Unforgivably so, Kingdom Come: Deliverance is and always has been the kind of RPG that wants players to earn—through blood, sweat, and tears—everything they get. They have to learn to read and swing a sword, keep their clothes clean, manage their appetites, and accept the consequences of whatever horrible idea they committed five minutes before realizing they probably should have snuck in a Savior schnapps first. For some players, this has proven to be a problem, but for others, that's exactly why Kingdom Come: Deliverance is so good.
Ultimately, that's why Kingdom Come: Deliverance – The Board Game feels like one of the smartest possible ways to take the series into uncharted territory while neglecting to apologize for that “problem”, as some would see it. A board game adaptation of an RPG as complex as Kingdom Come: Deliverance might sound like a logistical nightmare at first, especially when that RPG is already known for making players actually use their brains for things that most other modern games are more than happy to automate. However, Kingdom Come: DeliveranceIts most annoying strength has always been its commitment to its immediate inaccessibility, and a tabletop game is arguably the perfect place to double that strength.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance's persistence makes even more sense on the table
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Image via Warhorse Studios -
Image via Warhorse Studios -
Image via Warhorse Studios
Kingdom Come: DeliveranceIts most iconic trait is undoubtedly its tenacity. Essentially, it uses what some might term gameplay annoyances to fully immerse players in its authentic world. Hunger, reputation, clothing, skill development, crime, gear, sleep, and social status aren't gameplay gimmicks or chores so much as they're a genuine part of a world intentionally designed to constantly resist players. By doing so, Kingdom Come: Deliverance grounds players in the story rather than just using the story as a backdrop, which in turn allows for a much more immersive experience than it could have been without that opposition.
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Anyone who has tried Kingdom Come: Deliverance and bounced probably feel the sense of admiring what it's trying to do while wishing it would get out of the way, while many others have embraced that direction as what the series does best. For many players and for Warhorse themselves, Kingdom Come: DeliveranceThe tenacity of its stubbornness is exactly what sets it apart in a vast sea of modern RPGs that all do the same thing and commit to the powerful fantasy trope that started showing its age years ago. Now, Kingdom Come: Deliverance – The Board Game doesn't seem at all interested in running away from the video game franchise's reputation, instead embracing it with open arms, as it should.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance – The Board Game is an epic adventure with Euro elements, deck building, card-based skill tests, hero progression over five in-game days, side quests, various encounters, and replayable town stories. It's already enough writing down as it is, but translating all of this into a board game where the players actually have to put in the work is something else entirely, albeit very on-brand for the franchise regardless. This is not just one Kingdom Come: Deliverance game with a few swords and dice thrown in, but a completely hands-on experience where the series' love of choice and consequence is now in a format where those choices and consequences have to be physically dealt with rather than simply chosen from a list of dialogue options.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance – The board game brings the complexity of the series to the point
One of the easiest ways for a board game adaptation to fail is to treat the source material as nothing more than a bonus item to go along with the game – a glorified booster pack, if you will. Too many board game adaptations have done little more than put a famous map on the board, add some recognizable names, create some generic battle cards, and hope that fans find enough value in it to buy and play it instead of the video game it's based on. However, Kingdom Come: Deliverance – The Board Game seems much more interested in turning the series' iconic identity into actual systems that players can manipulate on a table.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance – Board Game Key Features
- 1-4 PLAYERSwith full solo support
- COMPETITION STRUCTURE without player-versus-player combat
- FIVE DAYS IN GAME which ends with the player with the highest score winning
- TIRE BUILDINGhand handling, assignment and area movement
- MULTI-USE CARD for actions such as hunting, stealing, fighting and picking herbs
- SKILL TEST shaped by the cards that players build into their decks
- TEN STORYLINESincluding an introductory scenario
- MORE THAN 700 CARDS200 plus Wooden Tokens, Side Quests, Encounters, Items, Wounds, Enemies, Herbs, Horses and Awakening Tracks
- NO MANDATORY APPwhich makes the whole thing a completely analogue tabletop experience
While it might not seem like it at first, the decision to keep the board game separate from an app is actually a very important detail to consider here. There was one before Kingdom Come board game project several years ago with an app-powered cooperative RPG pitch, but this new version is described as a completely new game built from the ground up by Czech Games Edition. Going all analog gives this version a stronger reason to exist, and if the point is to bring Kingdom Come: Deliverances complexity to the tabletop in a genuine way, then it makes perfect sense to ask the players to put away the screen.
The card system also sounds like the right call too. One of Kingdom Come: Deliverances best features are its The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion-like progression, which sees Henry getting better, stronger by doing. As players continue to talk, fight, sneak around, read, and simply survive, Henry's skills naturally improve over time. Kingdom Come: Deliverance – The Board Game seems to follow the same idea by building decks, where players gain experience and then spend it on new skill cards. Players who want to be thieves can build against it, those who want to rely on persuasion can do the same, or players who'd rather just solve everything by swinging a sword around can make a mess and call it strategy.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance – The Board Game doesn't seem at all interested in running away from the video game franchise's reputation, instead embracing it with open arms, as it should.
Of course, in addition to specific features like these, the idea of playing Kingdom Come: Deliverance with almost no automation is the real reason why this very interesting customization is worth paying attention to. For some players, Kingdom Comes complexity can be exhausting in a video game because they feel that the game space is meant to be a place where they can escape rather than a place where they have to work. In fact, some players even called Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 too difficult for that reason. But when you put Kingdom Come: Deliverance on the table in the form of a board game, that the complexity makes sense and is therefore expected.
For fans of Warhorse Studios' medieval RPG series, Kingdom Come: Deliverance – The Board Game may become one of the clearest expressions of what the series does best, despite individual opinions. It takes the part that some may find annoying, the part where every little thing has to be considered, and gives it a format where every little thing is meant to be considered. Kingdom Come: Deliverance has never been at its best when it comes to making life easy. Rather, it is at its best when it makes life difficult in a way that eventually starts to pay off when you sweat a little.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance – The Board Game is currently available for pre-order on Czech Games' official website.
- Released
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February 13, 2018
- ESRB
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M for Adults 17+ due to blood and gore, intense violence, nudity, strong language, strong sexual content, use of alcohol
- Developer
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Warhorse Studios
