Defining what makes a good RPG has become increasingly difficult in modern gaming, largely because the genre itself has become so loose around the edges. More and more, it seems like it doesn't take much these days for a game to claim the RPG label, whether it's due to its mechanics, dialogue system, or a simple static screen. As a result, RPGs have almost become less of a genre and more of a catch-all, applied to everything from action-adventure games to survival sims, making any meaningful discussion of what an RPG really is more difficult than it should be. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2however, was built with a much more deliberate philosophy in mind, one that developer Warhorse Studios has consistently emphasized.
Ironically, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 lost best RPG to Sandfall Interactive's Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 at the 2025 Game Awards, despite the two games being very different from each other. That result shows how broad the category has become, where games with very different priorities can be grouped under the same label. Ultimately, it's a misunderstanding of genre classification where having RPG elements is often treated as the same thing as being an RPG, and it's precisely that confusion that prompted us to ask Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 design director Viktor Bocan in a recent interview what he thinks actually defines a good RPG.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's design director believes that a good RPG is defined by freedom
To be fair, a game that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has a lot of classic RPG mechanics to support the claim of the genre's label. Its character development and customization, party system with unique characters, and narrative format are all elements the genre is known for. The problem, however, is that it pretty much skips over one of the most fundamental qualities of an RPG: freedom. Sure, there's freedom to customize each character, tons of optional activities, and even a handful of choice-making moments. But because it's designed around its story, players can only do so much.
RPGs are labeled as such because they allow for role-playing, meaning they give players the freedom to define who they are in a world and express that identity however they see fit. A true RPG is less concerned with curating a player's development and more with offering them a world that responds to their choices, whether those choices lead to success, failure, or something in between. When freedom is limited to building alternatives or shallow branching dialogue, role-playing becomes something that only happens on the surface.
But when a game allows players to approach situations creatively, fail without guardrails, and live with lasting consequences, roleplaying becomes the experience itself. That philosophy is right there Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 differs, because it treats the player's freedom as an essential characteristic – the basis of what it means to role-play in the first place. During our interview with him, Bocan echoed this sentiment:
“I personally love the sense of progression. I want my character to be created by me, and then I want to somehow evolve as the game goes on. And that's something we wanted to emphasize in both KCD1 and KCD2. We really wanted you to start at the bottom with this basic guy. Make him a blank piece of paper and let the players do whatever they want. If you want to learn how to read, don't do it. that's fine, and you can still end the game in some ways, but it might be easier on others.So this kind of progression, which gives you the ability to go wherever you want and do whatever you want with your character.
The ability to go anywhere and do anything is just what Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is proud of, and ultimately what makes it one of the purest forms of an RPG. Bocan stated during the interview that the team initially wanted to do Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2The main character Henry, special in some way, even if it was something subtle. They thought they could make him the only person in the village who could read, for example, but they finally decided that even that was too much control.
Instead, they made Henry a “blank piece of paper” that would force players to work hard if they wanted to succeed in the game while offering them unprecedented freedom in how they built him. Bocan emphasized that a standard protagonist like Henry isn't required to make a good RPG, but it allows even more room for growth than a typical power-fantasy protagonist can.
On the subject of growth, Bocan went on to explain how important it is to an RPG. While many softer RPGs may emphasize growth in a leveling or switching system that aids in combat, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 makes growth an important part of the daily experience, from learning to ride a good horse to being able to hold down alcohol and apply its effects to Henry's advantage. As Bocan said:
“I think growth is necessary. That feeling that you can actually earn something in the game. That's what an RPG is all about. It's not about having a particular role in the story or meeting people and talking to them. The most important part is the growth of the character, coming to their power and overcoming the obstacles along the way by doing something.”
What Bocan describes is not a checklist of RPG mechanics, but a mindset. A good RPG gives players room to define themselves, accepts that some will struggle or fail, and resists the urge to constantly protect them from bad decisions. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is built around that idea, treating freedom, growth, and consequences as integral parts of role-playing rather than optional systems on top. In a genre where RPG etiquette has become increasingly flexible, Bocan's philosophy is a reminder that true role-playing begins when the game stops telling players who to be.
- Released
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February 4, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+/Use of alcohol, blood and grime, sexual content, strong language, intense violence, partial nudity
- Developer
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Warhorse Studios
