TL:DR Good sim of living in a medieval Czech kingdom, bad and boring game.

***

I didn't buy the game expecting a walk in the park, and I spent 10 hours trying to like it, but I just can't. Everything about it is clunky and obnoxious, and while it is hard, it's not that kind of hard you want to overcome. It's that irritating trashy junk you want to forget.

The combat, while unique, is extremely clunky and slow, and camera movement when you are hit is even worse than in Doom 3 (if you know, you know). Chivalry and Mordhau managed to implement similar melee combat systems, but they are actually fun. Kingdom Come is just plain boring and bad.

The UI is just horrible. Everything from trading to learning out what your abilities do takes way more time than it should. Yes, I get that it's essentially a medieval sim, but it's also a game, why should it be that mundane? Equipping items is just a mess: you can only learn which item goes in which slot only by trial and error. Why isn't it possible to have vambraces (on forearms) and elbow guards equipped at the same time? Why can't I have a gambeson and a shirt at the same time? It feels like the game developers just hate you: on one hand the game seems to be a sim, on the other basic logic doesn't work.

The world exploration is also a let down. Yes, it's not supposed to be a fantasy world with dragons and powerful loot hidden behind a waterfall, but how come even huge castles don't have anything aside from an occasional locked box? Oh, and the lockpick mini-game is so bad, Skyrim/Fallout and Thief seem like masterpieces. As for the other world, you can travel miles while encountering only mushrooms and hares (which is realistic, but boring).

Maybe the story and the quests are fun? Nope, it's a typical "a nobody suddenly becomes somebody" plot, and the quests are all generic gather and fetch we've seen million times. Yes, some of them also act like tutorials, but it's still super boring. The game just fails to grab your attention from the start, and the overabundance of clunky and boring mechanics don't really encourage you to continue.

Anyway, maybe they will fix some of the issues in the sequel, but for this one I recommend taking a pass, or maybe checking it out during a sale.

TL:DR Good sim of living in a medieval Czech kingdom, bad and boring game. *** I didn't buy the game expecting a walk in the park, and I spent 10 hours trying to like it, but I just can't. Everything about it is clunky and obnoxious, and while it is hard, it's not that kind of hard you want to overcome. It's that irritating trashy junk you want to forget. The combat, while unique, is extremely clunky and slow, and camera movement when you are hit is even worse than in Doom 3 (if you know, you know). Chivalry and Mordhau managed to implement similar melee combat systems, but they are actually fun. Kingdom Come is just plain boring and bad. The UI is just horrible. Everything from trading to learning out what your abilities do takes way more time than it should. Yes, I get that it's essentially a medieval sim, but it's also a game, why should it be that mundane? Equipping items is just a mess: you can only learn which item goes in which slot only by trial and error. Why isn't it possible to have vambraces (on forearms) and elbow guards equipped at the same time? Why can't I have a gambeson and a shirt at the same time? It feels like the game developers just hate you: on one hand the game seems to be a sim, on the other basic logic doesn't work. The world exploration is also a let down. Yes, it's not supposed to be a fantasy world with dragons and powerful loot hidden behind a waterfall, but how come even huge castles don't have anything aside from an occasional locked box? Oh, and the lockpick mini-game is so bad, Skyrim/Fallout and Thief seem like masterpieces. As for the other world, you can travel miles while encountering only mushrooms and hares (which is realistic, but boring). Maybe the story and the quests are fun? Nope, it's a typical "a nobody suddenly becomes somebody" plot, and the quests are all generic gather and fetch we've seen million times. Yes, some of them also act like tutorials, but it's still super boring. The game just fails to grab your attention from the start, and the overabundance of clunky and boring mechanics don't really encourage you to continue. Anyway, maybe they will fix some of the issues in the sequel, but for this one I recommend taking a pass, or maybe checking it out during a sale.