I am nonetheless not sick in any respect of galavanting round Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2’s idyllic Bohemian countryside even after the greater than 100 hours I logged in February. So I used to be delighted to be given a cause to return to it with the primary story DLC, Brushes With Death. I used to be greeted with extra of the robust dialogue writing and open-ended adventuring I’ve come to anticipate, so I’m not overly disillusioned. However I wasn’t wowed, both. The substance of this low-stakes story managed to maintain me entertained, but it surely does not stand particularly robust by itself performed outdoors the grand framework of the primary marketing campaign.
You can begin the DLC quest as early as the top of Act 1, when Henry’s destiny turns into intertwined with that of the eccentric and enigmatic painter Voyta. However I selected as an alternative to load up an endgame save, selecting up proper within the wake of KCD2’s climactic capstone occasions, and I feel this can be a lower than superb method to expertise Brushes With Death. However it’s the approach I think these of us most looking forward to extra medieval Czech adventuring will see it for the primary time, as a result of who desires to go rooting round their previous saves in search of simply the best spot?
For one factor, particularly for those who’ve already resolved the primary marketing campaign’s battle, there isn’t a lot on the road right here to make it really feel prefer it issues. All the base sport’s greatest facet quests, together with those that I do assume may stand on their very own higher than this one, benefitted from being carried on the present of those sweeping, historic, life-altering occasions occurring throughout them.
It is not that Voyta’s plight lacks intrigue or payoffs. It is extra that it comes throughout as a filler episode when the very last thing I bear in mind doing was confronting a military and having a cathartic emotional reckoning with the Henry I had created. And the put up-most important quest world does not all the time really feel prefer it’s reacted as a lot as I would wish to the occasions which have taken place. There are specific areas the brand new quest despatched me that should not actually be accessible to me at this level for main plot causes I do not need to spoil.
(*2*)It took round 12 hours, and you possibly can most likely knock it out deal faster.
The pacing, additionally, is just a bit bit odd when taking part in by way of it in a straight shot with no different distractions like going out of my method to uncover extra of the map or discovering a complete new settlement. It took me round 12 hours, and you possibly can most likely knock it out deal faster for those who do not imagine, like I do, that indulging within the temptation of quick journey is without doubt one of the seven lethal sins of open-world RPGs. Working by way of these goals feels slightly plodding at occasions, and there are a number of too many quest steps that merely require you to trip someplace and get an merchandise or discuss to a man. That may not have been as a lot of a problem if I hadn’t already completed all the things else, so there isn’t any extra risk of getting caught up in a totally unrelated, surprising journey alongside the best way. These moments have been an enormous a part of Kingdom Come’s appeal.
However let’s faux that wasn’t a priority. If I have been evaluating this story to what I’d contemplate the very best facet quests within the base sport, it might be close to the highest when it comes to scope, and doubtless above common when it comes to writing. The actor voicing Voyta lends a number of character and power to the proceedings, too. Alternatively, when it comes to the creativity within the quest design and the number of actions Henry will get to have interaction in, it is actually simply ample. And going at it with an endgame character decked out in costly gear, all the fights aside from the final one felt fairly trivial. Even the one satisfyingly robust boss did not really feel like he bought an acceptable lead-up or climactic backdrop becoming for his place. It is simply one other skirmish in some random spot within the forest.
There is not something right here as memorable or intelligent because the Mouth of Hell or Fifth Commandment quest chains from vanilla KCD2. There aren’t any coronary heart-pounding moments of motion or drama to compete with these of the primary quest. It does current Henry with some nuanced selections that may have a notable influence on how issues wrap up, although, and a secret achievement I bought for getting Voyta to inform me greater than he initially needed to – I gained’t let you know how – hinted to me that he may not be so forthcoming if I had performed issues otherwise. That is cool, as a result of I felt rewarded for speaking him into decreasing his defenses. However even then, the friendship that developed between him and Henry appeared rushed and unearned when all of those quests are performed again to again with no likelihood to mirror on their character improvement.
The opposite neat factor this DLC provides aside from a brand new storyline – and one thing you’ll have to recollect it by for those who’re transferring on to different issues on the planet – is the power to get Voyta to color your shields. It is a welcome little little bit of customization and medieval aptitude that provides to the sensation I am creating a brand new legacy for Henry, not merely following the orders of some pampered lords. I just like the interval-impressed designs and coloration schemes fairly a bit, and it is particularly satisfying that you may unlock a number of new designs based mostly in your exploits from finishing particular quests.
Once more, I feel I’d have reacted to Brushes With Death far more favorably if it had been one a part of a brand new playthrough moderately than a late addition I used to be returning to months later. Its relationships would have had extra time to brew. I’d have spent extra time pondering its mysteries whereas I used to be out exploring within the forest or getting distracted by different quests. And its conclusion may need felt extra satisfying if it did not need to comply with the entire present-stopper that was the final a number of hours of the primary story. However as an alternative of it serving as a pleasant little seasoning to a 3-course meal, I used to be simply emptying your entire pepper shaker into my mouth after cleansing my plate.
I do even have to say that this patch launched a brand new graphical bug for me that was fairly persistent and distracting. Particularly in and round castles and cities, complete buildings and rock formations would flicker out of existence as increased element variations loaded in. I am taking part in this on the very same {hardware} I used for the bottom sport (RTX 4070 Tremendous, Ryzen 7 3700X, 32 GB of RAM, and a SATA SSD), with the newest Nvidia drivers, and I’ve by no means seen this earlier than I loaded up Brushes With Death. Attempt as I’d, I could not discover any mixture of graphics settings that may do away with it. Hopefully it will get mounted quickly. However I can solely let you know about my expertise, and it was undoubtedly affected by these unlucky, novel tech points.