Major battles and castle sieges. Victor Bokan talks about new weapons and modified combat in KCD II

We had a unique opportunity to visit the Czech game studio Warhorse, where preparations are underway for the release of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. We interviewed three developers, gradually covered Kutna Hora, work in the motion capture studio and news in Russia. fight. He accepted the invitation for the third and final interview. design director Victor Bokan.

What’s your favorite weapon in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2?

I’ll be a little embarrassed because my favorite weapon is always a simple sword. In our case, a longsword because it’s held with both hands and it’s such a classic knightly weapon, if you think about a cheesy knight with a sword and shield. The long sword is the queen of weapons. But this is very unfair, because in Kingdom Come: In Deliverance 2 we tried to greatly diversify the weapons. So not only are some weapons longer and some shorter, but each one works a little differently. Each one has a slightly different animation and a slightly different feel. When I have different people with different weapons on the battlefield, I see that they are really different people. When filming the movements of the sword actors, each one held a different weapon and each had a slightly different mission. We said: you have a mace, you’re a tough guy, you knock people down, you’re skilled with a short sword and outrun opponents. You can see it in the movements and even as a player I can feel the difference. I’m slow with the mace, it’s hard to fall, but when I hit it’s worth it. The sword is a beautiful, dexterous thing that kills people with a quick attack.

The combat in the second part should be more accessible. Will it be easier?

“More accessible” is a better term than “easier.” We feel that in the first part, entering into battle was not entirely easy. This was intentional, but perhaps we went a little overboard. We wanted to show how a person who doesn’t know how to fight and never wanted to fight fights. In every RPG you usually play as a real hero, who was chosen from a young age, the judges sang to him at his bedside, at the age of six he finally got his hands on a sword and now wields it like a Jedi. We said: no, this is a country boy who cannot do this. It will be cumbersome and slow, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be fine. Part you’ll get into it after all, it took quite a long time. In the second one, we say that you play as a hero who has already finished number one, is good, has all the achievements, already knows how to wield a sword, and this makes it easier to enter. But this is just an entrance. We’ve simplified the systems for the first approach so that they don’t scare people away.

What is the transformation?

We had a five-pointed star, five attack directions, but you could actually also stab and stab at the head, so you could do seven different attacks from each stance. We wanted it to be confusing. In the second part there are only four of them – on the top, left, right and bottom there is a stub, on which we also saved a button on the gamepad or mouse. The game controls more naturally. This allowed us to get in easier and we could play with the zones a little bit. We have a new master editing technique that wasn’t done very well in the first part. This time it was created in accordance with what history’s masterpieces actually looked like. When an opponent attacks me, I can intervene with my attack, deflect his sword and hit him in addition. Since we have four zones, we tell the player: if at the moment of attack you attack from the opposite side, you will deal beautifully with the enemy. Since it’s transparent and visible, I don’t have to worry about whether the enemy is attacking from the top left or bottom right. We’ve simplified the system to make it easier to understand, but not necessarily easier to play. And all the same, if seven bandits attack me in the forest, it is better to give them money and shoes and run away than to try to start a fight with them.

Every house had a crossbow like a medieval iPhone.

How has archery changed and what does combat with a crossbow look like?

We paid a lot of attention to firearms. We all regret that we did not have time to finish the crossbow in the first part, because it was a very significant weapon at that time. It was in every home, like a medieval iPhone. To compensate for this, we made three different types of crossbows and rifles. From history we know that the Hussites were the first to massively use real firearms on the battlefield. That’s why we had to have them too, because everyone needs them. Each crossbow is handled a little differently and each has advantages and disadvantages. Archery is smoother, more enjoyable, and you can see where you’re shooting a little better. But we still don’t have a cursor, because bows didn’t have sights back then.

Did you edit the fight while on horseback?

Rather, we made it more pleasant when someone wants to do it. But it’s a really unpleasant thing, I tried it in reality. The horse moves, the man moves, the sword moves. So the game is about the correct representation of reality and we didn’t really touch on that. We think you always want to sit down and fence anyway, because that’s the best thing you can do in the Middle Ages when you’re bored.

What dynamics will rifles bring to the game?

Of course, a 1403 rifle is not the same as a rifle today. That’s when they began to be created, because they were the perfect weapon. Humans invented stronger and stronger armor to withstand melee weapons, and created larger and larger melee weapons to penetrate that armor. And then Franta came with a rifle and shot them all. Then they began to take off their armor and walk light, armed only with rifles. The rifle in KCD2 is such a first prototype with all its shortcomings. It is difficult to get ammo or craft it, which is somehow possible in the game. When it comes to breaking bread, loading a rifle takes a very long time, I have to put gunpowder in it, load bullets, hammer it all in, then light it, and then it takes a while for the gun to even fire. . If I hit the target, it’s worth it. He knocks the man off his horse and they do somersaults down the hill together. If I miss, I end up in the bag because I only have the stick in my hand. A person can now equip up to four weapons in any combination, providing various benefits. I can, for example, load a rifle in advance, leave it on my back and fight with a sword. When the enemy can’t take it anymore and I want to finish him off in style, I take out my rifle, blow his head off and be glad that everything went well.

The battles in the second part are a little larger; the player will mainly take part in the siege of castles.

How does combat adapt to combat to be just chaotic enough without being too chaotic?

In battles, we mainly want to bring atmosphere. Even in a real fight, it’s not so much about the fight itself. With two hundred people on one side and four hundred on the other, or even ten thousand on each side, fencing no longer plays such a role. The feeling that I am in a place where arrows and stones from a trebuchet are flying around me, walls are collapsing and people are screaming plays a role. We want to convey exactly this atmosphere. The battles in the second part are a little larger in scale, basically the player of one side or another takes part in the siege of various castles and feels cool about it. In terms of combat, we tried to allow the player to move around the battlefield a little better, look around better and choose between opponents. We have an easier way to grab another enemy and fight our way through with two to block multiple enemies at once while retreating. This is still true: no matter how good a swordsman you actually are, if you have two or three opponents attacking you, you’re in the bag. If I don’t play very smart, the superpower wins, but we still tried to help the player somehow. When he moves well, blocks well, and targets well, he can handle multiple opponents.

We started by asking what your favorite weapon is. Is there one you hate using?

I really like them all. I especially like that each one is different. We’ve better integrated halberds and generic long-barreled weapons into the game, which were already present in the first game but were intentionally a little clunky. You couldn’t even put them in your pocket, you could only carry them in your hand or throw them away. Now they can be controlled as full-fledged weapons and this again brings a slightly different sensation. It’s slow and a little annoying, but when I get hit it’s worth it and I can keep the opponent away from my body. Each weapon has its own purpose, and we’re going back to trying to make the game as close to reality as possible and show things as they really are. We invent weapons, but we do not invent new weapons, but ones that existed in reality. If we do everything correctly, they will work in the game as in reality. The mace penetrates armor, but I’m not very good at using it, the sword is dexterous and fast, but useless against a plate cuirass. The halberd is clunky and slow, but it keeps the enemy away from my body and everything. These are things that we developers didn’t have to invent. They began to work because the systems were created taking into account reality.