Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 doesn’t have kids because Warhorse Studios was worried players would kill them, and Skyrim’s children proved them right years ago

There are philosophical discussions to explore regarding the essence of purity and the ethics of children – St. Augustine, for instance, remarks skeptically in his memoir Confessions that “an infant’s purity stems from their physical frailty, not from their mental state,” recalling a moment when he witnessed a baby feeling envious of another’s eager milk consumption. However, the upcoming action RPG Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 opts out of this debate entirely, choosing rather to erase any trace of children to prevent players from slaughtering them.

If you think that’s a pessimistic viewpoint, consider Skyrim, where players enthusiastically download mods allowing them to eliminate children in the game, taking aim at what some deem its most annoying NPCs.

To reinforce my argument, there’s a trending YouTube video that highlights various methods through which mods enable troublesome Skyrim babysitters to dispatch medieval children (in their beds, or right in front of them), to which one unabashed commenter, garnering 2,000 upvotes, proclaims, “This is possibly the most gratifying video on the internet.”

Therefore, it seems Warhorse Studios was correct in anticipating that its players might indulge in indiscriminate NPC violence, as CzechCrunch reveals, as Warhorse’s executive producer Martin Klíma shared during the recent Prague Comic-Con.

At the conference, Klíma elaborated that Warhorse had considered incorporating children into its historically inspired game for the sake of authenticity and variety. However, the team grew concerned about the prevalent trend among Skyrim players – rampant aggression towards child NPCs.

Ultimately, Warhorse conducted the same thoughtful dialogue that any sensible developers go through before proceeding, concluding that including children was more trouble than it was worth. The studio preferred to avoid Twitch clips showcasing “a heap of child bodies” or negative publicity.

Now, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 features a plethora of adult NPCs, who attend to their livestock and mugs of ale, leaving the environment devoid of youth. One might assume that such a sterile world would be dull to navigate, but surprisingly, it’s rather enjoyable. Things could certainly be worse. Imagine being struck down by divine wrath.

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 cut content is a pile of gold that contains what could have been my favorite combat mechanic ever.