Yeah..
Claiming to have worked with historians isn't the same thing as actually listening to what they tell you, as any Hollywood movie about the period can show you...

The fact of the matter is that judging by the screenshots (which, admittedly, don't tell the whole picture, but it's all I've got after all) the game appears to be as historically accurate as the average mass-media version of the Middle Ages, i.e. not at all.

Also, while the medieval combat techniques in the game may or may not be accurate (I wouldn't know, it's not my area of expertise at all, unlike history), I seriously question how the "son of a blacksmith" would know any of them. Commoners were NOT taught any kind of combat techniques, for obvious reasons, and it takes years to teach them and make for a competent swordsman. Future knights were taught from a very young age for a reason you know...

So the whole aspect of the PC being apparently a commoner, yet able to learn just about anything is already horribly inaccurate from a historical standpoint, let alone anything else.

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Kingdom Come: Deliverance. The game is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of history, medieval combat techniques and ethical philosophy most of the references will go over a typical player’s head. There’s also Henry’s nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation- his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these references, to realise that they’re not just interesting- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Kingdom Come: Deliverance truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn’t appreciate, for instance, the ramifications in Henry's famous quote of “Why does God allow such things to happen? All this slaughter and revenge, over and over?” which itself is a cryptic reference to Leibniz’s Theodicic essays. I’m smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Warhorse Studios' genius wit unfolds itself on their computer monitors. What fools.. how I pity them. LOL.

And yes, by the way, i DO have a Kingdom Come: Deliverance tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It’s for the ladies’ eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they’re within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand. Nothin personnel kid. (⌐■_■)

Really no game is, even those game which try so hard to water themselves down so they can be.
The weird part to me is how much energy people devote to saying "I will not buy this game!" rather than just not buying the game and spending energy on playing games they do enjoy.

Talking about not buying a game because of poor business pratices attached to it (EA comes to mind for one) I get.
Answering questions posed directly to you (say by a friend) I understand.
Writing a review of a game you've played through I can also follow.
But writing a "review" or summery of a game you haven't played and don't intend to buy (because it's not your style of game) is really perplexing behavior.

I'm beginning to think that some folks are forgetting that this is first and foremost a game, and as such needs to portray things in such a way as to be fun.

If that was directed at me, I don't actually care that much whether it's historically accurate. If the game is good, I'll buy it anyway, if not I won't.

The only reason I mentioned it is because some people seemed to make a big deal about the fact that it was an accurate historical setting, at which point I pointed out several inaccuracies (judging from the screenshots and the story blurb on the game's page). And the only reason I did that is that people pretending something is accurate or factual when it actually isn't (Dan Brown, looking at you...) is a pet peeve of mine.

But obviously whether soldiers wear plate instead of more historically appropriate armors won't actually affect my enjoyment of the game (or anyone else's, I hope).

It be fair it's vastly more historically accurate than say Skyrim or Baldur's Gate, and as any historian worth their salt will readily tell you original sources can only tell us so much about what was happening in any given time or place so even acedemic works on historical topics are faced with gaps as well as the native strugle with bias any human has when viwing anytthing.

To be sure it's a game and there are aspects in the game that 'short-cut' reality or make some things easier, the developers say as much in their own videos about the development process.
But there's still very much a sliding scale, historical fiction in books like Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe books are much more accurate than say George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books which in turn seem to draw more heavily from history than something like Dragonlance.

Unless we gain access to a device like the one written about in Michael Crichton's Timeline nothing we have game or book, for fun or education, will be completely historically accurate, but a mediveal setting without dragons, demons, and throwing lightning from ones finger tips will likely remain vastly more accurate than ones that include such things even if the PC gets to pick up new skills faster, or make money easier, than most people then or now tend to be able to.

I recommend the latest videos on the Warhorse Studios Youtube channel if you can spare the time, they're very informative.

That's quite typical in historical fiction. Richard Sharpe for example is an early 19th century commoner in the British army who ends up saving Arthur Wellesley's life, and in return he's given an officer's rank - something that just wasn't done at the time. Presumably a lowborn character who advances on merit is easier to identify with. It also provides ample opportunity for class conflict, but I haven't seen anything about that in Deliverance yet aside from a few disdainful remarks from a lord or two.

Edit: Ohoho, great minds.

I think there wasn't a game forum for KC:D when the pre-order was originally announced, but there is one now: https://www.gog.com/forum/kingdom_come_deliverance#-62169991200

I actually disagree with you that fantasy settings like the Elder Scrolls or Dungeon&Dragons are less historically accurate than ones that try to be realistic.

The simple fact of the matter is that settings that are pure fantasy have nothing to do with our history and therefore whether they bear any resemblance whatsoever to an historical time period in our world is entirely irrelevant. It's fiction, plain and simple.

On the other hand, a game (or book, or movie, or whatever) who does claim to at least partly represent part of our history (whether they're alternate history, historical fiction or an actual documentary) can be judged on its accuracy. Which is probably one of the reasons game developers don't use that kind of setting more often, since proper research takes time (and therefore money).


And while I agree that there are time periods where historians are reduced to little more than conjecture when it comes to historical facts or how the people of said times lived, I don't think early 15th century is really one of those times, at least in Europe. There were plenty of people who kept records at that point, from monks to Italian bankers to actual historians, and Bohemia was an important enough country at the time that we should be able to have a good idea how people lived there.

Basically .... Witcher 3, minus the magic?

It also has an angle based combat system similar to perhaps Absolver or For Honor.

That's one perspective, and you are entitled to it of course, but you are right we very much disagree on this point.

There certainly are times where more and less records were created (and survived) but even in the times where there are many making certain that you've followed a thread which has solid backing and that such backing isn't distorted by contemporary bias (either theirs or ours) or outright misrepresentation (revisionist history has been around at least as long as Egyptian Pharaohs), is another thing again.
My dear friend, who is currently finishing his post graduate studies in history, has very firmly educated me during our semi-frequent discussions of history and culture, that making statements which are either too unequivocal or too confident is very likely to mean that you are making statements about history which are in some manner unreliable.
I don't claim to be an expert in the field by any means (I dabble here and there but am no professional) but when someone I trust who is a practitioner of the field tells me something I do tend to take them at their word.

That aside a lot of this seems to revolve once more around the our simple difference in perspective about the accuracy of a setting. To me a setting which is more like the historical context is more historically accurate than a pure fantasy setting which makes no effort to contain historical representation, but again from my perspective this is all on a spectrum there aren't really any binary answers to be found here (well, okay, something set in the future isn't historical... unless it's A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.... then maybe ;) ).

Basically .... Witcher 3, minus the creeping feeling of dread as you open gog on a Monday afternoon only to find a huge banner with Geralt's frownig mug plastered all over the front page and you realise "Fuck, they have another one of those Witcher-weeks where they aggressively push some Witcher-related content. There won't be any cool new releases or interesting sales, there will be only Witcher. This week is over folks!"

This game is an open world RPG developed by team of over 100 people for 6 years, offering over 100 hours of playtime, with full voice acting and orchestral soundtrack, and you are surprised it costs normal price of new game?

The kickstarter money was just a fraction of overall budget.

This is awesome to see here.

My only worry is that the CPU requirements are pretty steep. I can run Witcher 3 just fine, not sure why this would need more...