Kingdom Come Promises 'A Different Kind Of RPG'
From the creators of Mafia (!)
A hyper-detailed historical RPG from the main folks behind Mafia? Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes.
Ahem. Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a nonlinear role-player set in the dying days of the Holy Roman Empire, and it features precisely zero monsters, magic, or mythical overtones. Instead, the focus is on accuracy, and who better to head up that effort than the former director of Mafia and Mafia II? Developer Warhorse is made up of vets from 2K Czech and Arma powerhouse Bohemia, so expect obsessive attention to detail. Sadly (and somewhat paradoxically) insubstantial teaser trailer below.
Despite a relative lack of information, there's incredible promise here. The pedigree alone takes me back to my days of languidly drifting down Mafia II's snow-speckled highways, breathing in the smoggy, foggy life of the setting (this despite the fact that the game itself was only sort of decent), and the prospect of a non-fantasy open-world medieval RPG has me chomping at the bit.
Kotaku thrust its noble hands into the murky depths of game development, and it emerged with a bit more info. Here are the key takeaways:
"As players traverse expansive, strikingly detailed locales, they'll grapple with a range of period- accurate fighting techniques, horseback combat, open-field sieges, and large-scale battles, all while developing relationships and a reputation that will inform the greater story. Kingdom Come: Deliverance promises no magic, high fantasy or mythical overtones - it draws its inspiration instead from historically authentic characters, themes, and warfare."
Combat, meanwhile, will apparently be first-person and "revolutionary" in some form or fashion. Maybe your knight will have three arms instead of two. Or perhaps he'll be some kind of million-perspective-endowed fly mutant. The possibilities are endless.
Kingdom Come is set to (kingdom) come out in 2015, which is painfully long from now. The game's been in development for a year-and-a-half, so there's a decent amount of meat on its bones already. But then, this is clearly an undertaking of colossal ambition, so Warhorse can take all the time it needs. They have my permission, which is clearly something they would care about for some reason.