Evaluating Kingdom Come Deliverance - Warhorse Studios' Bohemian Rhapsody 

Thanks for waiting around for this one. Our lives are a little hectic at the moment, but I'm trying to get things out in a timely manner still. I appreciate the patience. If you'd like to check out War Thunder, feel free to use my link playwt.link/thesaltfactory for all sorts of bonuses like premium vehicles and account boosters. Thanks!

KCD is one of my favorite games of all time for the sheer fact it is so immersive. I don’t feel like the chosen one. Hell I don’t even feel like a knight. This game truly makes you feel like every single step you take is earned. Thanks for highlighting this game Salt.

The most memorable thing about this game to me will be going to bury my parents, then coming back to a town full of people excitedly saying "hey look Henry is back" over and over again without pause in a bugged loop, Followed by the Guard at the Gate praising god before instantly launcing straight up into the air past the clouds like the fucking rapture hit. All within 1 minute, I had really experienced no bugs up to that point, and after a couple hours to just have that all hit at once, It floored me. Good game god be praised

Starting the game as a blacksmiths son who didnt even have the ability to read felt so incredibly rewarding as you worked your way up in the world. Loved KCD

To me it was a huge tone setter that you couldn't even read at the start. Usually with games like these your parents happened to value education and local priest was a family friend and taught you. I also ended up loving Henry, the fact that I get to play as someone instead of total self insert blank canvas and his story was cool. My favorite thing was that he doesn't always get what he wants, he isn't the chosen one, you don't get to avenge your father and you don't get the sword back. It makes me feel like there's realities in the world that even you, the player character, cannot break. (Yes, Henry became absolute juggernaut and took a huge leap in the society by the end of the game, but I can buy that.)

Regarding sabotage: it actually does have impact. If you burn arrows there will be less archers against you during the assault. If you poison the food, there will be less fighters opposing you. Also, if you navigate the camp in open helmet there is a chance that you stumble upon the guy who gave you first sword lesson in the tutorial village. Of course, he will immediately recognise and raise the alarm. Oh! And the scene where Henry dressed as Cuman has to improvise when he gets addressed by other Cuman in Hungarian - pure gold :))

That part about Johanka was so accurate. She complains about the custodian for being sleazy and then she tells you he's not that bad after you stand up for her and get thrown in jail for it. I was so angry with her lmao that I started only caring about doing my job and interacting with her as little as possible.

1:23:36 Btw, Runt is the only enemy that Henry must kill over the course of the game everyone else can technicaly be sneaked past, get killed by allies or get taken out by non-lethal means. This also gives you an added dialogue with Johanka when she asks you about the sins you've commited, stating that Runt was the only human life you've ever taken

You editing Godwin’s sermon together with Henry’s actual delivery was a great touch

The concept of starting from near-complete powerlessness and gradually becoming unstoppable is something I wish more games would implement.

The Miller thing was a stereotype for Millers to be seen as thieves in some parts of Europe especially with some of the historical fiction of the era lending to this depiction. No idea if how common it was for average people to accuse Millers but this is something I learned about since I have a Miller last name in my family, and they study Medieval history.

I found it interesting how you mentioned it felt more like an older RPG. In fact, it's exactly how RPGs are suppose to play. The industry went in the wrong direction and started to turn RPGs into basically action/adventure games with some customization elements.

I looked this up recently bc I always wondered why the Game of Throne armies were so small. Yeah fielding troops and gathering enough loyal people was incredibly hard during the medieval period most major battles were in the 1,000-10,000 range so a bandit army versus a few lords being only 100 v 100 sounds about right.

This is one of those games that I find myself going back to every year to scratch that real RPG immersion itch. Really hope a sequel comes out soon!

My biggest gripe with this game, it ends as the story feels like it about to kick off and it leaves me hanging for more

The forests in this game, man... They gived me flashbacks to the time i was hiking with my grandparents through forests as a kid. I don't know what warhorse did with them, i guess something about the lighting, but they look and feel so realistic to me. I love this game

In the Canterbury Tales, Piers the Plowman, and (I assume) other medieval literature, millers are portrayed as devious and untrustworthy. Farmers often suspected millers of skimming flour from the grain they milled for them. I guess making all the millers in the game part of criminal network is how that vibe got translated.

Kingdom Come is a unique game. The premise of making a game that values historical accuracy is already far-fetched, but to have a game that does this WITHOUT crippling the gameplay was something I thought to be science-fiction. And my personal leaning mandates that I laud how it managed to portray a slice of European history that is otherwise unknown to most Westerners.

I really like how low key hilarious you are. You have this consistent tone when you're describing the gameplay and them BAM out of nowhere you add some comedy editing that hits really hard because it's so infrequent. You got me good with 1:02:02

KC:D holds a dear spot in my heart because I pre-ordered and started playing while I was 18 and had the bombshell dropped on me that my dad wasn't my bio dad legit a day or two before it was revealed in game to Henry and it felt like the Universe really showing me some attention. I think I probably had an entirely unique experience nobody else can share with this game and while I already loved it to begin with that experience cemented it in my memory forever

A tip about being an archer, release when your knuckle is over the target. Also in Skalitz find a guard that’s alone and sneak behind him. Save then knock him out. You can store stuff in your family’s chest and retrieve it when the town is sacked. Keep any bow and arrow off of the guard and lure the sheep near the training area up against the wall and start shooting after taking training so no one will catch you. The sheep respawn and build up archery to the point of not needing to worry about taking damage.

I've been able to get to level 17-18 in Herbalism just in the "tutorial level" before Henry finishes the chores for his dad and it hits the fan.

My first playthrough was on Hardcore mode. So glad I did. The first few levels were like a horror game.

A cool history deep dive about fifteenth century Bohemia that I happen to know is that there weren't any giant, flying, flame-breathing reptiles. And the devs honored the history perfectly! Pretty cool to see a game developer really do their homework.

The progression arc in this game is just a fucking _MASTERPIECE!_ Steadily climbing from stick-fighter to walking apocalypse machine was just so incredibly satisfying, and it also goes for the reading, the alchemy, and so much more. I just love this game so goddamn much!

Kingdom Come has some special feel for us Central Europeans (especially considering it's set just 7 years before the big battle of Grunwald); almost period-accurate armor, weapons, places and characters (though they have been renamed and their personalities have been changed). Also, I don't know why they didn't include crossbows and firearms, which were pretty prominent in Czechia and Poland (google "tabory" or "husyci" in your spare time), and lack thereof is a flaw I almost can't forgive the devs.

I had a really hard time getting into this game at first but once I did I REALLY got into it. Unfortunately the story kinda fizzles out in the final act

I’m so thankful for this game. It truly is a diamond in the rough. Thank you Warhorse, for bringing me my favorite game of all time. It truly is mind blowing that this was produced by a kickstarted, independent developer. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it. We’ve had great games given to us by smaller studios, but nothing to this size, scale and quality. And quality truly is the best term I can describe KCD. That, and best game ever. ..at least to me.

I do think taking away the carry limit would be more detrimental to the game then leaving it there, as soon as you dont have to worry about what you take with you, you dont have to worry about getting money anymore (being able to sell all the stuff enemies have), which, with the prices being set at least closer to realistic ones as in other games and armour and weapons therefore feeling really important, is a really important part of the game in my opinion.

I picked this up on the tail end of last year during a period where i was forced to recover from surgery. It was one of the most enjoyable game experiences I’ve had in a long time, considering it recaptured a lot old enthusiasm I felt was lost over the years to lackluster game development and stagnation in the market. I spent literally hours on one fight against a handful of bandits, trying to hound them from afar, run away, separate them, and whittle them down until the last broke and fled. Then I learned the riposte and master strike skills and felt like I had unlocked god mode. (With only a little saltiness that the game didn’t explain I had to learn those skills.)

Can we all just appreciate the editing at 1:05? It's so minor in the scheme of the entire video, but it's so incredibly well done. Wow.

I absolutely LOVED KCD!! I played it early before they fixed lockpicking even and I still trudged through enjoying every minute I played! The unique alchemy system impressed me, the immersion blew me away! The different towns having different rules for torches at night even! KCD is my favorite RPG to this day.

You gotta have an immense level of patience to fully enjoy this game. Once you get over the learning curve it’s payoff is absolutely worth it

KCD is easily one of the most immersive games Ive ever played. Going from a simple blacksmith's son, to a deadly master in longswords, wearing the most expensive and shiny armor, to the point where people are praying to Jesus Christ for my safety. It has its issues, but this is one of the best games I've ever played that deals with historical events in a wonderful way. You can play without reading any of the codexes, and still learn something. It's beautiful.

1:21:53, so since what sabotage does is not explicitly stated, I'll say right here. If you hit all the arrows, the archers will have 5 or so arrows each then be out. If you poison the food pots then the enemy will have half their normal health. Doing have the sabotage leads to help results. Half the pot poisoned only half the enemy will be weaker. Half arrows burnt means the archers will have 10 or so arrows. Hopes this helps anyone who didn't know

This game has a special place in my heart. I hope the sequel captures the same magic

35:13 - Historically, millers were sometimes seen as tyrannical and underhanded by the rest of the village. The farmers had to get their grain milled at the one and only miller in the village (in most cases) and everyone got flour from the same mill. So the miller had a pretty direct control over the village's primary food source. The miller could cheat by adding adulterants to the flour and by short changing both the farmer and the other customers with fake weights and whatnot. If the miller was also the baker in the village then this process is all the more easy. I assume that most millers in the 1400s actually were not thieving but some would have done that and this would have caused the reputation. Just like how it is for many professions these days. No disrespect to politicians, criminal defense lawyers or investment bankers but (depending on who you ask) a lot of people are not very charitable in their descriptions of criminal defense lawyers / investment bankers / politicians. Looking at the game codex etc. I get the impression that the in-game millers are reacting to a time of war. Naturally armies passing through villages could underpay, commandeer or loot everyone's possessions including the millers. Millers would actually be in the front line of businesses that are looted in a war. They could have a higher incentive to behave dishonestly in difficult times especially with their larger access to the village economy. In game, I think they are portraying some millers as either greedy or desperate or maybe both leading them to become fences for stolen goods.

I would like to add my opinion on parts of the game: First I am a native Hungarian who wanted to study History, but in the end I studied - and still study - Hungarian as a native and foreign language and German as a foreign language, but as a History nerd. The millers: as a funny coincidence, all of my forefathers - my father is an exception- were millers, so my aunts and uncles have stories about my grandpa basically not paying taxes (basically not fixing the collected flour to the state (communism) and people generally hating millers. People took their grain to the mill to mill the grain. Visually you will get much less flour, it is like spinach, you put a lot of spinach in the water and get almost nothing in the end and the miller got to keep a small amount ~10% of the flour as a payment. Language and culture wise : because of the visual differences between grain and flour many people thought that millers are stealing, so many expressions exist about millers that steal. Hungarian language and Cumans: they speak modern Hungarian, which is not a problem, since no one speaks mediaeval Czech… The biggest issue is that they speak… strangely. I would say that they hired Hungarians from Slovakia (which would explain the nasal sounds), but that is for sure that their lines are bad. They say things that do not exist in Hungarian and were most likely translated literary from English.

I have spent hundreds of hours going through this game, praying for a sequel.

For all those lost medieval studies majors out there, your game finally arrived. What a beauty it is.

An interesting thing about Ulrich is that he can die at literally any point during his quest. You can even kill him at your very first meeting without ever speaking a word to him. I did that on accident my first playthrough haha

You have great timing. I've been sick all week, working from home, and feeling like shit. And you drop this gem for me to watch. Thanks Salt!

I only watched playthroughs but I like how its similar to Gothic, just a bunch of wild, fresh ideas thrown at the wall. Not all sticked but you gotta respect not playing it safe

And pretty much at any point of main quest, like hunting Ginger for example, you can go back and report any progress to your superiors. And you get unique dialog. Even help occasionally. That's some attention to details and immersion.

Kingdom Come 2 just announced! 2024 release, the Hype is Real.

The fact that I learned more world history from videos games than school says alot. History class in the US is more like "fun facts from 1400's to 1800's"

Salt: There is an sponsor try not to be alarmed Sponsor: Hi there! Me: AH!

1:25:55 was an important moment in my playthrough because the village is out for revenge and it mirrors Henry's situation from the start - it really reflected how much Henry had changed (or not) since then.

Despite all of its quirks and problems, this is possibly my favorite game of all time. I think the way they crafted Henry and a hard set world gave it so much unique personality that other RPGs where you can be anyone and do anything don't have. It's a double edge sword where not everyone will enjoy it, but those who do will massively. I hope the sequel is the same but basically more polished.

The battles in this game are very accurate to the time period. All the lords in this game are Sirs, simple knights ruling a castle and surrounding villages. They would almost never have access to more than 50 or so men each, even if they did they would strain to equip and arm them appropriately for battle. Also warfare at this time was very economical. A Noble wouldn't draft his peasants into the army because they were needed at hone to make him money, and on top of the best armor and weapons, chivalry, greed and laws dictated it was a crime to kill one even in battle, they where only to be captured and ransomed. Thus war was more like a gang fight the leaders needed to pay a fine for if they lost, while everyone else dies.

Every time I see a new upload from my favorite Salt my immediate reaction is along the lines of “f*ck yes, buddy”

I absolutely love this game. I've never been more immersed in any game, ever.

My first playthrough I played on max difficulty with all negative perks and while it got frustrating at times I'm glad I started that way. I fully got to experience every part of this game and amazing map. Having to really learn your way around without a compass. Really enjoyed my time.

So happy you have made this video. The developers passion just oozes through the screen, one of the most immersive games i have ever played and i am excited to see what war horse studios make next. Great job dude

This is really weird timing, I just started replaying this game for the first time in years.

So glad you covered this. Full of charm even if it's a rough experience at times and it's so full of authenticity to the time period it was a real breath of fresh air to play a full on RPG set in the medieval time frame. I eagerly await a sequel.

Encumbrance is interesting to me. Because it's a Tradition thing that people I think do "because tradition" without really thinking about it. Because it started really (or caught on popularly) in D&D. And D&D in those early days was about looting and adventuring. it wasn't so much about "Slay the Badguy" as a treasure hunt. If you could avoid combat, and get all the treasure, that was ideal. Just normally combat was the penalty you triggered rather than what you directly sought out. Now that's why Encumbrance systems and such matters. Because the game was fairly logistics heavy. You have a band of 40 people you gathered for the expedition between Players, Hirelings (mercenaries) and various experts you might hire. How do you FEED them? How do you actually "loot" that 12 foot tall marble statue? How do you safely gather this exotic ooze that some wizard might want to buy when it tends to kill anyone it touches, etc? And D&D provided you with so many options for it. Bags, boxes, chests, glass vials, pack animals, magical storage spaces, buying a ship, etc, etc, etc. D&D over time though moved from "Loot" as the primary concern however to combat being the primary concern. So the reason for the Encumbrance system, as you no longer were planning looting expeditions but "I am going to smite the evil villain" just... doesn't really require or reward that as the game shifted to "Four Best friends kill the archfiend". And most D&D players kind of drop or fudge encumbrance because of it. As video game RPGs all kind of decended from D&D's lineage. There were a lot that did use Encumbrance in the early days. And it was important like stockpiling enough food in Ultima for your expeditions. So Encumbrance still kind of made sense. But video games usually took the tools away from it. Suddenly you can't just buy a pack donkey to carry your stuff. Or a horse drawn wagon. Or a team of like 20 guys to carry your swag. Video games basically include Encumbrance "Because Tradition", but also don't include the traditional tools that most Tabletop RPGs had with it. Like imagine if you were playing Skyrim. And instead of like 1 companion who can carry about 100 lbs of stuff on them to help you loot... you could get some pack horse drawing a cart that you can park outside the dungeon that can carry like 3000 lbs of stuff. But having it out there might draw Thief encounters looking to take unguarded loot. So you can hire a guard to look over it. And you can hire an Apothecary to gather ingredients and make you potions out there. And you can hire a team of miners to get ore for you. And suddenly instead of "Two people travel Skyrim" it's this whole company of people moving along like a roving base? One that expects regular payments. Sure you can look more stuff now on your adventures. Maybe have people who purposefully follow you into dungeons just to run loot back (and don't contribute to combat, running away from it and hiding). Who then run back to fetch more stuff. And you have to run the logistics of it. Keeping them fed, paid. Finding the next haul to keep things balanced. Maybe you're runnign out of good loot targets and you have to cut back. Maybe it's time to go alone because you want to wander the land without havign to pay for some 15 people tagging along doing jobs? These were questions old D&D asked here and there. These are questions that... I can't think of a Video Game RPG ever really asking you however. And those questions are the reason why Encumbrance exists. So why include it, if you're not going to use what it is meant for?

Please never stop these videos. I love them so much and rewatch your videos often.

Yooooo you cant imagine how much i love you for going deep into this game. I had a little accident and cant go anywhere and almost lost my mind, but i know after these 2 hours i will dive into KC again for the next 2 Weeks thank you a loooooot for that ❤

Great video as always. Thank you for covering a game that is very close to my heart. Can't wait for when you cover the game's DLCs.

If there is ever a sequel to this....its gonna be top notch

One of my favorite games of all time. Started a hardcore play-through yesterday!

This game is so good! My favorite RPG in a good while.

19:00 This limitation on saving actually got me to prepare for my missions - eat, repair, wash and sleep to save before I head out. And on several occasions it made me accept a negative outcome instead of quickloading to redo it. Later on however I got into alchemy and started brewing all the schnapps I could ever need :P

The word underrated gets thrown around a lot but this game fits that description much, glad you made a video on it

Played this game and couldnt believed how immersive it was. This is one of those gems you have to play it at least once to understand the true beauty of it.

my fiancé got WAAAY into the dice game (farkal), so much so that she abandon the main quest just to play it. It had some cool mechanics like obtaining weighted dice that favored certain numbers and had a few trade offs. But what really amused me was this whale type character who would show periodically and make big bets. She would wait for him, play him until he had no money, and then when he went home she would knock him out behind the bar and loot the rest of his money. She got very rich from this

I know this is a year late, but to your question about millers... Millers were often wealthier than other peasants, and mills were located outside the well socially maintained villages, so they were often considered untrustworthy or associated with thieves due to jealousy and their isolation. Plus, given the machinery of the mill, though simple to us now, was considered highly advanced and outside the comprehension of the common peasant, farmers weren't always confident that the flour they received and paid for was fully the result of the grain they had brought for processing.

Never thought i would see a Czech game on your channel. Love to see it. Now its time for Mafia 😁

I will say, pacing in video games has become a very important point of critique for me because it always felt like they rushed you to do the fun parts. As weird as it is I started enjoying older Jrpgs and Kingdom Come for the fact that they took their time with setting up the world and the story. I ended up loving their hour long prologues almost more than the rest of the game. A good pace and setup will immerse me so well that I cpuld be playing a game non stop for months and I so rarely do that with the limited time I have with video games these days

Quick tip for archery: The camera goes back and forth horizontally as you draw, so if you don't want to hard-target with the right analog stick, you can wait for the camera to get to where you want to shoot; the center will always be where you started your draw, so you can aim and time your shots better by aiming first then prepping your shot.

I love when you assault the bandit camp and Sir Hanush just tosses on a breast plate and has a badass mace but Sir Divish is just oozing drip in his armor

The only thing I wish the game gas was a blacksmithing system everything else was just phenominal. This is one of those games like Kenshi that I actively financially support and love buying for people on holidays.

Yooo this game is one of my all time favorites. The combat is…. Well you like it or you dont. But i think they took the “Bethesda-like” model and made one of the best open world rpgs of the ps4/xbox one era. Plus its historical, which some will nerd out for.

Doing a play through on the hard core mode was one of the most frustrating and time consuming things I have ever done. And I loved every second of it.

I just found your channel a couple weeks ago. Gotta say man I really love your commentary and since I still play primarily older games it's nice to hear someone talk mostly about them. I just put this channel on my headphones while I'm working and 10/10 for relistenability on many of your longer vids. Cheers brother

Fantastic game and beautiful world! My last playthrough I sought out all the hidden old Pagan sites in the woods. There is a lot to explore! Also Millers did historically have a sketchy reputation, with some records of them being punished and common stories and even plays with millers that swindle and put their thumb on the flour scale being a common trope. So glad you did this video, well done!

Thanks dad ❤. Jokes aside these videos help me when I feel down and I’m having a hard time managing my suicidal ideations. Some days it hits really hard and it’s few and far between. These help keep me occupied enough for my ideations to dissipate. Thank you. In a wild ass way you have inadvertently saved lives more than you’d be aware of I’m sure. Seriously. I rewatch your content because it feels comforting sometimes. Like a friend I have but I’ve never met. Much love. ❤

anyone else rewatching this cause 2 just got announced?

You know the best thing about this game is being well known with all the locals in the town. It's something small but being greeted warmly and being well known with the guards when they confront you when committing a crime. (I was even caught by the huntsman for poaching but since I was always pleasant and helpful in town he gave me a please don't do it again.). I also love Henry, he has to be one of the most relatable PCs in a very long time.

I've never played this game before. But I'm gonna watch the whole thing. Probably twice. Because that's what you do when you love someone. Happy Valentine's Day.

Salt, I just want you to know that I was recently laid off my job. I started a new one that is very difficult both mentally and physically 12 hours a day. I got on RU-vid to watch a video on how to fix something that broke before I could finally get 6 hours of sleep before driving back to work. Your video started on auto-play and I will be sacrificing my sleep to enjoy your content. Screw you, and thank you. Your content is always a little bright spot on any day.

Flawlessly edited, very high quality stuff 👌

Really appreciate this video and love this game. If you do another play through looking for different ways to go about doing things I recommend for the monastery quest to break in beforehand and plant weapons booze savior schnapps and lock picks for yourself in a container or just the picks and then break out to get your gear back. I also highly recommend modding the game with a few things like the no savior schnapps to save and remove herb picking animation, also a dot reticle for the bow can be added through console command input as well as removing the rain animations.

"Hey, Henry's come to see us!"

I hadn't really heard much about this because I'm under a rock, but this review definitely has me interested! Especially the "life in the middle ages" aspect. Really neat.

About the random searches. Originally any looting of corpses was supposed to be criminal. It has since been removed, but still counts towards guards searching you. If you do a play through without looting corpses you will never be searched

Man... What a content. Thanks so much for your work. Subscribed !

I gotta get back to this game. Played it on launch but got stuck with other things later in the game. I often returned to the game for poaching. I had a ridiculous amount of money and resources due to that. Of my 132 played hours, over half of that was poaching, dealing with transportation, selling and "investing". Great game.

Truly a great addition to the Immersive Sim genre

Damn seeing you grow from 10k to where you are now is just beautiful congrats man

I'm coming back to this a month after first watching it to say that I've had KCD in my steam library for ages and had never given it a shot until I saw this review. I don't even remember when I bought it, so it must have been during a big sale. Now I've put over 86 hours into it and I'm loving it. I probably wouldn't have played it any time soon if it wasn't for you, so thank you!

I have no idea how long I’ve been subscribed but the quality has always been outstanding. Much love salt ❤️

Hell yah dude! I’ve been wanting to see this game evaluated like this!

I cant overstate how amazing and fresh this game was. It reignited my love for video games.

I actually had a bug that only happened once and I was never able to repeat but it was during the scene shown at 26:53. Basically for that entire scene and afterwards when you got control back, every single character had no clothes on. Everybody was just buck naked. They didnt have proper models just all......hairy in places. For some reason that made me laugh so hard for far longer than it should of have...but it was just so unexpected and still to this day is way up there on my list of great things to happen to me in my long career of gaming.

Still a favorite of mine. We really need a sequel so we can finally get that sword back.

Finally a Czech Oblivion time!

Without a question this game had its flaws, but at the same time there is nothing quite like it and still holds up as one of my top 5 favourite rpgs of all time

I cringe everytime when people critique archery in this game. You just need to listen to tips from the captain. "Try to get a feel for the rhythm ... No jerky movements!". Of course, you will be bad in the beginning if you do the opposite (like in this video). There is error, you don't need to play through part of the DLC to use Houndmaster. If you have DLC, you just need to ask Theresa about the dog, and thats it. No quest is needed to obtain it.