It's been a long time since we've heard anything about the Kingdom Come: Deliverance port on Nintendo Switch. But today, in a surprise announcement, publisher Plaion has shared an update with us: the port of the 2018 title will be coming to the Switch in early 2024. At last!
The Switch port is being worked on by Saber Interactive, the same team that helped bring The Witcher III: Wild Hunt to the hybrid console, which inspires some faith. But when the game originally launched on PS4, Xbox One, and PC back in 2018, there were some criticisms about performance and bugs — whether those have been fixed and will be absent from the Switch version remains to be seen.
The Switch version will be available both physically and digitally, and under the title of Kingdom Come: Deliverance The Royal Edition, it will also include all DLC released for the 2018 medieval action RPG. That means Treasures of the Past, From the Ashes, The Amorous Adventures of Bold Sir Hans Capon, Band of Bastards, and A Woman's Lot will be ready to play day one on Switch.
The game takes place during the rule of King Wenceslaus IV in 1403. You play as Henry, the son of a blacksmith who is forced into action after the war in Bohemia reaches his home. Kingdom Come: Deliverance prides itself on realism: There's one-on-one combat, a need to clean your clothes, get hungover, and eat too much or too little. Sounds... very familiar.
We don't have a trailer to go on yet, but we do have a handful of screenshots and a rundown of some features courtesy of Plaion and developer Warhorse Studios:
Features Fit for a Portable Kingdom:
- Massive Realistic Open World: Explore medieval Bohemia and immerse yourself in its majestic castles, vast fields and lush forests.
- Non-Linear Story: Solve quests in multiple ways, facing the consequences of your decisions.
- Challenging Combat: Engage in thrilling and merciless battles using distance, stealth, or melee. Choose your weapons and execute dozens of unique combos.
- Character Development: Improve skills, earn perks, and forge/upgrade your equipment.
- Dynamic World: Your actions influence reactions, from fighting and stealing to seducing, threatening, persuading, or bribing. The choice is yours.
- Historical Accuracy: Meet real historical characters and experience the genuine look and feel of medieval Bohemia.
Anyway, we're glad to see the port is still alive and well after a period of silence. And the game got largely positive reviews when it launched five years ago; our friends at Push Square seemed to like it, despite its faults, and awarded it a 7/10 in their review.
Are you looking forward to Kingdom Come: Deliverance on Switch? Have you played the game on another platform already? Arms ready in the comments.
Comments 29
I'll admit I was VERY surprised when the company made the announcement on Facebook!
I honestly thought the port was long dead and gone
Hopefully this’ll end up as one of the greats and not like Arkham Knight.
@Kekshook I was thinking the same. Batman needs significant patching and I am hoping KC doesn't. It's being ported by Sabyr who does an excellent job on Ports. If they put everything on the Cartridge again, I will definetly be picking it up. It's a very underrated game.
Sweet. I had given up on this port ever coming to fruition.
After the Arkham release, I'm really just hoping they hold off until the next Switch iteration, or that the next Switch iteration is announced before then and it's just released there.
These games deserve better than "it's technically playable."
Please don't come for me, I love my Switch and tuck it into bed every night.
Wow! That's some good news, I think. However, earlier, Saber Interactive's port of the Evil Dead game was cancelled, so... That thing bothers me.
@xDeckardx «I honestly thought the port was long dead and gone»
Look at the Genshin Impact and Home Sweet Home ports, lol. Though, it seems like Home Sweet Home's developers/publishers never officially announced Switch port by themselves...
I had hoped this was still happening after not hearing anything for so long. Saber has a solid track record on the Switch so I have a good feeling that this port will be top notch. If everything comes together, I will grab a copy asap.
@Astral-Grain I agree, I think ports should start slowing down now as the new hardware is being targeted. I was very disappointed with Arkham knight, they shouldn’t have even attempted that by the way it came out, got to feel sorry for the devs having to have a go at porting that.
Took me around 30 minutes to ask for refund on Steam, so somehow I doubt I will acquire Switch port.
Interesting! Was wondering when we'll get some news off this game.
Wait what? How will they pull this off? I have this game on pc, but if they manage to do a good poort, i will buy it, just for the support and play it again.
Its an amazing game. But i dont know, these kinda ports should be done on switch 2.
It would be good to see the Switch trailer to see how it runs.
@Vyacheslav333 yeah.
Also apparently Dreadout 2 is coming to Switch.
@anoyonmus Oh, sounds interesting. I wanted to play the first game before...
Really thought this was going to end up as just a rumor. Interested to see what Saber has done with it.
@ozwally I appreciate not being alone in that, so thank you.
The Witcher 3 was such a surprise in 2019 because it was thought to be impossible to port such a demanding game to Switch.
But now in 2023/2024 all these other "impossible" ports are coming out, and the trick isn't as special as it once was.
Even in the most ideal cases of "impossible ports" like The Witcher 3 or even Hogwarts Legacy, if you compare them to their current-gen console versions, it sort of feels like we're just playing mobile phone versions, when we all would rather be playing the full thing as it was originally intended and designed.
All that art design and careful attention to detail is gutted for a barebones experience on Switch.
Having said all that, I feel the need to, again, mention that I am deeply in love with my Switch and only wish for Nintendo to succeed so they can keep making experiences like this.
The late stage of this particular console is just getting a little choppy, that's all.
Want to play “A Woman’s Lot” so I will get this eventually.
Great news! One of the few games I'm willing to triple dip (have it on PC and PS4) on when it comes to Switch.
Good news indeed! After Saber threw the towel on the Evil Dead port, I was getting a bit worried.
@Astral-Grain a lot of people don't seem to know what "mobile versions" and, for that matter, many Gen 4-7 handheld versions used to be like in comparison to full or borderline parity we get in the realm of portable gaming these days. And all these crocodile tears over allegedly "gutted art design and attention to detail" (which fanheads still apparently confuse with the dispensable graphical fluff) remain a potent exercise for extraocular muscles in their own right. For the record, I'd be equally fine with newer games waiting until the hybrid Gen 10 if it meant Switch devs doubling down on previously home-chained past classics like this year's Baten Kaitos, RDR and Batman games (Arkham Knights performance barks notwithstanding), but that doesn't prevent me from welcoming the former every time they happen. Especially when my own experiences playing them tend to clash even with Digital Foundry's reports which, for all their obsession with raw numbers, are supposed to have a degree of objectivity.
In the end, I can often play the so-called "full thing" on PS4 and even properly portable on Deck these days myself. But if a Switch playthrough becomes a concurrent (or, in select few cases, even post factum) option, that's where I'll go to play it. Barring legitimate gamebreaking bugs or progress-hindering hiccups, every one of them is not "technically playable" but "finally playable with all the access flexibility and ease of a portable, let alone hybrid, console". Which any piece of interactive fiction arguably deserves higher on a priority meter than wall carpet resolutions and other digital glitter like that.
@nhSnork This is why assuming bad faith in others is always a bad idea.
We could have had a nice conversation about how I was only referring to ports of games developed on much more powerful consoles and later ported to Switch, and that I wasn't talking about games developed specifically for Switch, of which there are many that still dazzle me today.
My critique was actually aimed at publishers/developers/executives gutting their own games to make a quick buck, the majority of which fail miserably compared to the "impossible ports" I mentioned previously. I think you mistakenly took this as criticism for Nintendo, which it is not.
Ah, well.
I'll give you this, I did audibly laugh at "crocodile tears", so thanks for the humor
"The Switch port is being worked on by Saber Interactive, the same team that helped bring The Witcher III: Wild Hunt" AND Batman Arkham Knight AND MK1, don't forget about these.
@regisk
Saber Interactive had nothing to do with Arkham Knight. That port was done by Turn Me Up games. They technically helped with MK1, but I think they were more charging consulting fees. Shiver Entertainment was likely the lead developer on MK1 because they did the entirety of the MK 11 port.
@Astral-Grain I think now the switch is so far in its lifecycle that these impossible ports are now becoming more shouldnt be ported. For example I played arkham knight on my deck a few days ago to see how it was there and it ran on all high at a solid 30fps. Compared to switch its just simply technology moving on, I really feel Nintendo need to get the new hardware out sooner rather than later as the only games on switch I'm interested in now are 3rd party or Indy, the experience of the latest games on switch just isnt pleasant anymore.
A good example is hogwarts legacy, got that on switch and I just didnt enjoy it at all due to all of the cutbacks, so traded in and bought on steam for deck, a much better experience throughout.
I think its just natural that the switch is at the end of its lifecycle now, its a superb console and will always be fondly remembered, however its now definately in its twilight days/year. I must say though, what a great console its been!
@The-Chosen-one The port for this one is being done by the same team who brought along The Witcher 3 to Switch. I have faith that they'll do it justice!
@xDeckardx
Oeh yes, the witcher was just pure magic.
@ozwally While I agree the Steam Deck is a much better experience in both of your examples (and probably most examples), I still think it's too early to directly compare those two because one is designed as a home console while the other is essentially a portable PC.
Don't get me wrong, the only real difference that matters to gamers is the Switch is plug and play for all gamers while the Steam Deck does require at least a basic level of PC gamer understanding and patience. Not all games work well for Steam Deck, and some require some level of tinkering, and that's enough to scare a lot of gamers off.
I can understand Nintendo dragging out this console because it's still making them buckets of money, but I fear they are dangerously close to becoming irrelevant in the gaming console market because of this always-increasing gap in technology.
I think the other elephant in the room is wondering if our Switch purchases will be backwards-compatible with the next Nintendo console or if we'll have to purchase those games all over again, like what happened with WiiU to Switch.
To be fair, Steam Deck will never have that problem.
@Astral-Grain Oh for sure steam deck has many issues - an issue I had early on was that Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order (one of the reasons I got the steam deck) went from verified to unsupported literally weeks after I got the deck, because EA changed the Origin client to something else I believe.
I feel its abit of a lottery, where if a game is verfied get it played ASAP.
Same happened with Unity of Command 2 - I played the desert rats and the following DLC after that fine, then I bought the Don 42 DLC to continue with and voila! Game was updated and now it just gives a python error, game now being unsupported and cant play the Don 42 DLC I bought
With Switch I love that its simply pop thecartridge in and off you go, nothing can ever replace the console feel of simplicity.
And yes, backwards compatibility will be something I'm really keen for if that can achieve that, as I've some great Switch games yet to play that I've not currently time for.
I'm so ready for this. I played KC:D on a laptop that was absolutely not up to the task(same one I still have), having to lower the resolution beyond what the settings allow by editing files. It was still a stuttering mess at times, especially in combat, when it matters.
I find it hard to imagine this port will run worse if they're going through with it. I'll still wait to read reviews, but this might be a chance to play one of my favorite games ever without having to fight single digit framerates.
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