Kingdom Come 2 Will Feature Diverse Ethnic Groups. 'We Are Trying to Depict a Realistic, Immersive, and Believable Medieval World'
The editors of IGN interviewed the developer of Kingdom Come 2. He spoke about the game's more ethnically diverse world and staying with CryEngine.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance fans are celebrating the announcement of the next installment, while the developers continue to give interviews. IGN had the opportunity to talk to the creator - Tobias Stolz-Zwilling - and obtained some information.
Ethnically diverse world
As we already know, in the second part of Kingdom Come, Henry will leave the local villages and set off on a journey to a real city - Kutná Hora. There, as Stolz-Zwilling put it, "we can expect a wide range of ethnicities and different characters."
We are trying to depict a realistic, immersive, and believable medieval world that is being reconstructed to the best of our knowledge. […] We are very closely working together with universities, historians, museums, reenactors, and a group of experts from different ethnicities or religious beliefs that we are actively incorporating into development as external advisors.
As mentioned already, Henry is embarking on a journey from the countryside and local quarrels to a relatively cosmopolitan city that is besieged and occupied by the invading king. Naturally, in a place like this, people can expect a wide range of ethnicities and different characters that Henry will meet on his journey.
This is an important issue because the first KCD was criticized before its premiere due to the lack of non-white people and the minimal role of women. The developers were even accused of racism, although they argued that they wanted to strive for the greatest possible historical accuracy.
Why CryEngine?
Before the official announcement of KCD2, many fans were wondering whether the sequel would stick to the old engine, or perhaps the devs would opt for a different technology. Now we know that Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is being developed on CryEngine, which allows us to create a beautiful-looking world but isn't very good at optimization.
Even in the early days of the KCD 1 development, we already heavily adjusted the CryEngine to make it fit our needs, and we are doing the same today. I am sure it is very different from what one would call "a CryEngine," and still, we are happy to have it--it does what we need and in all honesty.
It turns out that the devs are simply used to working with this technology and have mastered it well. The change would definitely prolong the development of KCD2 and might not guarantee improved quality.
By the way, the interview also raised the issue of whether the restructuring carried out by the Embracer group had an impact on the production of Kingdom Come 2. Stolz-Zwilling directly stated that the relationship between Warhorse and the parent company is great.
