Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is all set to immerse players in the medieval machinations of warring kings and lords all over again, when it comes out on 11th February 2025.

We’ve played a few hours of the game, experiencing its opening narrative twists, as well as leaping ahead to the big city of Kuttenberg and the broader historical RPG action – you can read all about that here – but we also got to sit down with Warhorse figurehead and PR Manager Tobias Stolz-Zwilling to talk about a game that’s been a whole console generation in the making.

TSA: It’s going to have been 7 years almost exactly between games, which is basically a full console generation which is a lot of time in terms of tech, gaming and people’s attitudes. As a developer, has your approach for Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 changed compared to the original, beyond the studio simply getting so much bigger?

Tobias Stolz-Zwilling: Yes and no. No, it’s still very much the same kind of game, so we’re trying to stay true to Warhorse, stay true to KCD, and deliver what we believe is a true, authentic medieval experience, but then again, now with more people and the cushion of a successful KCD1, we can make things bigger – everyone always says it’s going to be bigger and better, but in our case we do have more people, we have the financial funding that can support the development, but we also have the technology and the skills now to bring stuff into the game that we couldn’t afford before.

For example, we and [Director] Daniel Vávra always wanted to have a city in the game, and in KCD1 they’re teasing and talking about how in Kuttenberg something is happening, but we simply couldn’t [go there], because we weren’t able to have more than a few people on screen, the task of building a huge medieval city was too big, and so in KCD1 we basically have a bunch of villages and one overblown village, which is Rattay. Compare Ratai to KCD2 and it’s like one street in Kuttenberg. Now we are confident to tackle bigger things and that is what I think has changed most.

TSA: You’ve almost already answered my next question, which is what ways KCD2 has changed from the original? The scope, of course, but are you sticking with the alchemy system, the style of combat and things like that?

Tobi: Yes, the scope is the easy answer, but pretty much every element from KCD1 is being tweaked, fine tuned and upgraded. Even the dice minigame will be deeper and there will be some badges you can earn.

I think the most prominent example is with the combat […] We said of KCD1 that combat was easy to learn but hard to master, and I think the hard to master we nailed, but the easy to learn, not so much. Many people liked it, but some struggled, so the idea now is to have different animators come to the studio so that they all feel different, but they ca also offer different playstyle. So if you want to play the intricate combat system, then you can take a sword and do all the combos and moves, but if you’re a character that doesn’t want to combat at all or want a more straightforward style, then there’s weapons like the mace where you pretty much just whack the opponent on the head!

Then in the UI there are less attacking zones, it’s a bit more straightforward, the combos are not so difficult, and so on. It’s also stayed true to each weapon historically and what it was used for – of course the crossbow was easier than a bow, that’s why they invented them, and of course a pole weapon is easier that fencing, that’s why they used them. The intent is for a more entertaining game that offers you this choice.

TSA: You mentioned hitting enemies on the head, and video game developers have got a rich tradition of exploding watermelons. Usually it’s for first person shooters, I think, but did you get through many watermelons during development?

Tobi: [laughs] I don’t want to spoil too much, but many watermelons were harmed!

TSA: It also feels like you’re taking a step forward in the storytelling and the cinematic stylings. Perhaps a lot of that is from experiencing the opening hours and getting people into the setting, but does that continue as the open world is exposed to you?

Tobi: Daniel Vávra is a huge cinematics fan, and one day wants to shoot a film himself, so of course you can see this in his games – you can also see this in Mafia and Mafia 2, his earlier products. He has this hand for dramatic scenes and sequences, and KCD 2 especially is not different.

In the beginning of the game, it’s a little bit more hands on and we bring you up to speed with the video sequences to introduce you to the game and the surroundings. This will be less through the rest of the game, however, I think we have 4, 5 or 6 hours of cinematics in the game, and they’re extremely powerful and important for us to deliver the story. We have a 100 hour game, after all, and it’s a story driven game first, and an action RPG and the fighting and so on, so therefore the cinematics are very important.

TSA: I like that you can really put Henry and Sir Hans together as two characters that have a lot of growing up to do in this game.

Tobi: And that’s what makes them so lovely! Hans Capon in the first game, if you check on Reddit and so on, most people are saying the same: “I hated this dude in the beginning, but then he became my most loved character!”

He had this interest arc in KCD where he became a friend to Henry, but still there’s the difference where he is a noble and Henry is a Squire, a bastard. This is still present, but KCD2 will focus strongly on the bromance between those two, as they face terrible situations through the game where they’re on the edge of surviving (maybe even further), and that’s a dramatic part that we have a big focus on.

Henry, in KCD1, pretty much solved everything by himself, but in KCD2 that will not be the case. He will find out very quickly that he needs friends and he needs other misfits to get things done.

TSA: I get the feeling that Hans would like Henry to still sort everything out for them! [laughs]

How important is that you kept Mutt in the game? Was that a day one addition to the plan?

Tobi: Yes, and you can finally pet him! That was a big thing and even our own guys said we have to have a pettable dog, and to go one further, we have a petable horse as well, which is great.

Some of the perks and stats we are taking over to KCD 2, like the dog for instance or Henry being able to read – it doesn’t make sense to make him learn to read all over again – however, things like combat and other intricate things, he has to rediscover.

I like to say it’s like he’s the champion of a Sunday league, but now he’s going to the Premier League, so he will suck at most things in comparison. However, he now knows how to play soccer, but now needs to step up the game to deal with armies, knights, lords, nobility and so on. It’s not like he forgot everything, it’s more like he needs to refine his skills.

TSA: He didn’t just take a mace to the head and forget stuff.

Tobi: Exactly.

TSA: There’s obviously still areas that you might still be able to improve and add in future, so you talked about not having jousting in the game, which I’m sure a lot of people would be nagging you to do. Is that the main thing that is still on the wish list?

Tobi: Honestly, I think everything that’s in the game and everything that’s not in the game is exactly as intended by Warhorse – this is how we do it, this is what we wanted to deliver, and we are looking forward to getting this out.

Jousting and these things are coming from fans that are very often used to Hollywood scenes, like A Knight’s Tale. Yes, jousting was a thing in the Middle Ages, but it definitely wasn’t as present as people might think…

TSA: Also, it was probably just for the rich folks.

Tobi: For the very rich folks. For the nobility mainly, and even then, when they were participating, it was a problem because you were actually hurting a nobleman!

But there will be tournaments: swordfighting tournaments, archery tournaments, horse tournaments and so on and so on. There will be cool stuff in there, but jousting would be a bit like a Quidditch game for Harry Potter. Of course everyone wanted Quidditch in there, but…

TSA: I mean, jousting you can understand, but Quidditch is impossible to figure out how to make into a workable game!

Tobi: Just catch the golden ball! [laughs]

TSA: Lastly, I was wondering about big picture for Kingdom Come. Obviously you will tell a story of its own in KCD2, but is there still another chapter in a grander saga? I’m not sure you’re allowed to say right now…

Tobi: I’m allowed to say anything! KCD1 ended with a cliffhanger, and KCD2 will end a story, but I don’t tell you which story. What the future brings, we don’t know yet.

In our history at Warhorse, we had two sink or swim situations. One was the Kickstarter, and the other was the release of KCD, because even then we weren’t sure if it would be a success or not. it’s not a sink or swim situation anymore, knocking on wood, but we have to wait and see how KCD2 performs. I am positive, I think the game is great and in very good shape already.

I can tell you already that Warhorse tries to aim to get bigger. We want more people, have bigger studios and again tackle bigger challenges.

Our hands on time and chat with Tobi with Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 came thanks to a press trip to Kutná Hora, the modern day Kuttenberg, with travel and accommodation provided by Warhorse and Plaion.

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