Kingdom Come: Deliverance Executive Producer Discusses Development, AAA Comparisons

The executive producer for the newly-released Kingdom Come: Deliverance recently spoke about various topic regarding the creation of the game and how it stacks up to AAA titles.

Speaking in one of Warhorse Studios’ weekly updates called the Weekly Torch, executive producer Martin Klíma brought up other games like the Assassin’s Creed series and Shadow of War. While all of these games share some similarities with Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Klíma says that Warhorse Studios’ game deosn’t really compete with those, though it’s not meant to.

“I don’t see KCD as competing with the likes of Assassin’s Creed or Shadow of War,” he said. “We simply don’t have resources to create a game like that. I don’t view us as an indie game either, though. The trend I see in ‘real’ AAA games, like the ones I mentioned above, is toward making games more and more forgiving, better suited to the most casual and absent-minded players; they are games that in effect are ‘playing themselves’. So, you have all those different markers, prompts and handy hints that you never have to think about what to do next.”

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is many things, but it’s definitely not forgiving. This is especially evident in the combat system that’s meticulously crafted to punish players for not giving it the time it deserves while being extremely rewarding when it works, the combat being one of the features that Klíma said he enjoyed the most along with other features like the game’s protagonist, Henry.

“Another thing I sort of like about the game – and this might surprise even some people in Warhorse – is the peculiar story twist of the game,” he said. “Henry really is nobody, an ultimate everyman. He is not a Dragonborn, he does not carry a Mark of Dragon, he is not a last scion of an exiled ruling family. The beginning of the game inverts traditional video game progression: you are first beaten by Kunesh, then by Deutsch, then almost killed by Cumans, then cravenly and stupidly slip from Talmberg, only to be beaten by Runt… In most other RPGs you have to fulfil a prophecy or live up to expectations. There are no expectations in KCD – it’s only up to you where you take Henry.”

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is currently available for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.