In Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, two angry dudes on the side of the road can kill you. They’ll be looting a body, by a horse, as you roll up and immediately threaten you with a bad time. Take them on, and you might come out unscathed. But if you’re caught in your noble-wear or with broken equipment a single hit will eat chunks from your life bar. This life which can only really be recovered meaningfully in a bed you own or a valuable potion. It’s a hard life.
A bed which, unless you want to risk getting arrested, must be one you own or pay for. A potion which you must either luckily stumble across, but at significant expense, or brew yourself. Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is, among many other things, a saga of such hurdles. And without them, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 wouldn’t be nearly as good as it is. These hurdles are the game! They are the journey.
Now, the video game difficulty debate has gone on for years and it’s not gotten any less stale. Yes, I feel that people should probably be able to adjust some kind of difficulty bar to make things a bit easier generally speaking. I don’t think it hurts anyone. However, I also respect the decision of developers to present a singular, intended difficulty, especially in games in which the struggle adds something more than just additional challenge for its own sake.
Take Street Fighter 6. That game added a “modern” control scheme to help remove the barrier to entry inherently present in fighting games. Usually, you have to learn how to throw a fireball. You have to do the motions, then you have to be able to do it consistently, then you have to learn to do it quickly in a real match. Modern removes the directional inputs so it’s far easier to perform such attacks. One can argue that building that muscle memory is a part of the long-term joy of self-improvement. I’ve certainly enjoyed getting better at fighting games over the years, but for the casual player who’ll spend 20-30 hours in-game with friends that struggle doesn’t really add much.
In Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, the inherent challenge presents itself in high-stakes, costly decisions and time-consuming tasks. Henry, the main character in the game, is just some guy. He falls off a rock and forgets any Latin he may have learned, and he can’t swing a sword super well. You fill the shoes of a wandering, largely useless dude. This guy, fresh from a tumble, shouldn’t be able to craft a perfect sword in 30 seconds. He shouldn’t be able to kill four bandits at once, and he shouldn’t have a paranormal sense as to where the nearest Belladonna plant is.
Henry is not Lu Bu, no matter how many points in strength he has, and to take away ample threat from even basic encounters would take away from the world building, narrative, and stakes of the game. If Henry can face off against hordes of Cumans without a sweat, the whole rigmarole falls apart. Why then would you need to brew potions to heal or save often. Why be sure to sleep often to regain your strength. If Henry had infinite carry capacity, then the whole economy falls apart.
What benefit then does the player gain from the game’s intricate trading system with its stolen property detection and haggle mechanics. Why lockpick anything? It’s all connected. Parts compliment each other when working as intended, and drag each other down when circumvented. It would tear the roots in historical accuracy the Warhorse team so carefully nurtured.
Because the act of Henry learning what he’s good at is you learning what you’re good at. I hate alchemy, it’s for nerds. So I didn’t spend much time looking for herbs. I did, however, pick up a nice counter attack with a one handed sword, and thus dedicated myself to a defensive agile playstyle. Henry followed suit. I actually managed to hit enemies with a bow more times than not, so Henry morphed into this agile scout, forgoing plate armour in favour of a quieter, nimble getup. It all naturally came together over my hours of play time, in a way that was deeply fulfilling.
When it comes to difficulty, Souls games are the usual battleground. A game that too embraces challenge so that players get this celebratory eruption upon taking down that one boss that’s had them stumped for hours. Taking away the combat difficulty there robs you of that, but you’d at least still be able to appreciate the lore, the world, the various quests.
I actually think removing hurdles from Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is worse. I think adding a crosshair to ranged weapons, or lowering combat damage, or adding herb trackers on the map would each be taking an ace out of a house of wobbly house of cards. In my review posted yesterday, I gave it five stars. If I played the game on some hypothetical easy or story difficulty, it would be a full star worse.
So, if you’re curious about Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 today but are worried about how hard it all is, I’m begging you to brave it. Just give it a shot. It’s entirely expected that you aren’t amazing with everything, but there are routes for every kind of Henry to revel in. Give it a proper bash before you head to Nexusmods or other modding hubs to tone it down. You’d be playing a worse game if you cave too quickly.