Kingdom Come Deliverance: Henry doesn't Completely Suck

According to Steam, I have logged 214 hours in this game. Henry is now presiding over a habitat for humanity project in Pribyslavitz. Although he is almost guaranteed substantial profits in the long term, funding requirements have Henry treasure hunting, lock picking and haggling in earnest. Clearing out enemy camps is so lucrative that Henry has finally resumed the Rattay missions. I am shocked to report that Henry can survive fights with multiple armoured opponents. He has been so successful at avoiding fights that his combat stats aren’t very high but he is quick enough now that he can move backwards and avoid being flanked. If he keeps his stamina up and defends, sometimes a weak opponent will move in and lock on. A quick death triggers a perk. As hard as it was, not riding Pebbles to raise that vitality stat paid off. Battles go even better if Henry has had time for an Aqua Vitalis.

I can’t remember when I started to enjoy one on one combat. I just remember Henry dancing around for some time with a fairly skilled enemy. I was so proud that it ended without Henry’s blood smeared across the screen. I know it was sometime after killing Runt. I always knew that Runt was a tough enemy but most of the time you don’t even know what you are getting into. Some enemies look tough and go down easy. Other’s don’t. It`s great. Yes so Ms. frictionless stroll through the countryside got engaged by KCD`s combat system. Well I lie sometimes. I`ll tell you I don`t like on line multi-player games but I play micro stakes real money on line poker. And I mean micro. I’ll also tell you that I don’t like first person shooters but one of my favourite player characters is a Fallout New Vegas sniper who disdains VATS. It should have never taken me 200 plus hours to get this point but I enjoyed most of the other stuff too.

The game does have it’s weirdness, inconsistencies, contradictions and tedium. For example, miles of realistic looking forest harbour no predators at all. Every child has died of the plague or something. Henry is only ever obliged to attend church when he poses as a novice monk. I could go on but it doesn’t really matter. I’m no authority on medieval history but the experience felt authentic enough to me. I felt a real anxiety whenever Henry set out from a town. He didn’t like being out at night. He didn’t like jail. He especially didn’t like being fatally injured and losing hard earned loot. He liked Farkle. KCD gets full marks for immersion.

I loved Henry, Theresa and Radzig. Beyond keeping Henry alive and prosperous my game play was dedicated to pleasing the latter two. Most of the NPCs were entertaining even though there was a fair amount of repetitious dialogue. I seriously resented Captain Bernard. “Are you going to cry now?” Yes. Yes I am.

I never really got a handle on the reputation system. I would have to do some replays to understand Henry’s impact on the game world and I’m not likely to do that. I understand that the main story plays out the same way no matter what Henry does. It’s history and I am a sucker for historical action adventure anyway. I was predisposed to enjoy the story line.

I recommend this game especially if you like survival RPGs. Just don’t play it the way I did. Don’t train mace with Captain Bernard right away. Train practice swords. Don’t rely on loot for good equipment. Don’t ride your horse all the time unless you intend to fight a lot on horseback. In that case get a braver horse than Pebbles. Don’t try repairing your equipment when it’s already half foobared. I gave armourers a stupid amount of money. Use the grindstone which I was afraid of. Don’t wait until late game to learn pickpocketing and then consistently forget to practice on corpses. Practice lockpicking whenever you can and learn how to make the Padfoot potion. I might have been too afraid of alcoholism but I don’t know. I drank lot’s of Saviour Schnapps and it was OK. If someone this terrified of everything can finish KCD, anyone can.