Finally! Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is coming

Warhorse Studios has finally revealed Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, which it joked was probably "the biggest open secret in the gaming industry." The medieval RPG is a direct sequel to the 2018 game, and once again follows farmer Henry, who through hard work has earned his knighthood, and is accompanied by his elegant sidekick Hans, as he makes his way through civil war in 15th-century Bohemia.

The first game was a welcome break from magic-filled fantasy RPGs, which there's nothing wrong with, but we missed a more down-to-earth story. The game of knights and intrigue was based on medieval history, but was enhanced by a charismatic protagonist, long wanderings in the Czech countryside and very complex first-person duels. Taking into account realistic physics and the importance of positioning and direction of attacks, the game proved to be challenging to master but incredibly responsive and, most importantly, when you managed to land a flurry of hits and defeat an enemy knight or barbarian, it felt fantastic. You really felt like a knight at times.

This first-person combat system makes its expected return, and from the looks of it, it's just as brutal and complex as ever. "We want you to feel the sword in your hand," says Viktor Bocan, head of design and combat. “We want you to feel threatened by enemies on the battlefield. We want you to fight for your life.”

We're getting a bunch of new additions and ranged combat is getting even more enjoyable. One of the anachronisms of the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance game was the absence of crossbows and early firearms, but they fixed that for the second game. You will now be able to hit your enemies with lead and arrows. Judging by the footage in the trailer, the firearms will be very dangerous. But given Warhorse Studio's sensibilities when it comes to realism, they're likely to be incredibly slow and possibly awkward to use. You'll still need to get in close with your swords and blunt firearms.

When Warhorse began work on the first game, it was an 11-person studio, making the game all the more impressive an undertaking. "Now there are 250 people who have been working hard for years," says Vávra. “What we are making now is what should have been in the beginning, but we couldn't do it because we didn't have enough resources and experience. We have proven that the concept works and now we can take it to another level."

The game's world is about twice the size of the original, split into two areas, including the town of Kuttenberg, which looks significantly more elaborate than any of the first game's settlements. The scope of the story has also been increased with five hours of cutscenes fleshing out the story of the kings and the civil war. Henry will quarrel with Sigismund, King of Hungary, so our humble farmer becomes a very important actor in Czech politics.

But we hope the more epic scope doesn't undermine what made the first game so special. Dealing with small, local problems as a slightly clumsy hero is what made the original stand out from many fantasy RPGs. Remember the scenes where Henry and Hans are about to take a bath, teasing each other and cracking jokes, which is a good example of how playful the first game was and we expect many more similar scenes in the sequel.

Like Geralt in The Witcher franchise, Henry is not a blank canvas, there is still room for us to create our own version. "Henry is a young guy, so he's not really that deeply rooted in his already established character traits," says lead designer Prokop Jirsa. “So you can build your Henry in a variety of ways.” This flexibility includes customizing his appearance – to a certain extent – and choosing your skills and equipment and how he reacts to events, allowing you to tailor his morals.

We don't have an exact release date yet, the studio says somewhere by the end of the year, but they didn't want to commit to an exact date.