Kingdom Come: Deliverance has no dragons, but needs your money

Warhorse Studios, out of the Czech Republic, has been showing off elements of their CryEngine-powered medieval RPG, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, for a couple of years. The ambitious project seemed like a sure bet to gamers, but publishers weren’t as confident. With an open-world RPG framework, sumptious Eastern European visuals, the combat of Mount & Blade, and a proven engine, it wasn’t surprising that they had trouble getting a publisher to bite. It seemed a bit too ambitious. Too expensive. Plus there aren’t going to be any fantasy monsters! Publishers balked at the idea of a swords and shields RPG without trolls and dragons.

The studio has taken their proposition to the people through Kickstarter. A little short of $500k is the asking price to self-publish the game. Seems cheap? That’s because it is. Warhorse has an investor that needs convincing. The Kickstarter is to show him that his money wouldn’t be wasted.

Our investor is strong and capable of funding the complete development of our project. But he does not follow the game industry very closely, and needs proof that publishers and marketers are wrong about our game – that you are indeed interested in a mature, medieval RPG that emphasizes freedom and authenticity. And so we stand, as a studio, at a crossroads. Either those naysayers are right, and there truly is no desire for the game we are making, or we are right.

Should the game be successful, Warhorse plans to eventually make two more games in the series to tell the full story.