Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Developers Stood Their Ground Against Negative Playtest Feedback

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With the end of 2025 approaching and all planned downloadable content released for the open-world RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Warhorse Studios has shared some insights into the game’s development. In a recent interview with GamesRadar, lead designer Prokop Jirsa discussed how they received critical feedback during playtesting, and explained that the studio remained committed to their design choices to ensure meaningful consequences for player actions.

During playtesting, some players made a mistake at the beginning of the game and were immediately arrested, which led to negative feedback. However, the development team at Warhorse Studios intentionally designed the game this way. According to creative director Tobias Jirsa, they wanted players to feel vulnerable and weak when they first started playing Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. This initial difficulty was meant to make players feel a greater sense of achievement as they improved their skills and became more powerful.

The designer explained they want players to start the game feeling very weak. This makes the feeling of becoming stronger much more rewarding and satisfying.

Look, after making the first Kingdom Come: Deliverance back in 2018 and seeing it actually do well, we at Warhorse were a little more confident facing tough feedback during playtesting. We definitely had a lot of debates, especially about how hardcore we were going with the survival stuff. People kept questioning if we were on the right track, if taking everything away from the player at the start – even their bed! – was the right move. But the success of the first game gave us the guts to stick to our vision.

The concept of challenging players with difficult games comes from titles like FromSoftware’s Dark Souls and Elden Ring. According to Jirsa, these games proved that even unique, niche titles can become incredibly popular with a bit of polish. “I really think there’s a lot of potential for fresh ideas to succeed if given the opportunity to be refined and reach a wider audience,” Jirsa explained.

Warhorse Studios has shown its challenging approach to game design was successful. They recently announced that Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 has sold 4 million copies after releasing the last piece of downloadable content, Mysteria Ecclesiae. The studio shared its gratitude to players on social media for their support.

The studio expressed immense gratitude for everyone’s support in reaching a major achievement. They specifically thanked players, fans, those who create modifications, content creators, and long-time supporters, stating that this milestone wouldn’t have been possible without them.

With the launch of Mysteria Ecclesiae, Warhorse Studios also released Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 – Royal Edition. This edition includes the full game and all downloadable content, including the story expansions Brushes With Death, Legacy of the Forge, and Mysteria Ecclesiae. It also features smaller DLC packs like The Lion’s Crest and the Gallant Huntsman’s Kit.

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2025-12-16 18:11