Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 had a weighty task to spar with: following up on one of the most in-depth, skill-based, historically-inspired melee combat systems to ever slice its way into the RPG world. But it's no secret that it was an uphill battle just to become competent with the first game's complex directional strikes and precisely-timed blocks. Plenty of players bounced off of those demanding skill requirements. But the technical demands of the combat, and the feeling of getting better as a player, were also a huge part of what made it great.
Warhorse's goal for the sequel, then, was twofold. They wanted to lower the skill floor required to play competently – without getting your butt handed to you in a cloth sack by any random bandit – but also raise the skill ceiling required to take on the very most unforgiving optional challenges. In terms of the story, this checks out. Henry was a complete nobody in KCD1, but by the time the sequel begins, he's been an aspiring swordsman for quite a while now. It wouldn't really make sense for him to still be struggling against poorly-trained opponents.
On Your Left…
The first way this is obvious is that KCD1's five attack directions have been reduced to four: up, down, left, and right. Swords use all four, but not all weapons do. Polearms, for instance, generally only have three, which is something to consider when choosing a fighting style. KCD1 also had two different attack buttons: slash and stab. In KCD2, all basic attacks are generally slashing. Thrusts still exist as part of multi-hit combos, but only on weapons where they make sense. You won't be poking people with the tip of a blunt weapon like a mace, for instance.
Blocking can now defend you from multiple opponents, as long as they're all in front of you. And finally, the parry system feels a bit more intuitive and forgiving. Aiming your parries correctly still matters, but more so against tougher enemies. And even in that case, you'll mostly be punished for blocking in the opposite direction of their attack, rather than any direction that wasn't the correct one. That is, you don't have to get it perfect. You just have to avoid getting it completely wrong.
This all cuts down on the number of possible decisions you might have to weigh at any given moment in combat. But managing stamina, watching opponents, and making good decisions is still important. This is paired with the fact that a lot of the early-game enemies are now tuned to be Henry's martial inferiors, so you can cut your teeth on some fights where you're favored to win before taking on tougher opponents – a big change from getting beaten up by the town drunk in the first hour of KCD1.
Way of the Blade
If you've mastered the first game's combat, though, Warhorse doesn't want to leave you without new mountains to climb. The very most skilled players will find that the ceiling has been raised as well. One major focus for this change is to the master strike, a late-game ability Henry could learn that had the potential to trivialize most encounters if you got really good with it.
"In KCD1, perfect blocking and master striking was super useful and basically, if you were willing to play very defensively, you could have overcome everything with just this move," lead designer Prokop Jirsa explained. "It doesn't work like that in KCD2. There's still master strike but it's much harder to implement and there's defenses even against master strike."
Basically, the best fighters out there aren't going to fall for your master strike spam anymore. And you'll be encouraged to take a more aggressive approach, rather than sitting back and waiting for your opponent to make a mistake. You'll also need to focus more on varying up your moves and using all of the tools available to you. And that range of tools has been expanded.
Armed to the Teeth
The flashiest new additions are crossbows and guns. It's 1403, so we're talking about very primitive guns that take forever to reload and aren't accurate at all beyond a few paces. But if they're pointed the right way at close enough range, they'll do some serious damage. They have a psychological impact, too. Enemies in KCD2 will decide if it's still worth fighting based on how the fight is going and how tough they think they are. If you take out the captain with a loud boom and a flash of fire, his underlings might just head for the hills. Nobody's getting paid enough to deal with whatever that thing is.
And while the sword is still the most versatile weapon, the new combo system gives you more reason to use other melee weapons as well. One example Jirsa gave was how maces have some unique combos that can target joints or unarmored areas on a target. If you notice your foe isn't wearing any leg armor, for instance, you could specifically execute a combo that goes for the legs without having to manually aim down at them.
For those of the sneakier persuasion, stealth kills have also been improved. In KCD1, it was basically a dice roll comparing your stats to the stats of your target to see if an assassination would be successful, which could feel frustratingly random in such a skill-based game. KCD2 has changed things up to be timing-based instead. And you don't need perfect timing to do away with your opponent, necessarily. But if you're half a second off the mark, you may not pull off the kill silently, with the target's dying screams alerting nearby allies.
Murderer's Row
The other way Warhorse is aiming to keep combat interesting even for seasoned swordmasters is by dialing up the difficulty of the most challenging optional content. Simply following the main story shouldn't throw anything too wildly unfair your way. But if you're willing to go off the beaten path in search of trouble, you'll be able to find it.
"In KCD1, actually, when you got really good, the end game was really easy," Jirsa said. "This is something we improved in KCD2 as well. There are big challenges in the end game. There are some which even people from this office struggled to overcome."
So whether you got scared off from the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance the first time you got turned into sashimi by some Cumans, or you're on your third playthrough and can throw down master strikes with your eyes closed, you should find something for you in the sequel. And when all else fails, you can just bring a gun to the sword fight.
For more, stay tuned all December long as our exclusive IGN First coverage of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 continues. You should especially check out my in-depth hands-on preview for my impressions of this new combat system so far!
