Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is set to release sometime in 2024, and that means fan buzz is starting to ramp up. Among these discussions are the usual laundry lists of hopes for features. So what features do fans of Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 want in the sequel?
Well, as only fans of a game like Kingdom Come Deliverance could, their hopes and dreams for the sequel are about as grounded as the games themselves. Seriously. The top comment on one of the many feature discussion threads is possibly the most humble request I’ve ever seen.
The ability to talk to NPCs while on your horse. First, I agree that having to wade through a longer than I’d like animation whenever I wanted to have a quick chat with someone got a little annoying after a while. Second…come on, man. Probably you guys can ask for a little more of the game you’ve been waiting six years to get your hands on.
But alas, Kingdom Come fans keep asking for only the smallest quality of life features you could imagine, and I think that above all else it only serves to speak to the quality of the original title. If I could describe Kingdom Come Deliverance as anything, it would be slow, but purposeful. It’s really not that kind of experience; a gritty and earthy RPG set in a primarily historical setting, as opposed to the typical high fantasy.
So what other features is the player base longing for in the sequel? Well, one I found particularly interesting was this comment about the use of daggers.
This is a really cool idea, because with the semi-realistic approach to combat Kingdom Come takes, the use of daggers presents a multitude of possible mechanics. Imagine you’re in one of the typically protracted battles you’d expect from the original game, and you find your weapon out of whack. Switching to a simple sharp dagger to deal with a bandit dressed in little more than farm clothes would be enough to end the fight, but daggers can go further.
In a showdown with better equipped enemies, perhaps you could switch to something like a Swordbreaker (or Parrying) dagger, which were used historically to trap opponents’ blades to allow the user to strike their now unguarded opponent. Daggers can offer more than just a new type of weapon, especially in conjunction with a game that takes its source material (you know, real life) so seriously.
Another comment that set my neurons off was this one discussing the connection between cleanliness and disease.
One of my favorite quests from the original was the one where you had to visit a village hit by a plague, and depending on how you did the research, you could choose to seek help for the village. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that this would be the moment when mine inability to read would come into play, and I completely messed everything up and a whole bunch of people died. It sucked, but having such an important consequence of mine outright inaction was something I haven’t experienced in a game in quite some time, and I feel like that could be doubled in the sequel.
Let’s say you spend a few weeks hunting, you got a few hits, you got good and bloody, and you came down with a nasty infection. You’re looking for help, but the best you can get is a list of ingredients for a simple potion. You then have to put everything on hold to go find the ingredients for this potion, all because you haven’t cleaned your wounds, and have been wearing dirty clothes for too long. Game mechanics that are punishing but ultimately avoidable are a great way to get people to interact with more pre-existing mechanics. Bathhouses in the first game were hard to find, and frankly, not that useful, but here they could be given a lot more weight if they could be used to keep infection at bay.
One more comment that came from this thread was this one about the introduction of a cooking mechanic, but with the same level of complexity as the blacksmithing and alchemy systems of the first game.
Not only would that be a fun addition for people who simply enjoy the fine art of gastronomy in video games (like myself), but it would lend itself well to other mechanics, like disease, or your general strength. Henry is a little farm boy turned brave Knight, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t need a full stomach to go on the warpath. Nutrition plays a vital role in fitness, but also in the prevention of diseases, both of which are quite important for a game set in the 15th century. And again, it opens itself up to interaction with other systems. Hunt your own meat, or choose the expensive option of a butcher in a major city? Go for a butcher in a major city, or trust the dodgy roadside meat wagon selling good cuts of “something red”?
In our piece on things we want to see in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, we discussed wanting an improvement to the stealth system. I’ll be the first to admit that I am no hidden guy, and if I have the option not to do it, I won’t. But, if the system behind it is not only engaging, but balanced, I’m all for it. Take Metal Gear Solid, for example; I’m fine sneaking into that because so much work went into making it fun and balanced. In Skyrim, I hate it. Because not only is it boring, it’s broken. Kingdom Come Deliverance kind of walked the line between good, boring, and broken, so some improvements would be appreciated in the sequel.
One such improvement idea comes from this comment, which discusses how clothing could be improved to offer several benefits.
Having clothes that allow you to like certain actions is a great idea, and again encourages you to put in a little more effort. Stealth will always feel more rewarding if you’ve put a lot of effort into getting better at it, as opposed to just crouching against a certain wall in Dragonsreach for about 45 minutes, like in Skyrim. Clothing, alchemy, the aforementioned cooking and daggers all go into an improved stealth system.
What ideas do you have for the sequel to Kingdom Come Deliverance? Personally, I’d really enjoy the ability to do something not bloody miserable for a bit. Like fishing, or knowing Kingdom Come, something that requires tens of hours to learn and has a whole skill tree… like knitting.
Either way, if you’re looking for more Kingdom Come Deliverance content from us here at Pro Game Guides, check out our piece on how Despite doubling in size, the Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 team is keeping its punk roots, or our piece on how Kingdom Eat. Deliverance 2 brings back everything you love and adds guns for the occasion.
