I'd heard of Kingdom Come Deliverance a bit before and since it's release(2018). Not a game I was into or looking for but on release I'd heard it wasn't living up to expectations. All that despite getting a large amount of praise as well. I'd also heard that in the last year it had gotten some improvements and DLC that saw a lot more player/commentators on YouTube and twitter now sing it's praises. Getting the base game for free on Epic a few days ago I decided to give it a look.
From the offset for me it looked good graphically. Some glitches to be expected others not so much, like your character missing his head when viewed through a tutorial popup.
It's got an some interesting game mechanics for NPC/trader iterations(in a good way).
I also like the sword play system; It's the auto target lock in combat that's awkward. Especially when faced with multiple enemies.
Once you are 'in'combat it automatically turns you to face the enemy that the system has decided for you. Very annoying. Yes I can press the left shift key to unlock but the damage is already done. Both in disruption to what you were doing and by getting damaged by the enemy. Restart after restart.
The overall feel of the game makes me think I'm in a much older RPG; Quirky gameplay and mechanics/systems that are forgiven because the gamaplay is worth the hassle. For me in this game that's not the case. I can see why some would like it, the game has detail. I can still see how many would not, which includes me. The game isn't friendly to the player. The combat system is better in theory than in practice. I don't need to fight the game as well as the NPC's. It's too easy to get overwhelmed. So when you try to run and take advantage of the games own tip to run away.... The combat system pulls you back. Even if you were on par with an opponent one v one, one mistake and it's game over. That frustrated me, in a Dark Souls kind of way.
I'm all for characterization but dialog is too drawn out and in many cases repetitive, not only with one character in the same conversation but with multiple NPC's in a row. Same information, same reaction to that information repeated. NPC reactions/animations are also strange in this game, very awkward.... It's it's own kind of frustration. Conversations almost seem to have jump cuts in animations and voice lines. They don't flow smoothly. Maybe that's something that was worked better in expansions but the base game still has a lot of issues. It all makes me want to skip dialog and scenes. It's a mixed bag from one extreme to the other. I want to skip things but I endure them to know more, sometimes it's worth it, sometimes not. That's not a good thing as this games dialog and cut-scenes have story elements and nuance that are better than not seen to understood the broader world. Others not so much....
The game doesn't give me enough motive to persist through it's quirks/systems. I'd say it's one of those game that a gamer will either love or loath. I don't like it but I don't loath it either, I do know I'll not be going back to it. Just not a game for me, proof was in the pudding.
Here's a cut down quick peek of some of my starter gameplay:
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