UI and Design is Period Appropriate
Kingdom Come: Deliverance is an RPG cut from a different cloth, one that does away with all the fantastical elements and opts for a decidedly realistic approach, trying to accurately emulate the time period it’s set in. Kingdom Come takes place in 1403 Bohemia, a region that encompasses the western area of the Czech Republic.
During a presentation and hands-on event at E3 2017, we got a look at just how the developer has made the title period appropriate, immersing players in a medieval fantasy. Warhorse has gone to painstaking lengths to make everything about Kingdom Come feel fitting to its setting, from the look of architecture right down to the UI itself. Objectives and notifications on your screen pop up on what looks like rolls of old parchment or banners, while opening the main menu brings up what appears to be an old tome emblazoned with different family crests and shields. When searching through the codex, character info pages are displayed with period artwork, instead of rendered character models.
During our look at the game at E3, PR manager Tobias Stolz-Zwilling and another Warhorse representative talked about their efforts to make the game look realistic. with everything from intricately rendered clothing to the landscape itself. “Vegetation that’s even in the Czech Republic, we’ve put into the game.” This, in particular, gives Kingdom Come a unique look, as its world is absolutely budding with green, rolling hills, looking like something you’d see in a King Arthur or Robin Hood movie.
Perhaps most impressive, however, is the world map, which looks exactly like a 15th-century painting of the landscape. Of course, it’s fully interactable with icons and everything, but it certainly helps add a unifying touch to the game’s aesthetic.
It’s clear that Warhorse wants you to feel like you’re in the middle of a medieval world, through both look and gameplay.
