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Kingdom Come: Deliverance II

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, often written Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, is a first-person role-playing game by the Prague studio Warhorse Studios, published by Deep Silver on Feb 4, 2025 for Windows, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S and set in Bohemia in 1403.[^1] It continues the story of Henry, a blacksmith's son turned soldier, across the Trosky region and the silver city of Kuttenberg.[^2][^4] Three story expansions followed in 2025, Brushes with Death, Legacy of the Forge and Mysteria Ecclesiae, and the game had sold more than 6 million copies by Jun 25, 2026.[^26][^27][^28][^3]

Combat built on real medieval technique From Warhorse's gameplay showcase of Aug 21, 2024: Henry brawls with a village's dice players outside a thatched barn while the narrator explains that the fighting system rests on real medieval martial arts and wrestling.

Overview

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is an open-world action role-playing game played in the first person, developed by Warhorse Studios and released by PLAION's Deep Silver label on Feb 4, 2025.[1] It is the sequel to Kingdom Come: Deliverance, which came out on Feb 13, 2018 for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.[2] Like its predecessor, it is set in fifteenth-century Bohemia, in 1403, in a kingdom torn by civil war, and Warhorse describes it as a traditional role-playing game driven by its systems rather than by scripted encounters.[2][42] Steam lists the game for Windows only, and it reached GOG on Mar 28, 2025.[5][41] Deep Silver sells it in a Standard Edition, a Royal Edition that adds every expansion, and a Saga Edition that also includes the first game.[4] Its official title uses the Roman numeral, but players and the press often write it Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 or KCD2.[19][18]

Combat built on real medieval technique From Warhorse's gameplay showcase of Aug 21, 2024: Henry brawls with a village's dice players outside a thatched barn while the narrator explains that the fighting system rests on real medieval martial arts and wrestling.

Developer
Warhorse Studios, Prague[1]
Publisher
Deep Silver (PLAION)[2][5]
Released
Feb 4, 2025 (Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S)[1][5]
Engine
CryEngine, licensed from Crytek[4]
Story expansions
Brushes with Death, Legacy of the Forge, Mysteria Ecclesiae (all 2025)[26][27][28]
Price on Steam
$59.99; Expansion Pass $29.99[5][31]
Copies sold
More than 6 million[3]
Steam reviews
91.8% positive of 151,463[20]
Coming
Royal Edition on Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027[35]

Story and setting

The player is Henry of Skalitz, the son of a blacksmith, whose rise from the forge to the courts of kings Deep Silver describes as a tale of revenge, betrayal and discovery.[4][2] The war in the background is the real conflict between two royal brothers, King Wenceslas IV of Bohemia and King Sigismund of Hungary, and the kingdom is torn by civil war.[44][2] The game opens as Henry escorts the young nobleman Hans Capon on what is meant to be a simple errand, carrying a letter to the lord Otto von Bergow.[8] Later in the story, Sigismund gathers his allies and troops toward Kuttenberg.[8] PLAION promised more than five hours of cutscenes, and Warhorse's director Daniel Vávra wrote the game.[2][12] Historical figures appear beside invented ones: Deep Silver names Markvart von Aulitz, a real nobleman, as a secondary antagonist of the first chapter, while Henry himself is fictional.[44][2]

A letter to deliver The story trailer: Hans Capon jokes that they only have to deliver a letter to Lord Otto von Bergow and ride back, before an ambush turns the errand into a fight for their lives.

Gameplay

Henry improves by doing: in Warhorse's words, his skills level up as he uses them, so practice with one sword improves his handling of every weapon of its class, while trainers and quests teach what he cannot learn alone.[42] Combat is fought blade against blade, with directional attacks, parries and ripostes, and Warhorse says the player's mastery of each weapon's techniques decides a fight, not a hidden roll of the dice.[6] PLAION said the system was reworked to be more accessible than the first game's.[2] The sequel adds crossbows and the first gunpowder handguns, which can knock a rider out of the saddle but must be maintained.[6][43] The world reacts to Henry's appearance, reputation and crimes: after thefts, frightened villagers arm themselves, guards watch more closely and shopkeepers raise their prices.[42] Practicing blacksmithing and alchemy makes the items Henry crafts more powerful.[42] Saving at will is rationed: the player drinks a Savior Schnapps, a period drink that saves the game, as Warhorse's gameplay showcase demonstrates.[45]

Crossbows, firearms and many ways to play In the reveal of Apr 18, 2024, the developers announce crossbows and early firearms as new missile weapons and describe Henry as a fighter, a smooth talker, a charming knight or a thief, whose every deed is remembered.

Two regions

The game is split across two maps, each about twice the size of the first game's map, according to PLAION.[2] The first is the Bohemian Paradise, a countryside of unusual rock formations, villages and forests dominated by Trosky Castle.[2][43] The second surrounds Kuttenberg, a silver-mining town that is now a UNESCO World Heritage site and was one of the richest cities in medieval Europe.[2][43] Warhorse calls Kuttenberg a freely explorable city about ten times larger than Rattay, the most comparable town of the first game.[7] Its senior game designer Ondřej Bittner said the team chose the city because it is where the coin was minted, and that its centerpiece is the Italian Court, the royal mint.[7] The streets are laid out around markets, with whole streets given to single crafts, as in the real medieval city.[7] Mine shafts under the streets let Henry move and sneak around unseen, and the city's ossuary is nearby.[7] On the reveal stream the developers called Kuttenberg the biggest challenge in making the game.[43]

Bohemian Paradise and Kuttenberg From the reveal: a developer introduces the two maps, the rock formations of Bohemian Paradise and the urban countryside around the silver-mining city of Kuttenberg, which he calls the game's biggest challenge and almost too big.

Development

Warhorse Studios was founded in Prague in 2011 by Daniel Vávra, earlier the creator of the Mafia games, and Martin Klíma.[1] Its first game was pitched in a Kickstarter campaign as having "dungeons but no dragons", and Warhorse says that game went on to sell more than 10 million copies.[13] The sequel was revealed on Apr 18, 2024 for a release that year.[2] By then the team had grown to about 250 people, against roughly 130 at the peak of the first game, and chief executive Martin Frývaldský put the cost in the high hundreds of millions of Czech crowns without giving an exact figure.[11] By February 2026 Warhorse said it employed almost 300 people.[13] The Game Business later put the sequel's development at six years.[12] In August 2024 the release was pushed to Feb 11, 2025, the anniversary week of the first game; Warhorse's spokesman Tobias Stolz-Zwilling said the studio had aimed for the end of 2024 and almost made it.[9] In December 2024 the date moved a week earlier, to Feb 4, 2025.[10] The game runs on Crytek's CryEngine, and Jan Valta composed the score.[4][1]

Vávra presents the sequel Daniel Vávra, speaking in a cathedral in Kuttenberg, recalls that the first game came out almost exactly six years earlier and that a team of 11 in a small office has grown to 250 people.

Expansions and updates

Three story expansions were sold separately and in a $29.99 Expansion Pass on Steam.[31] Brushes with Death, released on May 15, 2025 with the free Update 1.3, follows a strange painter across both maps and adds shield painting; the same update added horse racing at no cost.[26] Legacy of the Forge, on Sep 9, 2025, gives Henry the ruined Kuttenberg forge where his adoptive father Martin trained, about 15 hours of story about rebuilding it and finishing the city's astronomical clock.[27] Mysteria Ecclesiae, on Nov 11, 2025, makes Henry the assistant of the healer Sigismund Albicus, investigating an epidemic at Sedletz Monastery, and Warhorse called it the third and final DLC.[28][29] On Nov 12, 2025 Warhorse released the Royal Edition, which holds the base game and all six add-ons.[30] Free patches added barbers and official modding support in March 2025, a Hardcore Mode in April 2025 that hides Henry's position on the map, removes fast travel and imposes at least three negative perks, and, in Patch 1.5.6 of Jun 25, 2026, a new jester's quest and Steam Controller support.[32][33][34]

Martin's old forge The Legacy of the Forge launch trailer: in the abandoned forge, Henry recalls being brought there as a boy by his father Martin, and offers to be the blacksmith who brings the workshop back to life.

The Royal Edition trailer The Royal Edition launch trailer of Nov 11, 2025 runs through all three story expansions, including Henry introduced as the new owner of the old forge and the plague that opens Mysteria Ecclesiae.

Reception

Critics rated the game highly. OpenCritic gives it a Top Critic Average of 89, with 95% of critics recommending it, and Steam shows a Metacritic score of 89 for the PC version (both read Nov 7, 2026).[21][5] PC Gamer called it "a new RPG classic", GameSpot judged it a triumphant sequel that improves on its predecessor, and IGN praised its melee combat and story.[22] The dissent focused on how much it asks of players: Eurogamer gave it 3 out of 5 and found it "just as divisive, prickly and abrasive as its predecessor", and GamesRadar+ noted that its progression is slow on purpose.[22] On Steam, 91.8% of 151,463 reviews in all languages were positive as of Nov 7, 2026.[20] The game won the BAFTA Games Award for Narrative on Apr 17, 2026, in a year when Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 took Best Game.[23] It was nominated for Game of the Year, Best Narrative and Best RPG at The Game Awards 2025, and PC Gamer named it its Game of the Year 2025.[24][25]

Sales and players

The sequel sold faster than the first game. Warhorse announced more than a million copies sold the day after launch and two million in under two weeks.[14][15] Further milestones followed at 4 million on Nov 12, 2025, 5 million on Feb 12, 2026 and more than 6 million on Jun 25, 2026, the latest figure published as of Nov 7, 2026.[16][17][3] On launch day the Steam version peaked at 159,351 concurrent players, about 1.65 times the first game's record, per SteamDB.[18] Its all-time Steam peak of 256,206 players came on the following weekend.[19] On Nov 7, 2026 at 05:47 UTC, Steam's own count showed 8,235 people playing.[40] Embracer Group, which owns PLAION, wrote in its report for April to June 2026 that the game's strong sales a year earlier made a tough comparison for its catalog.[37][2]

Controversies

Before release the game was drawn into online culture-war arguments. On Jan 14, 2025, the Saudi games outlet VGA4A posted on X that the game had been banned in Saudi Arabia over "unskippable gay scenes"; Insider Gaming, which reported the claim, said it was unverified and should be treated with caution.[38] Vávra answered on Jan 19 that, as far as he knew, the game had not been banned anywhere, called the reports wild claims based on one screenshot and a poorly translated post, and said gay characters had already appeared in the first game.[39] He added that players are responsible for their own decisions, including whether Henry pursues a same-sex romance, and rejected the term "forced diversity", arguing that a rich city at war is naturally more varied than the first game's villages.[39] Vávra's own views have drawn criticism from both sides of the political divide, and in a 2025 interview he said the culture war in game development is real and comes from creators rather than management.[12]

What comes next

Deep Silver has announced a Royal Edition for Nintendo Switch 2, with exclusive gear and a bonus questline, for 2027; as of Nov 7, 2026 it has no release date or price.[35] It bundles the base game with all three story expansions, Brushes with Death, Legacy of the Forge and Mysteria Ecclesiae, and was revealed during a Nintendo Direct.[35] On May 20, 2026, Warhorse confirmed on X that it is working on two new projects: an open-world Middle-earth role-playing game and a new Kingdom Come adventure.[36] Embracer expects the next game in the Kingdom Come series in its fiscal year 2027/28, which runs from April 2027 to March 2028, and has not said whether it continues Henry's story.[37][36] No further story expansion for Kingdom Come: Deliverance II has been announced on PC, PlayStation 5 or Xbox since Mysteria Ecclesiae.[29][30]

Timeline

  1. Kingdom Come: Deliverance, the first game, is released.[2]
  2. Warhorse and Deep Silver reveal Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.[2]
  3. The release is delayed from 2024 to Feb 11, 2025.[9]
  4. The date moves a week earlier, to Feb 4, 2025.[10]
  5. Release on Windows, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.[1]
  6. Patch 1.2 adds barbers and official modding support.[32]
  7. Patch 1.2.4 adds Hardcore Mode.[33]
  8. Brushes with Death and free horse racing arrive with Update 1.3.[26]
  9. Legacy of the Forge is released.[27]
  10. Mysteria Ecclesiae, the final story expansion, is released.[28][29]
  11. The Royal Edition goes on sale; 4 million copies sold.[30][16]
  12. Wins the BAFTA Games Award for Narrative.[23]
  13. Warhorse confirms a new Kingdom Come adventure and a Middle-earth RPG.[36]
  14. Sales pass 6 million copies; Patch 1.5.6 adds a jester's quest.[3][34]
  15. A Nintendo Switch 2 Royal Edition is announced for 2027.[35]

What we think

This section is Heartipedia’s own opinion, not sourced fact. Each view is reasoned from the facts cited above and from trends we see; it may turn out wrong. A prediction’s words are never changed once made: when the facts are known we add the result under it, right or wrong. Every prediction we have made.

The first game follows Henry to Switch 2

We expect Deep Silver to announce the first Kingdom Come: Deliverance for Nintendo Switch 2 before the end of 2027, sold alone and with the sequel as a Saga Edition.

Why: The sequel's Royal Edition is already being ported to Switch 2 for 2027, on the same CryEngine the first game uses, and Deep Silver already sells both games together as a Saga Edition on other platforms. The first game has sold more than 10 million copies, so a portable version of the story's opening is cheap catalog revenue that also gives new Switch 2 players a reason to start at the beginning.

Prediction Confidence: Possible Check by: Dec 2027 Made

The next Kingdom Come leaves CryEngine

We think the new Kingdom Come adventure will not run on CryEngine. We expect Warhorse to build it on Unreal Engine 5, and to say so when the game is revealed.

Why: Both Kingdom Come games run on Crytek's licensed CryEngine, while the studio has grown to almost 300 people and is building a second, unrelated open-world game, a Middle-earth RPG, at the same time. Sharing one widely used engine across two projects, and hiring for it, is easier than keeping a rare one, and other large studios have made the same switch. Warhorse's long experience with its own tools is why this is not rated Likely.

Prediction Confidence: Possible Check by: Mar 2028 Made

Into a subscription catalog

Our prediction is that Kingdom Come: Deliverance II joins the Xbox Game Pass or PlayStation Plus catalog before the end of 2027.

Why: The story ended with Mysteria Ecclesiae, the third and final expansion, and the Royal Edition now sells the finished game. Embracer's report shows the game's sales a year earlier were strong enough to make a tough comparison for its catalog, and a subscription deal is the usual way a finished, two-year-old game earns again and builds an audience for its studio's next one, which Embracer expects in its fiscal year 2027/28.

Prediction Confidence: Possible Check by: Dec 2027 Made

Eight million copies by the end of 2027

We expect PLAION, Warhorse or Embracer to announce that Kingdom Come: Deliverance II has sold 8 million copies by the end of 2027.

Why: Sales went from 4 million on Nov 12, 2025 to 5 million on Feb 12, 2026 and more than 6 million on Jun 25, 2026, about a million every four months. Even if that pace halves, the Switch 2 Royal Edition in 2027 and the publicity around the next Kingdom Come game should carry the total past 8 million within eighteen months of the last announcement.

Prediction Confidence: Likely Check by: Dec 2027 Made

Kuttenberg is the achievement, not the combat

We think Kuttenberg is the best city in any open-world role-playing game, and that it, more than the combat critics praised, is what Kingdom Come: Deliverance II will be remembered for.

Why: Warhorse built a freely explorable city about ten times larger than the first game's Rattay, laid out by markets and craft streets as the real city was, with the royal mint at its center and mine shafts under its streets that Henry can sneak through. Its own developers called it the game's biggest challenge, and the story's guilds, money and politics run through it, something no fantasy capital has matched.

Opinion Made

What others predict

Predictions made on video by creators, experts or the subject of this page, in their words, each linked at the second it is said. The one line after each is our view. When the facts are known we add the result, right or wrong.

Luke Stephens: Henry's story is over

Luke Stephens , at 17:16 Check by: Mar 2028

"I don't think they're going to do another game with Henry next. I think Henry's story is probably largely over." (YouTube's automatic captions)

Our view: We think he is right, because Warhorse announced only "a new Kingdom Come adventure" and has never presented it as Henry's next chapter.

Moments

  1. Combat built on real medieval technique From Warhorse's gameplay showcase of Aug 21, 2024: Henry brawls with a village's dice players outside a thatched barn while the narrator explains that the fighting system rests on real medieval martial arts and wrestling.
  2. A letter to deliver The story trailer: Hans Capon jokes that they only have to deliver a letter to Lord Otto von Bergow and ride back, before an ambush turns the errand into a fight for their lives.
  3. Crossbows, firearms and many ways to play In the reveal of Apr 18, 2024, the developers announce crossbows and early firearms as new missile weapons and describe Henry as a fighter, a smooth talker, a charming knight or a thief, whose every deed is remembered.
  4. Bohemian Paradise and Kuttenberg From the reveal: a developer introduces the two maps, the rock formations of Bohemian Paradise and the urban countryside around the silver-mining city of Kuttenberg, which he calls the game's biggest challenge and almost too big.
  5. Vávra presents the sequel Daniel Vávra, speaking in a cathedral in Kuttenberg, recalls that the first game came out almost exactly six years earlier and that a team of 11 in a small office has grown to 250 people.
  6. Martin's old forge The Legacy of the Forge launch trailer: in the abandoned forge, Henry recalls being brought there as a boy by his father Martin, and offers to be the blacksmith who brings the workshop back to life.
  7. The Royal Edition trailer The Royal Edition launch trailer of Nov 11, 2025 runs through all three story expansions, including Henry introduced as the new owner of the old forge and the plague that opens Mysteria Ecclesiae.

References

  1. The wait is over: Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is here, PLAION, 2025-02-04primary
  2. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II coming 2024, PLAION, 2024-04-18primary
  3. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II surpasses 6 million copies sold worldwide, PLAION, 2026-06-25primary
  4. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, Deep Silver, 2026-11-07primary
  5. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II on Steam, Valve (Steam), 2026-11-07primary
  6. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II: Weapons and combat mechanics, Warhorse Studios, 2024-10-18primary
  7. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II: Kuttenberg, a medieval metropolis, Warhorse Studios, 2024-12-13primary
  8. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Official Story Trailer, Warhorse Studios, 2024-12-05primary
  9. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 gets delayed, February 2025 release date, TheSixthAxis, 2024-08-15press
  10. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II: New release date!, Warhorse Studios, 2024-12-04primary
  11. Kingdom Come 2 stálo jako hollywoodský film nebo seriál Netflixu, CzechCrunch, 2024-05-14press
  12. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 director interview, The Game Business, 2025-04-22press
  13. The Warhorse Journey: from "Dungeons no dragons" to 10 million copies, Warhorse Studios, 2026-02-16primary
  14. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II: One million copies sold!, Warhorse Studios, 2025-02-05primary
  15. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II: Two million strong!, Warhorse Studios, 2025-02-17primary
  16. 4 million copies of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II sold!, Warhorse Studios, 2025-11-12primary
  17. Five million Henrys are now adventuring in Bohemia!, Warhorse Studios, 2026-02-12primary
  18. KCD2 peaks at 159k CCU on Steam, ahead of first game, Game World Observer, 2025-02-05press
  19. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 crosses 250,000 concurrent players on Steam, GamingBolt, 2025-02-10press
  20. Steam review histogram for Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, Valve (Steam), 2026-11-07primary
  21. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, OpenCritic, 2026-11-07press
  22. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II reviews, OpenCritic, 2026-11-07press
  23. All the winners of the BAFTA Games Awards 2026, NME, 2026-04-20press
  24. Support Kingdom Come: Deliverance II at The Game Awards, Warhorse Studios, 2025-11-19primary
  25. PC Gamer's Game of the Year 2025: Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, Warhorse Studios, 2025-12-16primary
  26. Brushes with Death, Horse Racing: Update 1.3 is out now, Warhorse Studios, 2025-05-15primary
  27. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II next story expansion Legacy of the Forge out now, PLAION, 2025-09-09primary
  28. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II announce final story expansion Mysteria Ecclesiae, PLAION, 2025-10-23primary
  29. Join tomorrow's devstream: Mysteria Ecclesiae DLC reveal!, Warhorse Studios, 2025-11-05primary
  30. Play the full game: Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Royal Edition is out now, Warhorse Studios, 2025-11-12primary
  31. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Expansion Pass on Steam, Valve (Steam), 2026-11-07primary
  32. Patch 1.2 is here: Barber Mode, modding and fixes, Warhorse Studios, 2025-03-13primary
  33. Hardcore Mode is live now in Patch 1.2.4, Warhorse Studios, 2025-04-15primary
  34. Patch 1.5.6: A Jester's visit, Warhorse Studios, 2026-06-25primary
  35. Bohemia is going portable, Deep Silver, 2026-09-08primary
  36. Warhorse Studios is working on an open world Middle-earth RPG and a new Kingdom Come adventure, RPG Site, 2026-05-20press
  37. Interim report Q1 FY 26/27, Embracer Group, 2026-08-13primary
  38. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 banned in Saudi Arabia claim, Insider Gaming, 2025-01-16press
  39. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 developer denies rumours the game has been banned due to LGBTQ+ content, PinkNews, 2025-01-22press
  40. GetNumberOfCurrentPlayers for app 1771300 (Steam Web API), Valve (Steam), 2026-11-07primary
  41. Release: Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, GOG, 2025-03-28primary
  42. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II: Shape and evolve Henry your way, Warhorse Studios, 2024-10-04primary
  43. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Official Game Reveal, Warhorse Studios, 2024-04-18primary
  44. The real history of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, Deep Silverprimary
  45. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Official Gameplay Showcase, Warhorse Studios, 2024-08-21primary

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About this page

Drafted by
claude-opus-5-5 on 2026-11-07T08:00:00Z
Checked by
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Reviewed by
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Status
Published and revised continuously; this version is the one described here.
Published
7 November 2026
Last updated
7 November 2026, see what changed
Sources
No Wikipedia source; the sources are listed above.
License
Text CC BY-SA 4.0; embedded videos and thumbnails remain their uploaders’ property, shown under YouTube’s Terms of Service; quotations excluded. Details

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