Kingdom Come: Deliverancewas a massive achievement for many reasons. It was a fairly small development team working on a passion project which, while aware their target audience was somewhat niche, could have ended up a total disaster and having no audience if the final product didn’t have the quality they hoped for.
Mostopen-world medieval set games, especially story-focused RPGs, are within the Swords and Sorcery genre, leaving the historically accurate to the Real Time Strategy games. However,Kingdom Comealso boldly adhered to the decision to have a realism-based story without magic or fantasy elements. Thankfully, the great majority of players loved the game, and it rightfully earned much respect for its historically accurate setting and characters. With the sequel on the horizon, many are finding themselves in the mood for more video games set in the medieval era that lend themselves more to historical realism than fantasy.
WhileWartalesdoes actually take place in a low fantasy setting and there are elements of the fantastical, it very much captures the feeling of the real world and dealing with mundane, compared to dragons and wizards, but deadly problems.
The player is tasked with controlling a mercenary group, attempting to survive and, if possible, thrive through these hard times. The methods and moral choices as to how this is accomplished are left up to the player. LikeKingdom Come,Wartalescreates an excellent sense of rising up from the very bottom of the social and influential pile into a place of power and importance.
While theMount and Bladeseries is an RPGset in a fantasy facsimile of our own medieval history, there are no magical creatures or powers to speak of.Mount and Bladeis all about the medieval power games of alliances, marriages, making allies and enemies, and, of course, war.
The player creates their own character with a customized background and is challenged with rising to power any way they can. Naturally, much of the gameplay takes place on the fields of battle, which can range from small twenty-man skirmishes to huge battles involving thousands of troops which can decide the fate of kingdoms. IfKingdom Comeis the ultimate medieval RPG on a micro level, thenMount and Bladeis definitely the macro equivalent.
6Yes, Your Grace
Suffer The Stresses Of The Throne
This is a small title by the studio Brave At Night which focuses on a king and his immediate family as he makes choices relating to personal matters, such as if his daughter can keep a pet bear, and also about issues of the kingdom and those living in it.
It has a vibrant2D-pixel art styleand memorable characters, which adds to the tension of the coming invasion and the outcome of the decisions of the player, as the effect can become very personal. With the players starting from the polar opposites of the social scale inYes, Your GraceandKingdom Come, with one aiming for a deliberately retro stylized look while the other steers for natural realism and historical accuracy, they make interesting partner pieces to play together.
While still in early access,Manor Lordshas already garnered a lot of well-deserved praise and positive feedback from a large player base. It is, essentially, a medieval city builder sim but with a much smaller scale and detail-orientated approach than is the norm for this style of game. Much like the way thatKingdom Comedesired to make its focus a more realistic medieval tale of someone of no importance gaining a little importance in the world,Manor Lordssets its gaze on a single household within a kingdom and the intricacies of managing an estate as opposed to the usual grand scale kingdom/country management.
Rather than taking control of a country or a city here, the player plays the titular role of a manor lord, looking after a small township. Taking care of the economy, agriculture, and defense of a smaller population in a more hands-on style compared toother city builder gameslikeSim City, it’s a refreshing take on the city builder sim for those who prefer taking control of the minutiae and seeing the results of their work on a more personal than global scale.
Crusader Kingsis a highly detailed, historically set, and informed grand strategy game. The series covers the years between the 9th and 15th centuries during which the player is tasked withestablishing a surviving dynasty. There is no set plot andCrusader Kingsrelies on its excellent emergent storytelling to deliver unique stories for the campaign.
While, similarly toKingdom Come, the game has a tendency to overload the player with mechanics and information to the point it can be daunting and seem insurmountable, there is an extremely rewarding experience to be had if this can be pushed past.
A classic medieval RTS that is absolutely brimming with customizable options and content. There is a wealth of buildings, military types, environmental choices, “Hero” characters, and entire eras that can be toyed with to the players' liking.
There is easily a full game’s worth of fun to be had with the map editor alone, but there is so much more available, such as multiple campaigns and multiplayer modes to put the players' colonizing skills to the test. For players who enjoyed the wealth of historical knowledge and detail on display inKingdom Comethere is similar fun to be had here. IfKingdom Comeis a Bernard Cornwell novel, thenAge Of Empiresis a bit like having a toy box of accurate soldiers.
A very different type of historical game withhardly a sword or shield in sight.Pentimentis a point-and-click murder mystery with an extremely compelling story and characters.Pentimentalso has a truly unique aesthetic, creating the appearance of a late medieval scroll come to life.
Set in 16th-century Bavaria, the player is tasked with solving a series of murders and, in an interesting turn, deciding the past of the player character, Andreas, as they advance through the story. WhileKingdom Comehas some memorable main and side missions based around churches and mystery,Pentimentgoes full Umberto Eco and makes this the full focus of the narrative.
While in many waysChivalryis quite the opposite ofKingdom Come, with a sole focus on multiplayer combat and there is little to no story or characters to follow, the first-person gory medieval battles do bear something of a resemblance to the larger set-piece battles of Kingdom Come.
The combat itselfis like a more simplified version ofKingdom Come’s. It is still directional-based attacks and defense but without all the RPG factors to worry about, such as what armor a person is wearing and weapon durability. Instead, providing an arcadey feeling but atmospheric version of medieval warfare.
