This has been on my backlog for a long while, and now with KCD2 release drawing near I finally decided to give it a go.

I was trying very hard to enjoy this game, and I can't say it's all bad, it definitely has its moments, but it also has so many broken mechanics and bugs, and they are so annoying to deal with, that in good conscience I can not recommend this game.

And before you dismiss me as yet another casual player, let me tell you this: I'm a history nerd, I was one of the very first bakers of this game on Kickstarter, and I was absolutely willing to make sacrifices for the sake of immersion, to live this fantasy of a medieval lay person, playing along with the game where it asks me to achieve this goal.

But I couldn't. For all the fans talk "Don't expect Skyrim!" this game is literally a TES clone with some "realistic" mechanics and pet ideas sprinkled on top, with very little attempt to innovate on the core of the Skyrim formula. It isn't nearly as immersive as the fanbase would want you to believe, despite all the official "realism" dogma surrounding it. A lot of mechanics seems to be frustrating for the sake of being frustrating, contributing nothing to the touted immersion. Sometimes it even feels like the game deliberately (o, heresy!) abandons realism where being realistic would make it less tedious and annoying.

For instance, when you gear breaks down, you can't fix it all in one place. Your tunic, helmet and shoes all need to be fixed by different people, which takes a lot of running around. Well, I hear you say, this is realistic, right? Cobbler shouldn't be able to fix your breastplate? Ok, but then why does my gear breaks down in like, couple in-game days? Shouldn't it last, say, an in-game month, at least? See, now this type of realism the game doesn't like, the type that makes your life easy.

There's just so many weird decisions like this, like why doesn't the bow have a reticle? The game has no problem giving you UI, you have a dot in the middle in the exploration mode, you have 5-star hit direction indicator during melee fights, you even have a blatantly anti-medieval magic GPS map! And the bow reticle is where you draw the line? Seriously?

Bizarrely, saving the game takes a consumable that's limited and expensive. Oh my god, why? Maybe the intent was for the player to live by their choices and convey the dangers of medieval world? Well it simply doesn't work then, the only thing it does it makes you save a lot less frequently, and die because of glitches or some ridiculous reasons and randomly replay long stretches of the game again and again. It destroys the immersion, not builds it! Boo.

I can go on and on about things that just don't allow me to enjoy it. They hit me every minute, every time I try to play it. There're bugs, not just random animation glitches, but legit very annoying issues. Inconsistent immersion-wrecking dialog options are ubiquitous, the quest's logic is very fragile and if you stray slightly off the expected order of things, things fall apart so easily. It's not just one off here and there, you see it all the time! I'm not exaggerating! People knowing something they really shouldn't, because you haven't told them yet, or vise versa, you having a dialog option based on something they will tell you next, or them repeating the same thing in different sentences as if two possible branches of the quest somehow merged together, or you complete a quest and the quest giver says something implying very different circumstances of how you picked up the quest, and so forth. It's hard to list all the unique issues, they're just so abundant.

On a different note: an unpolished collision model: if you stray off trails you'll get stuck in the smallest of obstacles, bushes, tiny streams, etc. There's a lot of janky interactions between various game systems. E.g. a soldier which is part of the quest trying to arrest you, and then carrying on with their quest lines with a different voice and tone. In another quest I fought a guy, and there was a scripted scene where he cried and begged for mercy, asking not to call for guards. I spared him, and the next second accidentally pressed "pickpocket" on him, after which he screamed at me "you criminal scum! guard!".

Sometimes you may run around the city and not realize a guard wants to frisk you, you ignore him, while doing your business, only to realize a minute later there's a small army of guards now trying to legit *murder* you without even giving you a chance to explain yourself. In one city you're supposed to carry a torch at night, and if you happen to fast travel through this city and the night comes in, you may get arrested during fast travel! Where is the touted attention to detail? I don't get it. There's just so much absurdity like this, I didn't even scratch the surface of it, you will hit it all the time. All of that is such a massive immersion breaker.

And even linearity... Some quests surprised me with how strictly linear they are. For example, a guy asked me to steal something for him, then he asked me again, and on the third time he asked to steal a tinderbox because he wanted to burn down the house of some dude that he didn't like! What? I don't want to do this! Time to role-play, right? Can I reject it, or at least go on and warn the house owner about this? Nope! If you reject it, the quest forever remains in your quest book unfinished, and the guy who's house is to be burned simply doesn't have a dialog option to talk about it (you can google Green-Eyed Monster quest to see for yourself) The non-linearity could've been implemented so easily here, but it hasn't. Where's the "attention to detail" that you read so much about in every positive review?

A small but extremely annoying thing is the eyes. If you look at Henry, you'll see that in every dialog his eyes are just staring straight, following his head motion, like on a doll, and once you notice it, you can't unsee it. What kind of "attention to detail" is this?

To be fair to the game, I also want to name a few things that kept me playing despite all of the negatives.

Historicity. I like it. Some cities, churches, buildings are like virtual interactive museums. In-game articles on medieval history, although a bit dry, still pretty interesting. Realistically scaled world. Sprawling forests, you can get lost in and feel very remote. Pitch-black nights. Story... Some parts of it, the parts where it feels personal and true to history and societal structures of the day. I didn't mind the fact you die so easily in a group combat, this is a realism bit I can live with. The game never forced me to fight group fights in all of my playthrough. I don't mind eating and sleeping, although for some reason very few spots are available to sleep at night (e.g. you can't sleep in a barn in a haystack which are so abundant in the world and is such a natural place to crash into).

Anyway, this game has (had?) a lot of potential, but it feels like the team just didn't have enough experience to build something of this magnitude. A lot of weird game design choices and so many bugs to this day (6 years after the release!) ruined what could've been a really nice experience. Also, it feels weird to say this, but it's not the most immersive game by far that lets you live a day in a medieval world. It's just a stripped down TES clone with bunch of annoying mechanics and bugs. The game developers and PR people truly have done a remarkable job to chalk up all the game problems to "realism", and present them like some sort of unique feature for a few connoisseurs who will "understand it". But I tell you what - time for hard truths, folks! - you don't have to be a frustrating tedious slog to be immersive, realistic and true to history! You really don't. Just play RDR2 and see for yourself. And so many other games. Let's hope KCD2 will be better than this.

Good immersive experience.

The game though is overly ambitious and still quite buggy.
Additionally you can get the best gear quite soon in the game and then will have no feeling of progress until the very end :(

I am Henry of Skalitz, from the company of Sir Radzig Kobyla. That is who I become, when i play this game. It is immersive in every way.

Thou hast ere thou, a masterpiece of music, art, deed , adventure, role playing, history, and honestly a second life. Over 300 hours in this game - and i work a demanding full time career. Didn't expect it but I nary can wait for the sequel.

This sale is legendary $5.99 ! Add to cart immediately and enter the land of Bohemia during the Holy Roman Empire.

Hours of mine life - whole nighters in fact - I've spent in the forests of Bohemia; and with the lords mercy finding camp, defeating bandits and Cumans, and doing what I must to compose a groschen.

'Tis fer aye pay penance for mine sins. Doth I confess, I doth like ale, spirits, moonshine, an' the lot! Mine drinking level is over 9000! I hast e'en danced with the Beelzebub devil himself inebriated from the ole' witch's brew, thou privy?

I am Henry of Skalitz! Though thou might wot me as a knight i might, by night, carry no torch. 'Tis best we do not talk about it 'cause the good lords listening - just bid the millers 'bout me.

I am Henry of Skalitz, nary a whoreson in mine company, sired by a blacksmith, now an orator and learned of a scribe yet ne'r lost touch with the mead and cabbage that fed me, an' made me a man.

I've fought 10 Cumans presently per once- longsword, and nary a lords doe hath ne'r seen the tip o' mine arrow. Merchants shouting "fresh bread" as the cobbler and the tailor fix up mine fresh threads. Pouch bulging with groschen, picking herbs, drinking potions - and bid the bath house wenches how i "put the motion 'i the ocean".

I am Henry when i play this game. I am Transported. Immersed by the combat some may say is infuriating - but by Mary they haven't got what it takes to survive the middle ages!

I be Henry of Skalitz, winner of the Rattay tourney! Go practice with Sir Bernard thou spongy whoresons!

Find a scribe, wot to read thou filthy peasants, pick herbs and imbibe 'i a potion ere broil!! Or lay down thy sword and take the holy path, thou only want to shed blood once 'i our story and that's to avenge thy parents. Not one else want not get hurt...

The gameplay, haggling merchants, hunting in the forest, fistfighting, swordfighting, collecting items, thieving, boozing, questing, fornicating! The environment, the story, the living breathing ai npcs, the forest, the towns, and reading about the historical context of the Holy Roman Empire in the codex.

I highly recommend this game. Should thee love the middle ages buy! $5. 99 on sale is legendary - a steal beyond all god's glory.

Or can you not handle a sword?

What ever you choose, may the good lord watch over you.

- Henry of Skalitz