It still had the heart of the original, but this time it had to stand taller
There is an old tension in creative work between the freedom of the first attempt and the mastery of the second. Warhorse Studios, having built Kingdom Come: Deliverance as an act of genuine experimentation, returned to that medieval world with something rare: hard-won knowledge, a larger team, and the financial backing to execute without compromise. The sequel did not trade its identity for polish — it used polish to deepen that identity, suggesting that growth and integrity need not be enemies.
- The first Kingdom Come shipped rough because it was genuinely unprecedented — a medieval RPG with no fantasy, no hand-holding, and no proven roadmap to follow.
- Warhorse's acquisition by Embracer Group's Plaion subsidiary injected the resources and infrastructure that the studio's ambition had always outpaced.
- The team grew from 150 to 250 people, bringing new pipelines and clearer structure to a project whose complexity had previously threatened to overwhelm it.
- Rather than softening the sequel's uncompromising design to court a wider audience, the studio used its expanded capacity to execute that vision more completely.
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 now stands as a case study in how corporate backing, handled carefully, can sharpen a creative identity rather than dissolve it.
Making something nobody has made before means accepting that the first attempt will be imperfect. Kingdom Come: Deliverance arrived as exactly that kind of gamble — a medieval RPG stripped of fantasy, quest markers, and player hand-holding. Warhorse Studios built it in real time, learning which systems served the vision and which ones didn't.
For the sequel, lead designer Prokop Jirsa described the fundamental shift: the team now had a blueprint. They understood what players wanted, where the original had stumbled, and what needed to be elevated. That inherited knowledge was the first game's most valuable legacy.
But knowledge alone doesn't build a game. Warhorse's acquisition by Plaion, an Embracer Group subsidiary, transformed the studio's capacity. The team expanded from roughly 150 to 250 people, bringing with it new pipelines, clearer hierarchies, and the structural visibility needed to manage something this complex. "It was the only way to keep something this complex under control," Jirsa explained.
What's striking about this trajectory is how it inverts the familiar indie-to-AAA cautionary tale. The bigger budget and corporate backing didn't dilute the studio's identity — they became tools for protecting and refining it. The sequel still refuses to coddle the player, still commits fully to its medieval world without supernatural shortcuts. It stands taller not because it chased trends, but because it finally had the resources to be more thoroughly itself.
Making something nobody has made before means accepting that the first attempt will be rough around the edges. Kingdom Come: Deliverance arrived in 2015 as exactly that kind of gamble—a medieval RPG with no fantasy elements, no quest markers, no hand-holding. Warhorse Studios built it while learning what worked and what didn't in real time, experimenting with systems that had never quite been tried in this combination before.
When it came time to make a sequel, the studio had something the first game never had: a blueprint. Lead designer Prokop Jirsa explained the shift in thinking to Edge Magazine. The original team had been learning as they went, he said, discovering through trial and error which mechanics served the vision and which ones didn't. "If you try something genuinely new, the odds of it being perfectly smooth from day one are slim," Jirsa noted. The second game inherited that hard-won knowledge. The developers knew what players wanted, where the first game had stumbled, and what needed to be elevated.
But knowledge alone doesn't build a game. Between the two releases, Warhorse Studios was acquired by Plaion, an Embracer Group subsidiary, which fundamentally changed the studio's capacity. The financial backing and infrastructure support allowed the team to expand dramatically. By the time Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 shipped, the studio had grown to around 250 people—roughly 100 more than had worked on the original. That scale brought structure: new pipelines, clearer hierarchies, better visibility into how all the moving parts fit together. "It was the only way to keep something this complex under control," Jirsa explained.
The result is a game that maintains the uncompromising spirit of its predecessor while achieving a level of polish the first game never quite reached. The sequel still refuses to coddle the player, still demands immersion and patience, still commits fully to its medieval setting without supernatural shortcuts. But it does so with the confidence of a team that has already proven the concept works, that understands the audience, and that has the resources to execute without compromise.
What's striking about this trajectory is how it inverts the usual indie-to-AAA story. Warhorse didn't abandon its vision when money arrived. Instead, the studio used that money to protect and refine what made the first game singular. The bigger budget, the larger team, the corporate backing—these became tools for deepening the original's identity rather than diluting it. The sequel stands taller not because it chased trends or broadened its appeal, but because it had the resources to be more thoroughly itself.
Notable Quotes
In the first game, a lot of things were brand-new and we were experimenting and learning as we went. If you try something genuinely new, the odds of it being perfectly smooth from day one are slim.— Prokop Jirsa, lead designer at Warhorse Studios
We knew what worked, what didn't, and where players expected us to raise the bar. It still had the heart of the original, but this time it had to stand taller.— Prokop Jirsa
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
The first game was experimental—what does that actually mean in practice? What were they learning as they went?
They were building systems that hadn't been tested at scale before. A medieval RPG without fantasy, without quest markers, without the usual scaffolding players expect. Every system had to prove itself. Some did. Some didn't. That's the learning part.
And the second game just... knew better?
Not just knew. Had proof. They could look back and say: this mechanic worked, this one confused people, this one needs refinement. That's invaluable. You're not guessing anymore.
But couldn't a smaller team do that with the same knowledge?
Maybe in theory. But Kingdom Come is genuinely complex—interconnected systems, a massive world, hundreds of NPCs with schedules and relationships. Managing that complexity at scale requires structure. You need people whose only job is tracking how the systems interact. A small team would spend all their time firefighting.
So the 100 extra people weren't just more hands—they were organizational infrastructure?
Exactly. New pipelines, clearer reporting, better visibility into the project's state. You can't see the whole picture with 150 people on something this intricate. You need the structure to see it.
Did that structure risk making it feel more corporate, less like the original?
That was the risk. But Jirsa's point is they were careful. The heart of the original stayed intact. The structure was there to protect that vision, not replace it. More resources, same uncompromising vision.
So the lesson is: sometimes you need to get bigger to stay true to what you are?
In this case, yes. The first game proved the concept. The second game had the resources to prove it could scale without losing itself.