Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is a 2025 action role-playing game developed by Warhorse Studios and published by Deep Silver. The sequel to Kingdom Come: Deliverance (2018), the game was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on 4 February 2025. The game received generally favorable reviews from critics and sold two million copies within two weeks of release.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is an open-world action role-playing game in which the protagonist is controlled from a first-person perspective. The game world is twice as large as that of Kingdom Come: Deliverance; whereas the latter features a single connected world, the former encompasses two larger, freely explorable areas.^[1] Missions and objectives are able to be managed in different ways, with NPCs and communities reacting respectively.^[1][2] In turn, the reactions to the player character influence his daily life and character development.^[3] The three skills Oratory, Charisma and Intimidation, that were applicable in dialogues with NPCs in the first game have been supplemented by Appearance, Coercion and Dominate.^[4] The game features crossbows and early forms of firearms.^[1] The former can also be fired while riding.^[2]

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II takes place in the year 1403^[1] in the Kingdom of Bohemia, then part of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown and of the Holy Roman Empire, in what is now the Czech Republic. It features both the cultural landscape of Bohemian Paradise, and the city of Kutná Hora^[a] and its surroundings.^[1] The game reflects Kutná Hora's status in the late Middle Ages as the second largest city in Bohemia after Prague, and one of the richest economic centers in the country due to silver mining and coinage.^[2]

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II directly follows on from the end of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, and takes place in the "turmoil of a civil war", where Wenceslaus IV fights against the invading Sigismund, King of Hungary and Croatia and his allies.^[5] It concludes Henry's story.^[6]

The protagonist is Henry of Skalitz (Tom McKay), a man-at-arms in service of Sir Radzig Kobyla (Michael Pitthan), his biological father. Henry leads a resistance in favor of the imprisoned King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Wenceslaus IV, against the usurper King Sigismund of Luxembourg (George Lenz). In addition to his role as an envoy to Radzig, Henry seeks personal revenge against Sigismund and his emissaries for killing his mother and foster father. Henry is joined in his journey by the nobleman Sir Hans Capon of Pirkstein (Luke Dale). Sir Istvan Toth (Logan Hillier), the main antagonist of the first game, and King Sigismund are also present in the sequel. Several other characters from Kingdom Come: Deliverance make appearances, including parish priest Father Godwin (Euan Macnaughton) and the lord Hanush of Leipa (Peter Hosking, Daniel Vávra).^[7][8]

Sir Hans Capon, Henry, and an entourage travel from Rattay to Trosky Castle to question Otto von Bergow on his allegiance to King Sigismund. As the group camps, they are attacked and robbed by bandits. Henry and Capon escape and later arrive at Trosky Castle; they are denied entry when they are unable to prove their identities. At a nearby tavern, Capon starts a brawl and blames Henry for the incident; the two fall out and Capon leaves.

Henry learns that Bergow will attend a wedding in the village of Semine. Bergow never arrives, and the groom, Olda Semine, secretly leaves. Henry meets Capon and they reconcile. A brawl breaks out, and Henry and Capon are imprisoned in Trosky Castle, with Capon sentenced to die for poaching. Bergow arrives before he can be executed, and Capon is released. He delivers the message, but Bergow fails to explain his allegiances and assigns Henry and Capon to help repress localized banditry.

The two enlist soldiers from fortress Nebakov. A captive bandit at Trosky Castle can reveal that Olda Semine is in league with the bandits, who have covertly taken over Nebakov. If the player chooses for Henry to reveals Semine's betrayal to Bergow, he is tasked with confronting Semine; Henry can then side with Semine or let him die. In either case, Bergow musters a force to retake Nebakov, but they fail and Henry and Capon are taken prisoner. Lords Hanush of Leipa and Radzig Kobyla, Henry's father, send Father Godwin to locate Henry and Capon. The bandit leader Jan Zizka, who is revealed to oppose Sigismund, frees them after Godwin helps suppress a rebellion by Bergow's spy, Istvan Toth.

Nebakov is assaulted by a force led by Bergow, Toth and Markvart von Aulitz. Henry, Godwin, and Zizka are imprisoned at Trosky Castle, while Capon is held for ransom. They are released by Katherine, a cook in league with Zizka. Henry discovers that Sigismund plots to kill his enemies, including John II of Liechtenstein. Henry encounters and kills Toth, recovering the sword Henry's foster-father, Martin, made for Kobyla. The group escapes through underground tunnels; Henry, Zizka, and Katherine flee to Kuttenberg, while Godwin returns to Kobyla and Hanush.

At Suchdol, Margrave Jobst warns Henry's group to refrain from banditry as he has negotiated a truce with Sigismund. Henry and Katherine find Liechtenstein in Kuttenberg's Jewish quarter, safeguarded by vigilante Samuel. Henry warns Liechtenstein about Sigismund and learns Capon is held at Bergow's Maleshov castle. Henry and Zizka recruit from an anti-Sigismund mercenary group led by "Dry Devil". They infiltrate Maleshov and rescue Capon and prisoner Vaquelin Brabant. Henry and Capon encounter Kobyla, Hanush, and Godwin travelling to a meeting of loyalist lords in Raborsch, and informed about Sigismund's presence at an upcoming Kuttenberg council meeting.

Henry infiltrates the meeting and witnesses Sigismund and Aulitz ordering a pogrom against Kuttenberg's Jews. He hurries to Raborsch, where the lords' meeting is attacked by a force led by Bergow; they are repelled but the lords are captured. At Kuttenberg, Henry helps Samuel escort the Jews from the city, learning he is the bastard son of Martin.

The group plan to capture Bergow as leverage to free the lords. Using mercenaries hired by Brabant and a stolen bombard, they storm Maleshov and capture Bergow. He believes that Sigismund's position in Bohemia is unsustainable, and suggests that robbing his silver reserves held at his Kuttenberg royal residence—which also holds the lords—would force him to leave. While some of the party masquerade as papal legate as a distraction, the rest traverse Kuttenberg's mines to access the silver and rescue the lords. They succeed, but Brabant and his mercenaries attempt to take the silver; in the ensuing scuffle, Brabant escapes.

Henry's group flees to Suchdol castle, and Sigismund and his army leave Bohemia. A force led by Aulitz, Bergow, and Brabant besiege Suchdol, and Aulitz is mortally wounded by Dry Devil. Henry leaves to bring help from Jobst, Hanush and Kobyla. He returns with reinforcements, and they repel the attackers. In the epilogue, Henry is visited by an apparition of his mother and Martin, and Kobyla offers him his sword.

The player's choices influence the game's ending. If Henry performs acts of virtue, Henry's parents express their pride and depart into the afterlife. If Henry is more ruthless, Henry's parents reproach him. Henry can also choose to become an adventurer or a soldier and accepts Kobyla's sword. Alternatively, Henry can decline the sword, and retire as a villager in Rattay or burgher in Kuttenberg, in which he settles down with one of three love interests. In a secret ending, if Henry has not pursued any love interest and stayed chaste, he retires to Rattay and reunites with his love interest, Theresa.

In post credit scenes, Dry Devil blinds Zizka in one eye while trying to shoot an apple from his head. In a flashback, Sigismund is informed about the theft of the silver, and angrily trashes his chamber before ordering the withdrawal to Hungary.

Development on Kingdom Come: Deliverance II began in July 2019, following the release of Kingdom Come: Deliverance and its downloadable content.^[9] While Warhorse Studios had 131 employees in 2019,^[10] it had grown to around 250 people by spring 2024 at the latest.^[2][11] Warhorse Studios wanted Kingdom Come: Deliverance II to be the game that Kingdom Come: Deliverance was supposed to be with their improved resources and experience.^[9] The game uses a heavily-customized version of the CryEngine,^[11][6] with music composed by Czech composers Jan Valta^[2] and Adam Sporka.^[12] The expertise of various historians, universities and museums was again drawn on to represent a "realistic, immersive and believable medieval world".^[13] Unlike the development of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, the motion capture was supplemented by facial capture.^[14] Stunt riders also took part in the development of Kingdom Come Deliverance II.^[14] The protagonist, Henry, is again portrayed by the British actor Tom McKay.^[14] Lead developer Daniel Vávra stated that the game's script has 2.2 million words.^[15] The script of the previous record holder, Baldur's Gate 3, contains around two million words, according to Guinness World Records.^[16]

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II was announced and revealed in April 2024 in a recorded video set in St. Barbara's Church, Kutná Hora. The game was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on 4 February 2025.^[9][17][18] It was available in three retail versions: in addition to the base Standard Edition, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is available as a Gold Edition and Collector's Edition. The Gold Edition contains three Downloadable content (DLC)s planned for release at a later date, equipment for the protagonist, and bonus content called "Shields of Seasons Passing". Both the Standard Edition and the Gold Edition are available via digital download and as a physical edition. The Collector's Edition includes all the content of the Gold Edition and is supplemented by several physical items. All pre-orderers receive a bonus quest, "The Lion Crest".^[19][20]

In January 2025, the Saudi Arabian outlet VGA4A reported that the game would be refused classification and consequently banned in Saudi Arabia due to the game's portrayal of same-sex relationships.^[4][12][13] Daniel Vávra denied that the game was banned in any country to their knowledge, and confirmed that players are fully responsible for their decisions regarding in-game relationships. Saudi Arabia had previously banned Final Fantasy XVI and The Last of Us Part II for similar content related reasons.^[21]

On 16 January 2025, Warhorse Studios revealed a DLC roadmap.^{[22][23][24][25]} After launch, the game would receive free improvements such as a barber feature, hardcore mode and horse racing.^[23][24][25] This would be followed along by additional paid DLC content Brushes with Death, Legacy of the Forge and Mysteria Ecclesiae over the course of 2025.^[23][24][25] The paid DLC would be included in an expansion pass called "Shields of Seasons Passing."^[23][24][25]

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to the review aggregator website Metacritic.^[26][27][28] OpenCritic determined that 97% of critics recommended the game.^[29] Critics praised Kingdom Come: Deliverance II for its immersive open-world, role-playing game mechanics, and story.^[45]

Joshua Wolens of PC Gamer likened Kingdom Come: Deliverance II to other "system-heavy" games such as The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, stating that the game is a "ludicrously ambitious and peculiar thing that somehow fulfills its ambition and peculiarity." Wolens praised the game for its varied plot lines and activities, allowing the player to play as a soldier, spy, gambler or blacksmith.^[37]

Reviewers noted that the game performed to a high level of optimization on release, with few noticeable bugs or technical issues.^[46] Brendan Lowry of Windows Central stated that "what Warhorse has built here undoubtedly stands tall as one of the most visually impressive games ever developed."^[47]

Some fans vocally objected to the inclusion of expanded same sex romance options for Henry, and the inclusion of a black character.^{[48][49][50][51]} PR manager Tobias Stolz-Zwilling stated that he felt "fed up" with being caught in the culture war, emphasising that the studio's goal was to create a "rich, immersive historically accurate experience."^[52]

On release day, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II topped the Steam top-sellers list and broke even financially. It reached a peak concurrent player count on Steam of 159,351 players, beating Kingdom Come: Deliverance by more than 60,000 players.^[53] The game broke its sixth concurrent Steam player record in as many days, peaking at 256,206 players.^[54]

The game had sold more than 1 million units on release day.^[55] On February 17, 2025, Warhorse announced that the game had sold more than 2 million copies.^[56]

Before its release, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II won Best PC Game Award at Gamescom 2024.^[57]

• Official website