Kingdom Come: Deliverance Beta (2016) (PC) (Warhorse Studios)
0I never tried out the Alpha versions of this ambitious Medieval RPG from Warhorse Studios despite supporting their successful Kickstarter campaign a few years ago, but the newly released Beta is very promising indeed. As you might expect given the developer's "no magic and elves" mission statement, the simulation aspect of putting the player in a rural province of Central Europe in the 15th century makes this a refreshingly different experience compared with your typical open world game. The villages dotting the Bohemian countryside consist of messy clusters of buildings and are filled with believable little details - such as farm plots, garbage heaps, smokehouses and pigsties - which you typically don't see in fantasy RPGs with little or no regard to actual Medieval history. I guess there's a risk that this more grounded setting comes off as a bit dull compared with flashier competitors such as Skyrim or The Witcher 3, but the game's immersive qualities are supported by some rather good CryEngine-powered graphics with nice weather effects and an impressive amount of variety in the foliage (i.e. the woods actually look like the woods and not something procedurally generated by a computer). As for the combat, I didn't really get a hang of the melee mechanics despite spending some time with the in-game tutorial, but as with everything else in Kingdom Come it's clear that Warhorse are trying to move away from standard video game conventions and go in a more realistic direction. I definitely look forward to the full release.