Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 transports you to the heart of 15th century medieval Europe for a deeply immersive, story-led action RPG. While it drops you into the lifestyle of the time, ultimately you're still playing a videogame, meaning that there are myriad convenient features that help make your life easier. But that's all about to change. Developer Warhorse Studios had previously teased the potential for a KCD2 hardcore mode, and now it's revealed exactly what that looks like and roughly when we can expect it.
Our Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Warhorse has given us a much more complete look at its mode, along with another free update that will introduce a helpful barber.
The barber will appear on both maps and visiting them allows you to adjust your hairstyle. You can choose from a wide range of cuts, from the classic look of the original Kingdom Come Deliverance to options such as tight trim, ordinary bloke, father figure, English knight, Polish undercut, dandy, brawler, and more. Head to the 38-minute mark in the video below to get a better look through the various styles on offer, along with a tour of the facial hair selections.
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 hardcore mode, meanwhile, will ramp up the immersion by limiting helpful UI elements both in and out of combat. Your position won't be marked on maps, the com doesn't list cardinal directions, and fast travel is disabled, meaning you'll have to rely on your own smarts and senses to navigate the world. Perhaps the most interesting component, however, is that you can select up to three additional negative perks that will last for your entire playthrough.
Choose to have a 'bad back,' and your carry limit will be limited, with a chance that you'll strain yourself when you bend down to gather materials. 'Heavy-footed' makes you a terrible sneaker, 'Numbskull' lowers your experience gains, 'Somnambulant' means you tire faster with a chance that sleeping will lead to you waking up elsewhere, and 'Hangry' means you'll need to eat more, and more often, with additional debuffs if you go short on food. A 'picky eater' on the other hand requires much fresher food to be satisfied, and refuses to eat the rougher parts of animals.
You can also be 'Sweaty,' getting dirty faster and being easier to detect as you begin to stink, or 'Bashful,' meaning you're unable to ask people for directions or talk to the girls at the bathhouse. If you're feeling particularly masochistic, you could give yourself a 'punchable face' – where enemies never surrender and random NPCs are more likely to fight you – or declare yourself a 'menace' and face permanent repercussions for crimes, with the threat of execution if you're caught for any serious offences.
As for when you can expect these free updates to land, Warhorse says the barber will release in March. The hardcore mode is planned for a month after that, so we'd expect it to arrive in April.
If you're still working your way across the Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 mods.
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