7 Things to Not Do in Kingdom Come: Deliverance

The land of Bohemia in 1403 was a far different place what we know today – and it can be hard to figure out what you should do, and what you’d better avoid, especially with all the sneaky mechanics that Kingdom Come: Deliverance hides within it. Below you will find a list of Things Not to Do when adventuring in Bohemia – they just might save your life!

EditDon’t Ignore the Main Questline

One of the big allures of open world RPGs is that you don’t need to worry about whatever main story has captured the player character’s attention – not when you can go wild, explore forests, and undertake side quests.

However, regardless of how you feel about Henry’s tale of revenge, there are certain elements to the Main Questline that should not be missed, as you’ll only be making things harder for yourself.

The first thing you’ll want to do is become friends with Captain Bernard – this is very important! Bernard is an expert in combat and warfare, whereas Henry is pretty terrible. When you first arrive in Rattay it can be enticing to just go off and explore, but you may recall that your fighting sucks.

Only Captain Bernard can fix this! Stick with the main story until he takes you out for combat training, and you’ll finally learn how to effectively block, dodge, and riposte using the Perfect Block mechanic that he teaches. This will give you a much better chance at surviving fights, because everyone else knows these skills too.

But wait, don’t go yet! If you stick with the main story a bit farther, you’ll travel with Captain Bernard to the village of Neuhof and undertake the Ginger in a Pickle quest (and get a free horse in the process!). Once this quest is complete, Bernard will return to Rattay – and at this point you can speak with him to train further.

This is the only way you can unlock more combo attacks, and eventually learn Master Strikes – an upgraded version of the Perfect Block that follows up with an unblockable attack! You can also spar with him whenever you like to further increase your weapon skills.

As much as we all want Henry to be an unstoppable badass hero that saves the land of Bohemia, at the end of the day, he’s still a peasant. To simple blacksmith’s son, combat can be brutal, unforgiving, and downright unfair. And nothing is more unfair than getting ganged up on by multiple opponents.

A lot of combat survival relies on blocking incoming blows – which means if you get sidelined by another opponent, you may be dead before you realize what hit you. To that effect, always study potential fights carefully. Not only can you scout out how many opponents you may have to face, but you can also look for ways to thin the ranks.

Consider options like sneaking into enemy camps, poisoning food supplies, and assassinations. If that won’t work, a good bow can pick off extra opponents before they charge over to you. Remember that armor plays a big factor in fights – if you were to hit them while they sleep, they’ll have to stumble out of bed and put their armor on while you hack at their unprotected heads. If there’s ever a chance to even the odds – do so!

Unlike other RPGs, Kingdom Come isn’t always content to wait around for you while you spend 20 hours hunting rabbits in the woods. Certain main quests have time sensitive elements but will never lock you out – but there are Side Quests that are better undertaken as soon as you are able.

If a quest mentions the importance of punctuality – like meeting someone urgently at a specific time, or taking out a target quickly – there’s a good chance the quest may just move on without you. Sometimes things will work out OK, but you won’t get a reward for doing nothing. Other times, important people might get killed – or impatient debt collectors may send thugs after you!

If you’re unsure of what might happen, remember that the game makes a save file when a new quest is started, and you can also create a manual save by sleeping or drinking Savior Schnapps and let your “what-if” scenario unfold.

Everyone loves free food, but sometimes, there’s a limit. In your adventures, you may come across bodies of the fallen who carry food on them, and often times the food has been damaged. If you find yourself starving, you may want to weigh your options carefully, as food with low durability and quality under 50% may end up giving you food poisoning.

Food poisoning is not to trifled with – it will slowly damage you and lower health over time, and the only remedy is to let it run its course or take an Antidote. The length of the poisoning will depend on the food you ate, so sometimes it’s best to just deal with hunger for a short term until you can find a rabbit to kill and cook, or someone’s vegetable garden to plunder.

EditDon’t Let Your Armor and Weapons Deteriorate

Everyone loves to keep up with appearances in Bohemia, and Henry is no exception. As you run around, get in fights, and generally cause mayhem, the condition of your items may start to decline. You’ll actually see this in real-time as tears and dents become more apparent on Henry’s clothes – but this is more than just a cosmetic feature.

Damaged items will make you look like a chump, and a chump will have a harder time haggling for good deals when bartering with merchants, or persuading someone that you’re really trustworthy. More than than, severely damaged weapons and armor will also lose some of their offensive and defensive qualities. Your clothes can also get pretty grimy – but luckily a quick splash in a trough or trip to the baths can fix the grime.

To remedy low durability, you can always visit Blacksmiths, Armorers, Tailors, and Cobblers to get your items looked at. There’s a bit of overlap between merchants sometimes – but more severely damaged items can only be repaired by masters. You can even repair some weapons by using the grindstone, or buy repair kits to keep with you on longer journeys – but until you level up your Maintenance skill, you can only do so much.

EditDon’t Ignore Your Body’s Needs

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is truly the Medieval Peasant Survival Simulator for our time. Sometimes, the most dangerous foe out there is your own body – and you’ll need to take good care of it if you want to survive

The three biggest stats to constantly watch are Health, Energy, and Nourishment. Health is pretty straightforward, as you’ll die when it reaches 0. However, you can only regain it by sleeping the wounds away, drinking potions or eating certain foods that restore health.

These food items will also give you nourishment, which is crucial to avoid starving. When you starve, you’ll slowly become more debuffed – but the same can be said for eating too much, as being overfed will result in you being more sluggish and having lower stamina until you can digest your hearty meals

Food can also raise or lower your energy, depending on what you eat. Fruit can help keep you awake, while big food like roasted meats will get you tired even faster. When you become tired, your vision starts to blur and you incur more penalties the longer you stay tired until you find a bed to crash on.

There’s a delicate dance here: Sleeping will restore health and energy, but lower nourishment over time. You also can’t sleep when your energy is full, and will have to rely on food or potions to restore health instead. If this all sound terrifying, don’t worry as it usually takes awhile for a fully rested, and nourished Henry to get to empty, and you can obtain perks that further lengthen this time.

Plundering towns of their goods sounds like a great time, but there is one thing you need to be careful of – guards. When traveling through town, especially near castles, there is a chance a guard may randomly approach you and ask to search you.

If you have a good reputation and speech skills, you may have the opportunity to shift focus away – but if they catch you with stolen items, it usually doesn’t end well.

Therefore, when on the prowl, never linger too long at a crime scene. Having a horse nearby to stash stolen goods is a good strategy, or a room at an inn to stow the stolen merchandise in your shared chest.