The original Kingdom Come: Deliverance has received a "next-gen" update improving visuals and performance on PS5 and Xbox Series X, Warhorse has announced. If you own Kingdom Come on PS4 or Xbox One already, you can download the updated version for free right now, otherwise it's available on the usual storefronts for around $30.
As many suspected, Warhorse made the announcement during its anniversary stream celebrating Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's first birthday, which included a trailer for the update and gameplay footage of lead designer Prokop Jirsa and the ever-spirited communications director Tobias Stolz-Zwilling rummaging around 15th century Bohemia.
Stolz-Swilling said the update brings the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of Kingdom Come: Deliverance up to PC Ultra standards, running natively at 2K but upscaling to 4K resolution. The new port will also have "massively improved performance in demanding scenarios such as in-game cutscenes, battles, and dialogues" and run at up to 60 FPS. "Don't nail me down on 60 – it's up to 60," noted Stolz-Swilling. "It was our first game and it's a bit wonky here and there, but it's up to 60 so that is important."
Kingdom Come: Deliverance launched back in 2018 to generally positive reviews, but it was infamous for its slow start, steep learning curve, and performance issues. I personally remember being entranced by the story, characters, and faithfully recreated medieval setting, but also extremely fatigued by the aforementioned roadblocks, and I eventually threw in the towel about halfway through. I'm now 150 hours into the sequel and genuinely think it's one of the greatest RPGs ever made, so I'll definitely be downloading the updated original and replaying Henry's origin story.
"For the players that only joined us with KCD2, and if you liked that, I think now is a good time to really try KCD1," said Jirsa, seemingly staring directly into my soul. "It's still the game we released. Raw design principles that you now may know from KCD2. It's raw. If you're experienced with KCD2 that can be a very good thing. You can see how we started, what was the beginning of our journey, and now, with the next-gen version, but also with all the patches we did for KCD1, it's in a really good state.
"It had a rough start with the original release date. But now it's in a very good state. It's pretty bug free, it runs smooth. If you want to try it, I think now is a good time."
Naturally, a current-gen patch isn't going to fix design inconsistencies that might make the beginning of the game a slog to get through, but if you still have your old save, you can load that up in the updated version and save yourself some hassle. Personally, I'm going to start fresh, because it's been so long since I played the first game that I don't remember what was going on. But Warhorse did confirm your old saves will transfer over seamlessly. Either way, Warhorse can tell one hell of a story, and I'm excited to go back and see how Henry's saga started with a better-looking, better-running game.
