitz – an ordinary man doing extraordinary things – caught in a gripping tale of revenge, betrayal, and discovery as he embarks on an epic journey, ‘from a humble blacksmith’s forge to the court of Kings’, searching for purpose in this beautiful but brutal medieval world.From bustling city streets to lush forests, explore this open-world Medieval Europe through an unforgettable adventure filled with action, thrills, and wonder.
