Kingdom Advance: Deliverance 2 Poised for Success on PlayStation and Xbox Consoles

Developer Warhorse Studios is set to unveil Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, the next installment in its historical RPG built on CryEngine technology. This time, we are presented with a purely next-gen release on Xbox Series X, Series S, PlayStation 5, and of course, the PS5 Pro. By moving away from the previous-gen PS4 and Xbox One systems, the team can concentrate its efforts on perfecting a stunning recreation of early 15th century Bohemia across these four platforms and PC. Initial impressions from the game world showcased during the preview period are certainly promising – and it was a delightful surprise to see a 60fps performance mode included, especially considering how CPU-intensive the first game was.

The ambition of KDC2 is unlike most titles and is genuinely unique within the CryEngine lineup. Picking up directly from its predecessor, it places us once again in the role of Henry, a former blacksmith apprentice who navigates the political turmoil throughout the Kingdom of Bohemia. Beginning with a doomed mission to deliver a peace letter, you will encounter branching dialogue choices, where the outcome of each interaction is influenced by your character stats. Stealth, combat, or straightforward charm are all valid approaches to advance the narrative here. Additionally, you may be encouraged to engage in the realities of 15th-century life, such as hauling bags of food for coins, smithing, and even crafting your own potions. The first-person dueling system makes a return, yet it is not designed to be a frenetic action experience. There’s a deliberate, more thoughtful pacing to KDC2 that places it more firmly in the immersive sim category than most contemporary RPGs. You must consider fatigue, hunger, and wounds as you traverse the map, and your clothing and stats significantly influence the results of conversations.

From a technical viewpoint, the standout features of the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance are significantly enhanced this time. Above all, the rendering of vast, lush forest environments is especially impressive; from the PS5 Pro to the Xbox Series S, every system is able to depict these rich, expansive landscapes, supported by dynamic weather and time-of-day systems. This firmly roots the game in its historical context, and mirrors the often methodical, simulation-based nature of its gameplay. Although some grass and tree pop-ins are noticeable, Warhorse Studio’s work on CryEngine achieves a convincingly realistic visual experience, largely thanks to the use of physically-based materials. Everything from the metal on armor to the fabric of horse saddles reacts authentically to the diffused midday sunlight. Meanwhile, the application of CryEngine’s sparse voxel octree global illumination (SVOGI) results in convincing ambient light scattering, particularly in interiors illuminated by torches.

The remarkable PS5 and Xbox Series X offer two modes: a 30 frames per second fidelity mode that operates at 1440p, and a 60fps performance mode at 1080p. Both utilize AMD’s FSR 2.1.2 technology (with FSR 3.1 on PC) to upscale to a simulated 4K image. Meanwhile, the Xbox Series S runs at 1080p and 30fps right out of the box, without any option for 60fps. Lastly, the PS5 Pro also does away with mode toggling in the menus, opting instead to provide a single setting to play at 60fps – rendering internally at 1296p with a PSSR upscale to 4K.

On PS5 and Series X, the fidelity mode enhances foliage and shadow mapping across the terrain compared to the performance mode. Consequently, outdoor scenes are more fully developed in the 30fps fidelity mode, which also helps reduce the visibility of pop-ins. Additionally, the fidelity mode improves ambient occlusion quality, particularly around interior details like placed vegetation – while the object geometry settings are enhanced too. Considering its superior image quality, due to a 1440p base resolution, there’s a trade-off to consider when selecting the 30fps mode on PS5 and Series X.

So, what does the PS5 Pro offer? The good news is that all these fidelity mode enhancements come by default: improved tree and shadow LODs, ambient occlusion, and object quality – all running at 60fps instead of 30fps, truly fulfilling Mark Cerny’s original vision for the PS5 Pro, eliminating the burden of choice between two modes to present a singular option that accomplishes everything. In comparison to the base PS5’s performance mode, the PS5 Pro’s utilization of PSSR – with 1296p as the base resolution – also lifts image quality overall. The end result is sharper visuals, often highlighting the exquisite details on distant grass or even the individual strands of a horse’s mane. When compared with the fidelity mode, it holds up well: the only catch being that there is a slight increase in temporal flickering compared to the standard PS5’s FSR setup. Otherwise, the switch to the more advanced PSSR enhances the generation of an impressively convincing 4K image while maintaining 60fps along with all those fidelity mode enhancements in view.

Meanwhile, the Xbox Series S only operates at 30fps and a native 1080p that does not rely on any variant of FSR for upscaling. This means the game runs at 1080p on Series S, with a basic upscale when outputting to a 4K display. This is disappointing, resulting in a blurrier experience than, for example, the 1080p 60fps performance modes on PS5 and Series X – and quite a downgrade in terms of clarity compared to their 1440p 30fps fidelity modes. A few other downgrades deserve mention as well: initially, Series S operates with lower-quality shadows, while textures take a hit in quality up close. Moreover, alpha effects – like fire – suffer reductions while outdoors, and there is significantly more tree and shadow pop-in on the 4TF machine.

The PS5 and Series X fidelity modes are not devoid of issues by any means: they all share the same 15fps refresh on shadows beyond a certain range – particularly underneath the horses when the player is on an early path to Trosky Castle. Furthermore, Series X’s fidelity mode appears to suffer from what seems to be a settings issue, causing foliage mapping to run at a notch lower than PS5, and ev