Video Gamers Podcast - Did We Just Play the 2025 Game of the Year? - Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: February 24, 2025

Gaming Hosts Ryan and Josh are donning our armor, spending time in the pillory and building our potion empire as we break down all that is Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Yes, the title may give our thoughts away, but this is one gaming packed episode you can’t afford to miss! We discuss what makes this game so special, why it’s being equated to video game masterpieces like Red Dead Redemption 2 and The Witcher 3. Get ready for an incredible gaming packed episode as we talk all aspects of the game, who it might be for (and who it might not be for), plus a shocking leaderboard ranking!  Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Ol’ Jake, Disratory and Gaius Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/videogamerspod Join our Gaming Discord: https://discord.gg/Dsx2rgEEbz Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/videogamerspod/  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/VideoGamersPod  Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU12YOMnAQwqFZEdfXv9c3Q   Visit us on the web: https://videogamerspod.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello fellow gamers and welcome to the Video Gamers Podcast. It's Bohemia, it's 1403, and Ryan has been in the pillory for his 8th time. I'm on the run from the law for sleeping in the wrong bed, and we've lost our dog. Things might sound rough, but man are we having a good time. After a night in the bathhouses, we're clean, we're rested, and we're ready to dive into kingdom come deliverance too. But first, some introductions are in order. I am your host, Lord Josh. And joining me, he whined and whined about how dumb this game was at first, but I had to tell him

he was late for recording to get him to stop playing now. It's Ryan. Hey, hey, don't throw that at me. Listen, I didn't do it. It wasn't me. I swear. This is how we're starting. Was that a peasant accent? I'm just perpetually arrested in the, in the, in the, in the, the, what is it called again?

The pillory is what they call it. I thought it was the stock. So I don't know the difference between stocks and pillory, but I was always under the assumption that those were the stocks. I don't know what it is, but I, uh, I grew to love it. It felt like home. I was, uh, I was there quite often. You grew to love being in the stocks? It felt comfortable, you know, it was like kind of that, that, you know, that home feeling.

Okay. Yeah. I mean, I don't know, man, they show a pretty gnarly scene with you being in the pillory for like 24 hours. And that looked rough to me, man. All right. Listen, we have a phenomenal show, the long awaited kingdom come deliverance to deep dive is upon us, right? Yeah. We have been dying to talk about this game, man. Like legitimately, we have said, dude, I can't wait to do this deep dive. And it's finally time. We have been playing the heck out of this game.

This game is a massive game. We're going to just start off with saying, I know I'm about 30-some-odd hours in. I think you're a little bit further in than me, Ryan. And I feel like we have just scratched the surface of what Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 has to offer. So while we will be talking about the beginning of the game

and some of the stuff as like kind of initial thoughts as you start off and challenges and things like that, we are not gonna get into any kind of mid or even late game spoilers for people, but we are going to do our best to kind of just describe what like this game starts off like kind of what it turns into and then we can just kind of rip it from there, man. And that's, and that's based on Josh having maybe 35 ish hours

and I have 40. Yeah. And that's, that's like, Oh, we're going to get into the beginning of the game, you know, that's, that's like, Oh, we're going to get into the beginning of the game. You know, that's, that, that shows kind of how, how much this game has to offer, which is just wild. It's, uh, dude, we got a lot to cover. So listen, we're not even going to read reviews. We're just going to dive right into this. We don't have time. We can talk about this game for three hours. So we're going to try to cover all this. But you know what?

Let's just get right into it, Ryan, because let's do it. Like I said, we're excited, man. It's not every day a game like this comes along. And there's a lot to talk about. So what I want to do is I want to start off with just kind of our hype leading up to Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 and to kind of qualify, because we have seen this a lot from people,

is I didn't play the first one. Do I need to play the first one? Neither one of us ever played the first Kingdom Come Deliverance. I mean, I think I watched video one time or a trailer to be like, I've heard people talk about this game. But did you feel like not playing the first has had any effect on you in your experience with the second?

You know, if it has like ignorance is bliss, like I have, I have no knowledge and it did not affect me to my knowledge in any way from what I took from the story from my gameplay how it started how I'm progressing like none of those factors I I thought man. What are they talking about? Like I you know, is that a callback to the other game or none of those things came into play for me? um, so yeah, I I Would not say that you have to play the first one in any Respect to to feel like you can, you know, play the next one. Yeah, I'm with you 100% on this one. I did not ever once feel like I was out of place or I had missed something or I'm confused because I don't know who these people are.

This game does a phenomenal job of giving you kind of an introduction to the characters and why you're kind of doing what you're doing and things like that. So for all those people out there that are going, I've been really interested in this game, but I don't have time to play the first one. And I know this is the second one. Don't worry. I just jump in because I mean, this game's massive. So unless you've got something like 200 hours of game time to just dedicate to Kingdom Come 1 and 2, then I think you're a okay to just jump straight in here. The other thing that we're hearing from people that played the first one is that this game is very, very much improved over the first and where the first game could kind of falter

a little bit and it kind of had some more complex systems and the combat wasn't as good and things like that. We have heard from a lot of people that, dude, this game's just like, it's been expanded, it's been improved on. So why go through the first if you can just experience what the second has to offer? We talked about our hype leading up to this. Being that we never played the first one, I remember seeing trailers and that was kind of like, cool, this game looks really neat. Then people started to get excited. We got closer to release date. I know that you and I were both very, very excited for this release,

but it kind of came with a little bit of like, I don't know what to expect on this. And our hype meter is really high, but what if we get in here and it just sucks, Ryan? So were you hesitant kind of leading up to the release and jumping in for the first time? I was, I would say that I'm optimistically hesitant. Like I had good feelings and I thought with what we've seen and in the production and all the stuff leading up to the release of the game,

I felt like it was in good hands and it was handled properly so that we were going to get in turn a game that was handled properly. And it's one of those things where you're just never sure, especially if you haven't played a first game in the series and then you got this huge, big release, it's the second one. And like you said, do I need to play the first? Do we have to, you know, it's like, no, no, no, you'll be fine. Trust me. And then it's like, okay, you know, and then you're going to, you're just going to kind

of hop into this big title. That's got a lot of hours involved. And it's like, does this make sense? And man, it, it just totally did. Yeah. involved and it's like, does this make sense? And man, it, it just totally did. Yeah, I, I will say like, it was, it was kind of a nervous moment almost like the, I'm really excited for this. I've really want a game to kind of grab me to really just be able to dive into. Yeah.

But a lot of people have said that kingdom come deliverance. The first one was kind of a niche game where it's like the combat was very difficult. It was different. It was a slow pace. A lot of people called it a medieval simulator. And I don't like sim games, man. I want my games to be fantasy, sci-fi, action.

I don't want to work in my video games. And some of the stuff that I saw in like from, from previews of the first one was like, you're tilling the ground. You're taking a bag from one lady to the, to the next, you know, and delivering things. And I just, there was a part of my brain that was like, I don't know if I'm going to like this dude. Like I'm not a SIM guy. I think this, it might be a little bit too slow pace for me, but we'll see. I know I'm really excited, but man, was I also kind of ready

to kind of be caught in that like, this game's just not for me kind of category as well. So let's talk about that. We load up the game, we're super excited, you dive in. Let's just talk about the first, I want to say like maybe two hours, right? So this game, like I said, it does a good job of kind of leading you into the game, introducing you to the characters. So what were the first like two hours like for you before you got thrown in jail? Because there's a decent introduction,

there's some cut scenes, they're explaining the characters and that kind of thing. So what was that initial kind of, first hour to two hours like for you? I would say that it was, it was definitely something different and unique. It was well-crafted though. I got that impression right away is that, okay, wait,

they did write on this. They did write, it looks like I'm gonna have an adventure. I don't know where the heck this is gonna go. I don't know where this is gonna lead me but I want to find out you know, and that's that's the first kind of draw that that took a hold of me and And and then you know the graphics helped the the the movement helped How they kind of started you out in the quote-unquote a tutorial like as you learn how to move and do a few things. And, and this game, even if you have a tutorial, like, you know, don't get twisted, like it's, it's, uh, unforgiving.

Like if you mess up, like you're going to pay for it and you're going to have to restart in an area, whether you saved or not or, you know, whatever, and we'll get way into that for sure, but, um, but right off the bat, I definitely felt like. I don't know if almost like just comfortable, like, like I was ready to sit down, buckle up and like see where this was going to take me. I think a lot of that is the presentation in the beginning. Like, I know a lot of people said, dude, if I get hit with two hours of cutscenes to start this game off, like, that's going to be a problem.

And I get that because some games really want to kind of set the stage for you. For sure. But dude, when you're loading up a new game and you, you, you, you raced home from work, you know what I mean? And it's like, dude, you click the icon, it's loading up. I want to play the game, dude. I don't want to sit for two hours and watch cut scenes just so that you can kind of set the stage for me.

And I will say, while there are some cut scenes and stuff like that, I think instantly you are, you are presented with something that is very well presented. Like, you know, the, the voice acting in this game is great. The graphics are phenomenal. Um, and then you kind of just immediately identify with these characters because they have personality and you're like, oh, okay, I can tell who that guy is. Oh, these two guys are friends. They've got their squad of people with them that they're traveling across the country with.

And so I was kind of instantly enamored by just the overall quality of this game. And they do a good job of not just bombing you with two hours worth of cut scenes. Like, yes, you are going to watch some, but they really get into the, uh, letting you control your character, uh, having you interact with like, you know, some other guys that ride up on you. And then you start to kind of see, Oh,

my dialogue options are going to matter and things like that. I learned that real quick. And then all heck just breaks loose, man. Things go completely south very, very quickly. And that's what I want to talk about now because I don't want to spoil what goes wrong because you'll, people experience that soon enough. But after everything goes catastrophically wrong,

you are then dumped into the game itself. And like, so all of that, like you said, was kind of a tutorial. It teaches you the mechanics of the game. I think they did a masterful job at keeping that interesting because there's a lot going down and they're kind of explaining some of the mechanics, how you sneak, how you run, how you can, you know, approach things and all these sorts of things and there's chaos happening and it was very interesting in

my opinion, but then the game starts. And this is where I really started to go, I don't think I like this game, dude. Oh. And I know you kind of felt the same way, though, right? Because you and I were chatting a little bit, and you were just like, dude, I just keep getting thrown in jail.

And I was just a wanted man in like two towns. They're little villages. Everywhere. They hated me everywhere. And they hated me and I didn't know what to do. You get dumped off, you're naked, you're broke, you're alone, nobody knows who you are. And you're just told to just go out and survive, right?

Like just, you know, find a thing. And we talked to the developers on this game. Shout out, Andre, we love you, man. Best friend, best friend. So we talked to the developers on this game. Shout out, Andre. We love you, man. Best friend. Best friend. So we talked to the devs on this. And he gave us insight into this, which I thought

was really interesting, is he said people were struggling in the beginning of this game. So we put this beggar lady in the very first town where you kind of get dumped off at so that she can guide you and point you in the right direction. And we were like, oh, that makes a lot of sense because she does. She says, Hey, you should probably find some clothes. Also, you smell really bad. You should probably like get cleaned up and things like that. But even with that direction, completely lost, dude.

Why is everybody hating? Everybody hates me because I stole some clothes and apparently somebody saw me, you know? And so what, like, was it like that for you? Because I was very put off on this game for probably the first like past the tutorial for probably the first like two hours. I was like, dude, I don't like this. It was, man, it was, it was hard because it was one of those that the first opening part of it, I'm like really vibing with this game. I liked it. I liked the way they, they cut in the cinematics and they just sprinkled in just enough with the gameplay and the tutorial stuff.

And then they just drop you in the wilderness, you know, uh, you know, with just a pair of shorts, basically you're, you're, you're got no shoes, no shirt, no nothing. Um, and no service for sure. No service. Yeah, they don't want you, man nothing. Um, and no service for sure. No service. Yeah. They don't want you, man. They don't want you there.

Yeah. You're, you know, you, you, um, are in trouble. Everyone doesn't like you already cause you got into town and you immediately, you know, run amok. So it's just, it's one of those things where right off the bat, it was just difficult to even get started. And it's not like a survival crafter or anything like that, where you can just, all right, that's going to go chop down some trees and just get started and it's not like a survival crafter or anything like that where you can just alright I just gotta go chop down some trees and

just get started you know like you have to like woo people and start to communicate and figure out where you need to go and who you need to talk to and and how you need to kind of progress through this world so there was a lot of different layers and one thing that I liked that Andrea had talked about was game sessions that are memorable that have a name to them. And I feel like this did do that to where every time I logged in, especially early on, I'm like,

oh, that was that session. That was that session. So as we progressed and as we got into it, like I was, I was super frustrated, but it started to alleviate the more we kind of got into it and the more we started to understand kind of where this whole thing was going and how it was going, like you learn trigonometry or any of these, you know, anything crazy like that, you're going to be frustrated at first, but as you start to understand, everything seems to make sense in it. And it kind of broadens the picture. And I felt like that's what this kind of

did as you, as you got into it a little bit more, it started to open up for you and make sense. Yeah. This is one where I think my frustrations initially were I was trying to play. I was trying to like force my thinking on the game where it's like, well, I'm just gonna steal these clothes. No, and you can't. And that's the thing is like legitimately it is the, I can't play this game this way.

Like it's not gonna work. These people are smart. This is a living world. They have laws and I can't just steal somebody's clothes and they won't notice that I'm wearing their clothes. And so I got myself in a lot of trouble. And when you're in trouble, people hate you. And when people hate you, they don't want to help you. And because you stink and you're naked and you're hated now,

there's literally nothing you can do in these opening towns. And that's where my frustration kind of was like, dude, what am I supposed to do? And then we had somebody that kind of knew the game and they said, dude, just go to jail, clear your name. That way people will talk to you again. And it's kind of like a reset button. And there's a part of it that was like, well, no, I want to figure it out, man. Like I want to steal these clothes. And it's like, no, man, there's laws. Like this game's more in depth than you think.

And that's when I realized, okay, like this world is so fleshed out. People don't forget. The systems in this game are so complicated. In the way that the villagers interact, they get up, they go to work. And if somebody sees you wearing their clothes, they're going to be like, what the heck, man? So I caved, and I just went, OK, apparently I have to be a good boy.

Apparently I have to obey the law. And that's when things really started to get a lot smoother for me. And that for me is when it really kind of started to go, okay, I think I get this now, you know, but I will say, and we've seen this from a few other people that, that jumped in those first couple hours can be very frustrating because you are playing a game that is unlike a lot of other games out there. I think that was just a little bit of like, okay, I got to be willing to be in this world versus like, I'm going to play this game my way. I'm going to be a thief. And it's like, no, man,

you ain't no thief yet. No, you have to definitely to to your surroundings and what's going on in the missions at hand and what is happening before you just kind of do what you want to do. You got to you got to almost earn the clout, earn the ability to do what you want to do, which is kind of endearing. It was it was it's pretty cool now with how much we've played seen think, think going back to, uh, how we started, you know? Yeah. I, this game does a masterful job at like bringing you down, right? Like it chopping you down to size and saying you are a nobody. And if you think you can just sneak around stealthily and steal stuff, nope, you're not a thief.

You think you can fight that guard? Tell you something, buddy. You know, like you think you can just walk into somebody's house without permission. And then it's like, Nope. Now they're mad at you because they saw you walk out of their house. And that's when it just like, it, it, like the gears started spinning and I was like, Whoa, dude. Whoa. So, all right, listen. So we've set the stage. I want to pause on the gameplay talk a little bit because we always do this with the game and we talk about what the hook of the game is.

Like what is the thing that stands out to you over and above everything else in this game? But we're going to take a quick break and we're going to talk about that in just a second. All right, we are back. Ryan, it's time to talk that special sauce. That's something that makes this game, the kingdom come deliverance to, you just know it's got that magic, man.

And so what is that hook for you on this game? Oh, man. This is a tough one, isn't it? I know, I still don't know my answer, man. The thing is like, it's, you know, that's, the crazy thing is, is it's almost like, you know, if you were to ask somebody like, what's the meaning of life?

Like, what's your hook to life? Cause that's what this feels like. This is like another world. You feel like you are part of this life and you find yourself like living, you know, I know we talked about it being like the kingdom come one, like a medieval sim. I don't think this was on that level, but it definitely had simulator aspects to it, which, which I liked.

There was really good things. There's not, that's not a bad thing. So it's just, it was, I wanted to, it was almost like it was the hook for me was that it was like a second life. I wanted to go in and continue as Henry and, and be Henry and do Henry stuff, whether that was thievery and going to jail and, and, or, or running around or finding mutt or finding my horse or, uh, uh, robbing or, you know, pillaging or doing all the stuff that you could do. I just felt like it was a second world that I could go into and disappear into.

Um, and it just, it captivated me, man. It was one of those things that that was the hook is it just felt like another world I could jump in. So the word I'm going to use, and I think is exactly what you were describing because this is absolutely the hook for me is immersion. Yeah. The like, I don't, dude,

I don't know that another game has immersed me into its world like kingdom come deliverance two has. And that's exactly what you were saying. And it's funny because we didn't talk about this like beforehand. But I think it's funny that you and I both picked out like the exact same thing. Yeah, that's wild. When you were playing this game, you are living this game, dude. You are Henry and you are feeling his struggles

with just trying to find clothes, you know, or like, how the heck do I get clean? I didn't realize I'm a stinky mess, man. Like people will walk by and like you'll, and they'll be like, oh, you stink. And I'm like, well, how do you know? And then it's like, I see myself and it's like, oh, I do stink. That's this game, dude, is it's like you're in 1403 Bohemia. You are a guy that was like a bodyguard to a noble who has gotten lost. Nobody knows who you are.

You have this very important quest. We'll get into story here in a little bit. And then you are just in this town where nobody likes you. You have nothing, you have nothing. And it's like, how the heck do I survive? And I felt that dude, like that should be frustrating for anybody. Right. Cause it's like, imagine if you were just homeless tomorrow, like probably be a

pretty frustrating day for you. And that's what I felt at the beginning of this game, but it's masterful design because as you get your clothes and as you get clean and as you start to do a little bit of work and it's like, dude, I got some Grotian. Grotian's like the gold in this game. I got a few Grotian. I could buy like a dagger, you know, or something like that. Like all of a sudden you kind of start puffing up and you're like, yeah, Henry, we've come a long way buddy. And then,

and then it just continues. And then you start traveling from one place to another and And there's a lot of walking in this game. The world is absolutely gorgeous. But guess what? In 1403, if you didn't have a horse and you needed to go from town A to town B, you're hoofing it, man. And that might take a while.

Yeah. And so the immersion in this game is absolutely top-notch. It is second to none in my opinion. I mean, every single time that I loaded into Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, I was living in Bohemia as Henry, getting myself into trouble, trying to help people, exploring the woods, hunting boar, or whatever the heck I was doing.

Honestly, I don't like, I'm gonna put this up there immersion factor with like Red Dead Redemption 2. Like honestly, when you play Red Dead Redemption 2, you are Arthur Morgan and you are living in the old West. You're galloping your horse through, you're under the stars at night. Like dude, like everybody says

it's the best cowboy simulator they've ever seen. And like kingdom come deliverance too is the best medieval night slash peasant like simulator I've ever seen, dude. Yeah, absolutely. It helps set the world is just so beautiful. Um, they created just, uh, an awesome space to explore. And you know, uh, very similar similar like you mentioned to Red Dead to where around every corner there is potentially something that you can run into. There's someone around there even when you are fast traveling there's always something that you can run into. So

they did create a world that is just alive. You know, it feels alive. And I, and I think that when you play it, you know, it feels the same as well. So yeah, they did just such a stellar job on, on that aspect of this game. Yeah. So, all right. So let's talk about, we, we, we've already said, dude, the immersion in this game is second to none, right? I mean, that's the hook for you and I independently of each other, but you get about six hours in you've, you've got clothes, you've got, people don't hate you anymore. You're clean. You figured out how to clean up. You're starting to earn a little bit of money. You venture over to the next town. You,

you managed to walk over there and you're like, dude, okay, I'm not going to steal from anybody in this town. I'm not going to start a fist fight in this town because I know I got to kind of play by the rules. Um, and you start to just get comfortable with the mechanics of the game at that point. And I think that's really when the sense of wonder and like what is opening up to you. It's, it's almost like these doors, like you're getting a peek,

but then the doors kind of open a little bit. And that's when it's like, Oh, you know, and then they're like, there's this game in front of me now. Yeah. And that wonder and that like, Oh my goodness, dude, like. I think this game might be really great. Like I'm, I'm, I'm getting the mechanics down. I've fought something. So it's like, I kind of had a taste of the combat at first.

I, I, there's all these things I have to do. I have to find my horse. I got to find my dog. I got to go visit this lady. Like she needs my help and all these things. And the game really just opens up at that point. And we talk about something similar when people play the Witcher three, where we have had so many people say, dude, I played the Witcher three for like four hours. I don't get it. I don't get it. I don't understand why everybody says it's one of the best games ever. And what is our response? Get to the bloody Baron, get to the bloody Baron class. Once you do that, it's about six to eight hours in the game is a rocket ship after that, you know, but yes, it's like, it's very dull. It's very boring, which is horrible by the, that it takes that long.

I'm not making an excuse, but I'm just saying it is after that. Like that's where it goes. Yes. And Red Dead Redemption 2, famously the snow level. Now, I know that you're really, really weird. I'm a psycho. I love it. Yes.

And it's like, but for most people, they say just did grind through the first 45 minutes, and then the game takes off. For me, this is the part where Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 really, really just hit the afterburners and started to just blow my mind at that point. So was there a moment for you, I don't know if there's a specific moment, if it's just a general as you play

and you get comfortable with some of these game systems, but was there a moment where you were just like, holy crap, dude, like this game's freaking great. Yeah. Oh, definitely. And I honestly like, I got goosebumps just now thinking about it. Um, it's, it's wild because, uh, one issue I always have with these types of games is I hate, I hate getting the wrong answers. I hate when I'm interacting like right off the bat, dude, I'm running my mouth as Henry in the very beginning.

And I know, you know, what I'm talking about is to where, and then I'm getting lectured and I'm like, oh crap, I said the wrong thing, you know? And I, and sometimes those prompts are always a little deceptive on like what you think you're going to say. And it says something a little bit different. And then it's not as polite or not as aggressive, you know, if you want to be, you know, but once I got into it and, and I started to get some money and I, and I started to really get into the game and I understood that it

really is, it's not about getting the right answer. It's about just kind of experiencing that moment. Every time is an experience. Every interaction is an experience. Everything you do has consequences and it leads to other interactions, but like it's not detrimental. It's not going to destroy the game. So you don't have to be upset about it. And that's one thing that I always struggle with. But once I finally got that, and I really started to just dive in, and that helps with the immersion part of it as well, I, I, man, it became something that the game was all I thought about. Like I was just like,

Oh, yeah, I got to do this. I got my, I got my alchemy brewing empire. I got all these potions to make. I got, you know, it's, it's three days for the next harvest. I got to go get, you know, more marigold and everything else I can get and nettle and whatnot. I got more potions to brew and and then interactions like if I said the wrong thing I'm like, oh bummer, you know, oh well, and then I'll circle back around and try to mend ties down the road and stuff. So just once I figured out that this world truly is alive and every interaction is not end all be all and it's like almost just flowing like a body of water. That's what really turned the corner for me to where I was like, man, I am all the way

in on this. I am 100% full bore. Like let's go. I am Henry and I just want to, uh, I want to save my Lord, you know? So it's, it was, it was something cool to realize that kind of revelation moment. But, um, man, dude, it was, it's so much fun. I think for me, there was the part in the beginning, this is not really spoilery because it's early on too, but you go to the other village that's

nearby and that's where you meet the guy that hates the guy in the first village that has like that you have the two, they're kind of warring and trolling each other. And it's like, they're just playing pranks on each other, but he tells you to steal like the maypole, right? And it's like, Hey, if you go to this town and you want to help out, like steal their maypole, they're so proud of it. And it's like, so I'm in this town and it's like, this guy is literally guarding the maypole. And you're like, how do I get rid of this guy? And you wind up like,

at least what I did is I wound up finding out who he liked, setting him up on a date and telling him that I would watch the maypole while he's out on a date with this lady. And then, you know, I wait to nighttime and then I climb the maypole. I cut the top down and I hoof it back to the first town. I give it to the guy and then it was like, but then there's another story. He's like, Hey, you know, if you want to do this and he kind of goes a little bit deeper and

then you can decide I go back to the town because I'm going to play another prank on him. But then I'm like, dude, I'm kind of jiving with this guy more than that guy. So it's like, so you can tell them like, Hey, this'm kind of jiving with this guy more than that guy. So it's like, so you can tell them, like, hey, this guy is trying to prank you. And then now I'm playing both sides. And it's like the quest system, that's when it really kind of dawned for me,

was like, dude, these quests in this game are absolutely phenomenal. They're multi, multi-layered. You can play them however you want to play them and approach them how you want to approach them. There's another one early on with the alchemist lady that you meet in the woods early on and then she, her daughter's missing. So you go on this big quest to find her daughter and then it gets dark.

And it's like, then you're like uncovering crimes and it's like, I'm trying to find clues to these crimes and stuff like that. And that for me was like the launch point where I was just like, Oh baby, like this game is gonna be up there for me, man. Like I have not played a game like this in a very long time and this game is hitting like a game has not in a long time. And it's like you said, like literally at work going like, wonder what I could get into today

where I'm gonna solve that quest, you know, like that kind of thing. While I'm at work work just waiting to go home Where am I gonna go? What are we gonna do? Coincidentally like that also that stupid old lady is also what made me almost quit the game. I was gonna remember Whenever we can talk about like bad things just let me know cuz I got a lot to say but we're gonna do that Don't worry. This game is not without you know, it it's it's false either. And we'll definitely talk about those as well. So all right.

So, you know, let's let's let's back it up just a little bit. What the heck do you actually do in this game, Ryan? Because people have heard us say, oh, you're a knight. It's a medieval simulator. You're Henry. You're you know, it's hard. It's hard to start off. But like, what do you do?

What is just an average gameplay session? Like, like, I guess for people that aren't familiar with this game at all. So, so one of the things that's so cool about this game is, um, an average gameplay session is never average. Like it's always different. There's always something unique about every interaction and every kind of session that you play to where uh I mean you're gonna go and I'm gonna go brew potions and then you go out to to get

uh you know flowers and whatever materials or or whatever you need to do and you get sidetracked and and something else comes up and then next thing you know you're two towns over like fighting some guy learning how to how to sword battle because like that'll help you later on and so everything about this game is just kind of a fluid flow of ups and downs, lefts and rights, there's nothing stagnant, there's nothing moving in the same direction. It's always just kind of all over the place. It's, it's a real world. It truly does feel like you can hop in and do whatever you want to do. You know, it is your gameplay. You have to play within the parameters of,

of this kind of, kind of experience. Um, you know, don't break the law like me, basically. It's what I'm saying. But, uh, but, but there's always something to do. You can, you can, you know, be, uh, a blacksmith. You can make a bunch of stuff. You can brew potions. You can go, uh, a trap and, and, and harvest animals. There's, you know, or just do the main quest line.

There's a million different things to do. So every session is so different. That it's just, it's, it's such a unique game. I haven't played anything like it in a very, very long time. Yeah, I haven't either. And I think you touched on a good point. You play this game kind of how you want to play it. If you want to brew a bunch of potions and try to make a bunch of money and get really good at that, you can absolutely do that. If you want to go around and, youions and try to make a bunch of money and get really good at that, you can absolutely do that.

If you want to go around and try to fight bandits and get really good at fighting, you can absolutely do that. That's also a good way to get better gear because bandits are usually armored. And if you can kill one of them, then you get to take their gear and now you have armor as well. The play this game the way you want to play it is a blessing and a curse for a lot of people because sometimes you can get very, very sidetracked. You know, a point in this game,

and we're going to talk about this game up to kind of the wedding, which is the first big, big event in this game. Yeah. And, you know, it's like, we spent 30 hours before I ever went to the wedding. And it's like, that's your main, that's your main quest in the beginning, which is only the kind of stepping off point for a lot of the rest of the game.

But I spent 30 hours doing side quests because number one, the side quests in this game are legitimately equivalent to the Witcher three side quests, in my opinion, like this game has some of the best side quests I've ever seen in a video game. And again, I'll use this. They're multi-layered. It's not just go to point A and do this and then, Hey, that's cool. Something cool happens. It is go to point A, something happens. Now you got point B that you got to go to, but now you have point C and D pick one of those that you think is going to be the most helpful because if you pick one, the other one's probably going away and now you

don't even know what you missed, you know, so you're going to have a different experience than your buddy. Once you go to those points, you know, somebody needs help, but that's starting sub quest, you know, see at that point, which is some crazy, dark, almost horrific murder mystery type thing that you've now got to solve and it just keeps going and going. And I know for a lot of people, they're like, dude, I can't deal with that kind of aimlessness

because I'll just do that stuff forever and then I'll never actually play the game. I'm kind of like that. That's not a bad thing. In a way. That's not a bad thing. But are you having fun? Yeah.

Because if you're having fun, then that's all that matters. And I was having a blast. The beauty of this is even when you're doing that, even if you're running, if you're picking herbs, the game is rewarding you for it because the skill structure in this game is the type of skill system that says, if you pick enough herbs, you're going to get very good at picking herbs. If you walk encumbered while you're traveling from one little village to the other, you

know what's going to happen? You're going to get stronger. Yeah, it's leg day. Exactly. You're going to get stronger. Yeah, it's leg day. Exactly. You're going to get stronger because you're doing this stuff. And so the whole time you're just having these crazy quests and these crazy adventures, you as Henry are actually getting better at like just being Henry. And so it's like the next time you fight some bandits, those bandits aren't quite as tough,

you know? And it's like you start to get better at talking to people. You start to get better at interacting with this world. And it's just this masterful system of just go out and live in this world, do whatever the heck you want, and you'll get better at it and you'll figure it out. And then you'll just start feeling like you're living this life that is like a life of adventure and you're a medieval knight, you know, like trying to find his buddy and stuff like that. And it's just, it's freaking addictive gameplay loop, the setting and the immersion absolutely just are, are accentuate all that dude.

So, um, all right, let's get into a couple of little nitty gritty things here. Right? So basically one of the main complaints that I heard from Kingdom Come Deliverance 1 was the combat. This game has a very different combat system than almost any other game out there. It uses the direction of your strikes and stuff like that. Give us the kind of simple view of combat, Ryan, and did you like it? So with this, it is, I guess I wouldn't say that it's simple, but the simple view of combat, Ryan, and did you like it? So, um, with this, it is, it is, um, I guess I wouldn't say that it's simple, but the simple view of it is, you know, you have,

yeah, you have your directional attacks to where you have like top-down strikes left, right, and then like straight thrusts or whatever. And then you have shield blocks where you could, uh, parry and you know, there's timing elements that also come into play but it's something that well the the fighting aspect of it is there it's not so much it's something that you can do you can you can target fights you can you can go and battle people you can do all these things and you can get really really good at it but it it's not the main part of the game and it doesn't have to be which is a thing

I liked I think that the fighting itself is a little bit. Uh, it's not my style It's a little tricky to learn and I honest to be quite honest Like I still I would not call myself a you know know 30 40 hours in or 40 hours in or whatever I'm not a proficient fighter. I I do the best I can I can beat a lot of guys, but it's it's Very tricky and I'm not I'm not that good at it yet. So it's it's it's it is difficult it's difficult to learn but it is Rewarding when you fight those guys there is something to it because of that difficulty, you know, in that, in that hard nature of

it, you know, there's, there's something there. So the long and the short is fighting's not the best. The combat's not the best, but I also see why it is what it is. And it, and it leans into all those other factors of that. It is, I mean, fighting in real life kind of sucks. Like, you know, swinging a sword at somebody, you're going to get tired trying to shield, you know, block off another axe or a polearm or whatever it is kind of sucks. So it's, you know, it's not something you

always want to do. If you're good at it, heck yeah. If not, you may avoid it. So I think it just ties into everything else. And I think they did a good job of that. Yeah, the combat system, I think, is a neat idea. And I think that the idea behind the combat system is you are not a ninja. You are not some superhuman guy that can swing a sword 50 times kind of thing. If you're in heavy armor and you're fighting another guy in heavy armor, you're going to get gassed real fast.

And that is part of this game, is you're going to run out of stamina by just swinging the sword. And then your guy's going to get gassed real fast. And that is part of this game is you're going to run out of stamina by just swinging the sword, you know? And then your guy's going to huff and puff and you kind of have to back off for a second. The directional attack thing is neat. I've seen it in some other games and it does make sense. It's not the most thrilling combat in the world. It's very methodical almost, but again, that's kind of how combat amongst people was. You know, it's, it's, it works. I think it's neat.

I don't think it's a highlight of the game, but it's not so weird that I find it distracting either. And again, one of the things that the combat does is serves to show you that you are getting better and better just the longer that you are Henry, because that first fight you get your butt kicked and then you start learning, okay, well, let me not just mash buttons, let me think about the direction I'm attacking, let me block this attack. Oh man, this guy's probably better than me because he's coming at you really

fast and it's like, maybe I should just run away. You know, this guy's obviously a better fighter than me or something like that. Um, the combat does really work to kind of heighten encounters and things like that, like at one point I had found a bandit camp in the woods and you know, us old school gamers, we like to try to break games and figure out ways around it. And there was like five of these guys, you're not fighting five guys at once, like just plain and simple, like that's not going to happen. Um, but I use stealth because you can stealth in this game as well.

And so I use stealth to kind of creep around one guy. I stab them in the back. You can do the stealthy kills and stuff like that. And then one of his people realized he was missing. And he starts looking for him. So I'm hiding in a bush. And then it's like I jump out and I stealth kill that guy. Before you knew it, I'm Sam Fisher.

I took out the whole camp. Nice. You know? And then I got some really sweet loot out of it at the same time. So it was like, I was proud of myself. But that's, again, it's just one of those little things where it's like, you can kind of approach combat in the same way. So I think combat's serviceable.

It's a neat system. It's not like, it's no Dark Souls or Elden Ring for me. Yeah, it doesn't, and which is wild from people like us that we generally, I mean, you love hard, difficult, bash your head against the wall combat. I enjoy like kind of active, kind of nonstop type combat. So we enjoy combat, but it wasn't something that took away or added to this

game. I think it was there. And that's not a bad thing. Like it was, it was there enough that where we could fight and battle, but I didn't think about, man, I want to kill someone. It's like, Oh, I need to get over there to do this, to accomplish this next thing. Like I'm thinking of just about life. And this goes to that immersion factor that we had, but yeah, the combat was there. It was serviceable and you know, in my opinion. Yeah, the game's focus is not combat either. I mean, you can certainly be an aggressive person in the game if you want to.

But again, it's not this not like this is a combat forward game either. So we kind of touched on the quests. I I'm just going to repeat what I said, dude, this game has some of the best quests I have ever seen in a video game. Do you disagree? No, I think a lot of them, there's something unique or quirky about every quest line that you run into where parts of it will make you laugh, parts will make you mad, parts will make you just shake your head.

Everything has all the colors of the rainbow. And it just makes, you know, every time you don't know what to expect, which, which I find so awesome. That's, that's part of it that I love is, is every time you boot up a quest or every time you run down that pathway to the next objective, like you don't know what you're going to go into. Yeah. I, I, I love the quest. If you play this game, you absolutely cannot just be

lined the main quest, the side quest. Like there, there's some of the best man. I can't tell you, I don't want to spoil things, but I absolutely took every side quest I could find. And almost every time I was just like, oh my goodness, I could have missed that if I hadn't helped this little old lady. You know what I mean? I could have missed this entire quest line. Like, oh my goodness, I could have missed that. If I hadn't helped this little old lady, you know what I mean? I could have missed this entire quest line like, oh my goodness, I did not expect that it was going to go there. So you are not playing this game to just beeline

the main campaign. If you do, I think you're seriously missing out. So all right, Ryan, we got to talk some graphics and audio. And then we're going to kind of get into some of the things that don't work in this game. But we're going to take one more quick break and we'll be right back. All right, we're back. I mean, if people can't tell, we're kind of gushing over Kingdom Come Deliverance to, you know, just a little bit. I mean, there's really not, we don't have to get

deep into this graphics. Absolutely phenomenal, dude. This, this game is beautiful, dude. I mean, it's absolutely gorgeous. Even to the point where it's like, if you're in like a little rundown village, the street is muddy and it's kind of like this place is lived in, you know, it's just, it's an absolutely beautiful game. I think that really helps in that sense of immersion and just feeling like you're traveling across this gorgeous countryside. Character models are really good. I mean armor, you know, if you put on pieces of armor they reflect. I mean it's it's as graphically pleasing as you could hope for in a game of this size. Oh gosh yeah especially like you said for a game of this size for what they

did I was honestly amazed. The ability to have, like we talked about earlier, just about how everything kind of goes on each other. You go and you get in a little fight with something, you're covered in blood. You have to go wash your body off. Because even a little tussle with a guard or a a guard or a little, you know, you fight a bore. Like even if you just kill it, it doesn't hit you once you still got blood on you from it. So you have to go wash your body off. And so like everything you interact with and encounter like has an effect and the graphics

show that. And so, you know, even just traveling through, and I mean, you mentioned like the, the towns and, you know, you see the ruts from the, uh, the carts coming through and the wagons, and then you see where they posted up, um, planks and boards to kind of direct the water. I was watching and I'm like, man, that's crazy. Like the detail to put that in, to have planks of wood, to where the water would run off to so that they can control it so it doesn't wash out the road. Like that's weird little just kind of details that probably a lot of people won't notice, but it's just in there and it just helps again with that immersion.

Like I think we just keep harking back to the immersion of these worlds and the, I mean, obviously the graphics are amazing, but all those little details are what really I think we just keep harking back to the immersion of these worlds and the, I mean, obviously the graphics are amazing, but all those little details are what really I think set it apart. I think one of the coolest things when you talk about details too, I don't want to get too sidetracked on this, but this world is alive. When people go to bed, they wake up. When they wake up, they eat breakfast. They actually go to the table.

You can hear a husband and wife talking, telling each other, good morning. The wife goes over to the stew pot, like grabs breakfast, gives it to the guy. Then he gets dressed, you know, or he'll walk over to his chest and then he'll put on like his armor and his gear for the day. And then you literally see him like in his armor and gear. And then he walks out of the house. He'll go to a shop, he'll open it up, you know, that kind of stuff. If you break into his house in the middle of gear, and then he walks out of the house, he'll go to a shop, he'll open it up, that kind of stuff. If you break into his house in the middle of the night and you steal his stuff, he can't get dressed and he'll comment on it and he'll be like,

where did my clothes go? And it's just, it's that level of detail that absolutely sets this game apart from a lot of other games out there. It's not fake detail, like this is legitimately like how these characters are going about their lives. Like you said, water runoff, bridges. I mean, you see it everywhere in this game, dude.

It's incredible. They did a lot of coding, that's for sure. Yeah, yeah they did. So, oh man. All right, so audio, honestly, audio second to none in this game. The voice acting is absolutely incredible. All the characters sound unique.

You actually believe their emotions and their, it's just, it's fantastic. Even like the sound when you finally get your horse and you just, you know, you make the little horse sound and it's like every time I'm like, oh yeah, it's great, man. Like really, really well presented in this. All right, so we're kind of running out of time a little bit on this. Let's talk about

the wedding, right? And this is a little bit spoilery. And again, the wedding is a huge event in this game because it is your to not be too spoilery. It is how you think that you are going to go from being this unknown guy that nobody knows to being recognized, finding your buddy who is a lord. You guys are on this very important mission to deliver a letter to this lord. Two kings are fighting over territory that's kind of like civil war is about to break out. So you have this very important mission. You realize that the lord is going to be at the wedding. And so if you can go to this wedding, you can probably meet the Lord and then he'll realize who you are. And now you're back to being the guard for this noble, who's also, I think your best friend or something like

that in the game. So this wedding is a really big event. I will say that I was very curious how they were going to pull this off and they pulled it off masterfully, dude. I mean, you go to this town, you're in this Lord's manor, there's people everywhere, people are getting drunk, you're having to deal with this, you're doing these little mini side quests at the wedding to try to like impress like the Lord that's the, you know, whose wedding you're at.

You're doing all these crazy things, you've had to do all this work to even be able to get to the wedding, things go a little south. I just, they absolutely nailed this event and how they made this event feel and the scope and the scale of it. And then like how nothing quite goes the way you plan. And I just, I was blown away. I mean, what did you think about this?

I mean, I agree wholeheartedly. I think they did such a good job. Um, I would I would uh You know our our discord we always kind of preach our discord We've been talking about this game so much in the discord and a ton of people have been mentioning stuff in our and our boy Stalin Steve He kept saying he's like do as many side quests as you can before you do the wedding. And I cannot echo that enough, like, cause it genuinely does make a difference because you have met all these people now from all these towns and villages around this world.

They're all at this wedding. And so you're like, oh, I did this for them, this for them, you know, this for that guy and this for that guy and that girl. And so you have this kind of just group of people that you know, and it makes it so much more personable to where that wedding and all the little side effects, you know that people's quirks, you know what they're,

I mean, there's a guy that's just a ridiculous drunk and you're having to help him again after you helped him before last time he was drunk. And, and so, so, you know, all their quirks, you know, what's going on and it, and it just makes it, it's that much better. So like the wedding itself, and which is crazy because this is like, you know, this isn't like the end of the game. No, this is like when it really, really takes off and this is 30 hours in, you know, 30,

40, 50 some people hours in, you know, and this is when the game really takes off is just the wedding. And so, uh, man, I think just the buildup to essentially like the really main start of the game is just something that I've never seen before. And, and, uh, gosh, I just don't even know what to say. It's masterful, dude. It's a game of Thrones level of like intrigue and an event happening and all these little sub events that are happening within this event. Yeah. And it's like, you, you don't have to get involved in any of it, but it draws you in so much.

Even the guy that's like the womanizer that's trying to hit on one of the ladies. And then these other two dudes are watching it, and you walk by and they're like, look at this idiot, man. He has no idea. And then you're talking and they're like, you think you could do better? And you're like, yeah, I do.

And then you go over there and you're having this really in-depth conversation where, again, your answers and your choices absolutely matter. And then it's like, thankfully I made the right choices. And she's like, Oh, thank goodness you saved me from this guy. But now like I hate you. He hates you the whole wedding because it's like you ruined him. You know, like you blocked him from hitting on this lady.

And it's like, it's the most masterful design dude. Again, it's, it's, it's incredible. And to think that this is where the game launches forward. This is where you go from being Henry and figuring your life out to now you were caught up in the biggest political intrigue since Game of Thrones, dude. This game is so much more than what you think it is,

even 30 hours in, and it just is a rocket ship going into outer space, man, it is, this game is so much more than what you think it is, even 30 hours in, and it just is a rocket ship going into outer space, man. It's ridiculous. So, okay. If people haven't picked up what we're putting down and you can't tell how excited we are, we hated it. We just put the cards on the table. Ryan, do you think that Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is a game of the year contender?

I think it is absolutely maybe top top two. I mean something like something's got a real if GTA six comes out and it's just an absolute banger which is going to be hard to believe like with the anticipation of it like I don't I don't see anything beating this honestly like it's such a good game. Dude, I will I will say this. I think that if this game does not get nominated for game of the year, there is absolutely something wrong with the, the gaming industry as a whole, dude. Oh, this is, this is one of the most masterful games that I have come across

in a very, very long time. No, it's, it's next level. There's, um, there's something, uh, you know, you have to take account when, when something this special comes across. And, and I think this just, man, this hit, this hit all those markers to where. It's it's unique. It's beautiful. It has, uh, uh, intrigue it's it's dark, but it's also happy.

Like it hits everything. Like there's nothing that it doesn't do, you know? So like, there's no reason that it's not happy like it hits everything like there's nothing that it doesn't do you know, so like there's no reason that it's not in that category like at all. I can't imagine it's not dude like and I'll go so far as to say I think it has an insanely good chance of actually winning game of the year. I know it's only February. We got a lot of games coming. But I mean, we've been gaming a long time. A game like this does not come around often. And I mean, it's like that there is something absolutely

special about this. So people are going, OK, OK, but I've heard people say they don't like this game or they don't like this thing. So let's be honest. I do think that this game may not be for everybody. And I do think that there are parts of this game that maybe would be off putting to some people.

So what doesn't work in this game for you? Oh man. So, Because you said you wanted this moment, Ryan, earlier. I do. So there's a few things. I think, and it's hard because it's part of, it's part of that immersion, part of that real world thing. There's, there's two interactions that come to mind.

One is with that lady, um, out in the forest. Yeah. And then another alchemist that you meet kind of early on alchemist you meet early on. And then another is, uh, with the Lord of Samin where, um, you're, you're helping with the task and then you're riding back to town and stuff. So two things where you can do everything right and then you just make a little simple, small wrong choice and it just is detrimental to your gameplay and you could lose a lot of time if you haven't saved, which is another factor that I have an issue with. So with the lady, I'm just throwing this out, spoilers or not, you can turn it off if you want for like three seconds, but you, you go out there, you do a bunch of stuff for her and you actually have a bed in this house.

And I slept in the wrong bed instead of my own bed. I slept in her bed and I wake up and she's over me yelling guards. I'm going to get the guards. And then I had to pay her money, which I didn't have I'm a schlub. I got I barely got clothes on and and she's like you have to pay me blah blah blah You know if you want this to go away and I didn't have any money So then she just takes off running down the street and she's gonna go tell the guards and I'm like, this is ridiculous You know, I slept in the wrong bed. Give me a warning or something. Hey, you can't sleep in my bed

You know that wouldn slept in the wrong bed. Give me a warning or something. Hey, you can't sleep in my bed. You know, that wouldn't make sense to me. Additionally, with, with the, the quest with the Lord Samin, um, I was writing back from the cart. Okay, this is your stop, Henry hop on out and go tell them blah, blah, blah. You know, but I, I hopped out immediately instead of waited for that prompt. And so then when I talked to them, they, they didn't have a quest prompt for me. So I talked to him, he's like, bugger off. He's like, to hell with you.

You didn't want to help us. And I'm like, what are you talking about? We just killed a bunch of bandits. You know, what are you doing? You know? And so something as simple as that is when you do just a small mistake is so punishing, is very frustrating as a player.

I understand there's a lot of factors that go in and it's maybe just a me thing, but like to have something that simple to where you just did something so small and it'd be that punishing that's really hard for me to take to when you lose like an hour of gameplay or something like that because, because of that. Yeah, I am with you a hundred percent. I slept in the exact same wrong bed that you did and I got arrested. And actually at that point I was like, screw this dude. And I just tried to fight the guard instead.

And then I got whooped cause you know, he's a guard, but thankfully I had, uh, I had actually saved it like right before then. So one of the things that I will complain about, and again, this does fall into the immersion. So it's like, it's kind of a pro and a con is that you cannot just quick save in this game. And you have to sleep in your bed to be able to save or you have to brew these things called savior schnapps,

which if you drink it, it kind of, it will save the game for you. But they're not the easiest thing in the world to brew initially. I get that later on, it gets a little bit easier to have these. But in the beginning, when you're really struggling,

you can't save very often. And I absolutely lost an hour and a half of gameplay because I had gone on this big long quest, and I didn't sleep, and I died to something completely stupid. And then I lost 90 minutes worth of gameplay. And I was like, dude, this sucks. Like, let me just save the game at that point. So the same system, I get it.

It's immersive in a way, and it definitely makes you consider your choices. And you can't just save scrub when you're trying to rob somebody's house or pick somebody's pocket. So it really does make you question your choices. And the decisions that you make, but at the same time, it can absolutely lead to frustration. We have heard a few stories from people where they were fast traveling after a long quest, just trying to get back to the

town so that they could sleep in their bed. They got ambushed by bandits along the way. They died and they lost an hour's worth of gameplay. Yeah. You know, and that is just frustrating. There's no, there's no other way around it. It's just frustrating There's I don't I don't I don't understand it. I don't see the benefit in it. That's that's developers And I know Andre's our best friend But that's developers trying to tell you how you need to play their game Like I'm gonna play the game how I want to play if I want to save scrub like let me say scrub like that's not

That's not for you to tell me that. This is one thing that always frustrates me because I was one of those that lost. I spent an hour and a half brewing potions, getting all set up, started my alchemy empire and I was like all right I'm gonna go save now. So I went to fast travel to this area to run down to my bed and on the way you know oh you encountered these you know, do you want to talk to them or not? And then I'm like, well, no, I'm going to run. It's like, Oh, failed. And then they just kill me in three swipes. And then I lost all that, all that progress that that's enough to

get someone to quit a game. Like honestly, somebody who doesn't have a lot of time or doesn't do this, you know, as much as we do that'll get somebody to quit a game. So, and like you said, like the ability to get those, those saver, savior snops, you know, later on, like they're not expensive down the road. Once you get some money, so you can just pack them up and it's not a big thing. So why make it so hard in the beginning, when you're trying to learn this game, you're trying to learn this world, why would you make it so hard for people to continue, you know, if they can't dedicate four straight hours or five straight hours, you know?

So that's one thing I will never back off of that. I hate, I hate managing saves. Let me save in the middle of a swing. Like I don't care. I want to save when I want to save. It's a game for a reason. I'm not trying to, you know, I don't know I I'm thinking about it and I'm all I'm all frustrated I'm just thinking about that lady running and then like and Telling me because I slept in the wrong bed and you just got done helping her like saving her daughter I just saved her daughter and then she's like you slept in the wrong bed. I'm gonna get the cops, you know

Yeah This is the problem with having these systems where there's laws involved, but the games are quite smart enough to know that you just help. So she's going to be nice to you. So the other thing that I will bring up, and I think this is absolutely a valid concern for people is this game is slow paced. Yes, like it is not an action game. When you are traveling, you are walking or riding a horse.

And even then, a lot of times it's just it's just going from one place to the other. Now the world's beautiful and things can happen along the way, but you know, combat slow and methodical, uh, you know, the day cycle, slow and methodical, um, some of the quests, you know, they're not all super intriguing. Like one of them might be just, you know, leading a sheep somewhere to help somebody out, you know, that kind of thing. And so this is very much a sim type game, like medieval simulator, I think is somewhat accurate.

And so if you are thinking that you are gonna get into this very high paced action oriented game with really deep quests and stuff, that's not what this game is. Like honestly, I think there is huge payoff for experiencing this game, but you have to understand what you're going into. And that is that this is just a slow paced,

methodical game, very, very memorable stuff. But if you, you kind of have to just expect like it's slower paced, you know, there's, there's talking to people, there's going from point A to point B. There might be a moment of like chaos, but that's usually the exception, you know, instead of like the way this game just plays.

So I was worried because I don't like Sim type games that this would put me off. It absolutely did not put me off. I can see how masterful this game is, but I get that it could be off-putting to a lot of people where they're like, this game's just kind of slow, man. For sure. Yeah.

If you're not expecting that, I think it could be jarring for people. To me, it was the most accurate sim-like game that didn't feel like a sim-like game. Exactly. Yeah, I mean, I don't like sims. Yeah. And I absolutely loved this game, dude. So let's get into that. Ryan.

I let's get, I mean, let's just go to our leaderboard, dude. People know we love this game. I don't, that's no question. We don't have to explain why at this point I do want to rate this game because it deserves it. And I want people to understand the quality of this game. I know where I'm putting this. Yeah. Do you know? Do you know where you're putting it? I do. I do. I'm just going to come out and say it. I am rating this game a 9.6, dude. I am putting it, I am putting this game on the level of disco, Elysium,

divinity, original sin two, outer wilds. Uh, that's the only three games on my leaderboard that I have at a 9.6. That is slightly above Helldivers 2, Rocket League, Rust. That's not to say that those games aren't more fun to me. There is that level of like, this is an impressive video game, but fun factor-wise, maybe it's not as up there as some of these others. But there is absolutely no denying what Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is. And that is one of the most impressive video games that I've played in a very

long time, dude. I can't tell you how good this game is. I mean, from, from the little stupid brewing potions, there's a whole game within a game on how you brew potions, man. It's like lockpicking is another game within a game. The systems in this game are incredible. The quests in this game are Witcher three level quests, the immersion in this game.

I don't know that I can think of another Red Dead Redemption two is the only other game that comes to mind when we talk about levels of immersion. And I'm sorry, but when you start comparing a game to the Witcher three and Red Dead Redemption two, there is some kind of magic there that is just hard to capture and they freaking did it dude. They absolutely did it. 9.6 for me. This is an all-timer type of video game dude. Yeah, I am right up there with you. This is an absolute must play. I had put mine just a tick below you. I'm coming in at 9.5. Um, that is,

that's equal for you. That's equal to cyber punk, 2077 and hell divers too. Metal gear solid five. And that's it on your list, dude. Yeah. I got a war, right. And the rocket 9.6, like it's, it's right up there. Like I have not played a game that, that the immersion was this much, you know, to where I just lost myself. I mean, even more. And I'm Skyrim's in my top 10. I think it's number three. I felt more attached to this world than I did to Skyrim. Yeah, like I fully understand that. That's. That's what this game meant to me. I am, I mean, this episode releases in a few days or whatever, I was probably supposed to start

Avowed a couple of days ago. I saw you playing. I wasn't joking on the intro where I saw you playing before recording. I have not even downloaded Avowed. I have still been on Kingdom Come. I don't know how I'm going to get off and go play avowed now. He's going to have to pry it from my cold dead fingers, I guess. It's just, it is a game that is something

special. I genuinely think it's way up there for game of the Year and and it's an all-timer man I cannot wait I I will personally say I don't know if Josh is gonna play it again he's not one to come back and revisit games but I I will get more than a hundred hours in this game and after that I will come back and do a full-on deep dive on this you know however I, you know, and just like a bonus episode or whatever, but there is, there's so much more to cover that I want to talk about. And, uh, I can't wait to do it, man. So it's going to be hard.

It's going to be hard to get away, but, uh, yeah, 9.5 for me is it is up there. Absolutely. No questions asked. You have to play this game. Yeah. I, I can't, I mean, that's just our scores say it, dude. I mean, we're, we're comparing this game to cyber punk, to Witcher, to red dead. I mean, it, and honestly, it belongs there. This is not recency bias. I've been playing a valid for the last couple of days, you know,

and we're going to cover that. So this is not like, Oh, well, you know, you guys just got done playing this kind of thing. This is just how good this game is. Now, I will say, I don't think it's for everybody. I do think that there are a lot of people out there that would go, I found it boring. It was too slow. That's a valid criticism.

I don't like sim games. I've said that five times this episode. But I love this game because it does enough to not make it feel like a sim game to me. So if you're the kind of person where you love immersion, you love this living world, you love feeling like you are the character, this is an absolute must play this game. It will a hundred percent be in the game of the year contention in my opinion. I can't imagine a water where it's not. And so if you're one of those people where you go, well, I need to know what the game of the year contenders like,

play this game. The fact that the devs are super cool and this is technically an indie game, play this game. I mean, I don't know what more we can say on that. So that's all we're going to say because we're running long and we'll just keep gushing about this game for the next 20 minutes. So, oh man, I freaking, this game's so good, dude.

Oh my goodness. So good. So, all right. I guess I gotta go download a vowed. Yeah, you do need to start playing it. It's, it's, it's a shorter game about like, I think it's like 25 hours, dude. You could blow through that in like a week. And then get back to get back to work. And for people, we do have some people asking, we are going to cover a valid and then we're going to cover split fiction. That's all we know because we're not planners at this point. We might come back to kingdom come deliverance too. After that, who knows? Um, but yeah, do yourself a favor and experience this because there are very, very few video games that are like it. So, um, if you enjoyed this episode, please

take a second to follow the podcast in your podcast app. Make sure you click that follow button. Make sure you click that plus button, whatever it is that say, Hey, I want your episodes the day that they release. That really helps us out. If you haven't done so already, please take a second to rate us five stars in Spotify and on Apple as well.

If you're on Apple, you can leave a written review. We usually read those on the show, but we knew we were going along on this one. And if you love what we do, if you want to support this, if you want to keep this kind of content going, if you, like I said, if you have found enjoyment in what we do, please think about supporting the show. It really does mean the world to us. It keeps this podcast going,

and it helps us do things like some of these charity drives that we've been doing lately, paying for games like Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 and stuff like that. You can do that at multiplayersquad.com and we'll give you a shout out and we honestly really do appreciate it as well. So that's it for this episode, Ryan. We didn't do too bad, you know, and a little over an hour 10, whatever. You know? No big deal. Until next time, everybody, happy gaming. No, you don't understand.

It wasn't me. It wasn't me. Get in the pillory. See ya.