Comparative analysis of game principles in The Witcher 3

Masaryk UniversityFaculty of Arts

Comparative analysis of gameprinciples in The Witcher 3:

Wild Hunt and Kingdom Come:Deliverance

Bachelor’s Thesis

Tereza Rašilovová

Brno, Spring 2019

Declaration

Hereby I declare that this paper is my original authorial work, whichI have worked out on my own. All sources, references, and literatureused or excerpted during elaboration of this work are properly citedand listed in complete reference to the due source.

Tereza Rašilovová

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Mgr. et Mgr. Zdeněk Záhora for his guidance,support and valuable pieces of advice while writing this thesis. Iwould also like to thank my mother, grandmother and the rest of myfamily for help and support during my studies. Nonetheless I wouldlike to also thank my friends and everyone else who supported mewhile writing this thesis.

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Contents

1 Abstract 11.1 Abstract in English language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2 Abstract in Czech language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2 Introduction 32.1 About Game Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32.2 Structure and goal of the thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

3 Theory of game principles 53.1 Five game mechanics by Jesse Schell . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

3.1.1 First game mechanic: Space . . . . . . . . . . . . 63.1.2 Second game mechanic: Game objects, attributes

and states . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63.1.3 Third game mechanic: Activity . . . . . . . . . . 73.1.4 Fourth game mechanic: Rules . . . . . . . . . . . 73.1.5 Fifth game mechanic: Coincidence . . . . . . . . 9

3.2 Game design according to Jesse Schell . . . . . . . . . . . . 103.3 Game design according to Raph Koster . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3.3.1 What games need, to be successful . . . . . . . . 123.4 Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

4 Role playing games 174.1 Typology of the RPG genre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

5 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 215.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215.2 Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225.3 The game principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

5.3.1 Game mechanics and design . . . . . . . . . . . 235.3.2 Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

5.4 Reception of the game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265.4.1 Gameplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285.4.2 Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295.4.3 Criticsm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

6 Kingdom Come: Deliverance 33

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6.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336.2 Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346.3 The game principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

6.3.1 Game mechanics and design . . . . . . . . . . . 366.3.2 Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

6.4 Reception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386.4.1 Controversy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

7 Comparation of both digital games 43

Bibliography 47

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1 Abstract

1.1 Abstract in English language

This thesis examines game principles of digital games and it mainlyanalyzes game mechanics, design and narrative by comparing twoof the newest games in the RPG genre. Both games work with theopen world in which there is more variability on how the player canprogress through the game and the gaming community writes animaginary equal sign between those two games. In my thesis, I showdifferences for example in game mechanics or design I mentionedbefore. Polish The Witcher 3 is displaying fantasy world to the playerwhilst Czech game Kingdom Come: Deliverance is trying to be realis-tic. We can see those differences of the games not only in how thosegames are presented to the players but also in inner game principles.

1.2 Abstract in Czech language

Práce se zabývá herními principy digitálních her, analyzuje přede-vším herní mechaniky, design a narativ srovnáním dvou nejnovějšíchher v žánru RPG. Obě hry pracují s otevřeným světem, ve kterémse vypráví s mnohem větší variabilitou, jakým způsobem může hráčhrou postupovat a mezi hry dává hráčská obec pomyslné rovná se. Vesvé práci poukazuji na rozdíly, kterými se hry liší v rámci napříkladjiž zmíněných herních mechanik nebo celkového herního designu.Polský The Witcher 3 zobrazuje svět více fantaskní, zatímco českáhra Kindgom Come: Deliverance se snaží o realističnost. Tyto rozdílyjsou patrné nejen v tom, jak jsou hry prezentovány hráčům, ale i vevnitřních herních principech.

Keywords: game studies, game design, naratology, game mechanics,RPG, ludology, analysis, comparation

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2 Introduction

We can say that digital games are one of the most progressive andthe fastest growing media in the last few decades. Something thatbegan as a scientific experiment became one of the biggest attractionsof show business. The complexity that digital games’ technologicplatform offers is the reason that they grew into various differentgenres and have many forms. The approach to making digital gamesis also different in many cases. We can observe the same thing withmedia like film or music. We see creators make simple games that aremore experimental and artistic. On the other hand, there are digitalgames with a budget worth of millions, huge marketing campaignsand games that create franchises. We can hardly doubt the stand thatdigital games have in today’s culture.

Digital games nowadays are a phenomenon with extraordinaryeconomical turnover and social impact. We can safely say that it ismainstream media and its academical reflection is on the rise in recentyears. In the Czech republic we can observe the creation of a field ofstudy called game studies, subjects focusing on analyzing games andalso subjects teaching how to create games. However those are stillnot very expanded trough universities and we would hardly find a lotof publications from famous authors under the keyword ludology.

This thesis is going to analyze the genre of digital games calledrole-playing games, RPG for short. The main motive of this thesis isto compare two titles of this genre, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt andKingdom Come: Deliverance. The games were released three yearsapart from each other but they are often compared by the gamingcommunity. There are a lot of voices who say that the games are thesame. In this thesis, I want to focus on their differences and how theyare reflecting the RPG genre. Differences in the question are gamemechanics, design and narrative.

2.1 About Game Studies

The academic field of game studies which this thesis is supported bywent through a rather dramatic development in its short existence.At present time it can be considered an established discipline and

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2. Introduction

periods of defensive rhetoric is in the past. There had been doubtsvoiced by troubled academics who started to closely examine mediumof digital games. They just could not agree on how to approach thismedium. At the end of the 20th century came a Finish game designerand academic Gonzalo Frasca. He introduced ludologic approach tothe narratological approach which was degrading digital game to justa carrier of a story. He urges the necessity that we need to study digitalgames with less basic tendency and free ourselves from concepts andstands that are more suited for traditional media. Those media arefor example literature, theatre or film.1 Frasca supports this claim bypointing out the uniqueness of digital games that needs a separatefield of study because of their interactive nature.

2.2 Structure and goal of the thesis

As I mentioned, I will be comparing two gaming titles in my thesis.The three main points of this comparison will be game mechanics,design and narrative. Firstly, I would like to look closer at them andanalyze them. For game mechanics, I will use the definitions by Amer-ican game designer Jesse Schell. When looking closer at the narrativepart I will be mainly using the work of Marie-Laure Ryan. Then I willthoroughly describe both games and based on previous definitions ofgame mechanics, narrative and design I will identify them in thosegames. In the last part I will focus on what those games have in com-mon and what makes them different, which is the main focus on thisthesis.

1. FRASCA, Gonzalo. Ludology Meets Narratology: Similitude and DifferencesBetween (Video)games and Narrative. [online]. 1999 [cit. 2018-05-11]. Available from:http://www.ludology.org/articles/ludology.htm

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http://www.ludology.org/articles/ludology.htm

3 Theory of game principles

Before I dive in the description of both games that I’m comparing inthis thesis I would like to cover the theory first. I will more closelylook at the game mechanics as it is the main principle I will study inmy analysis. Then I would like to explain the basics about the gamedesign and narrative that I will use in this thesis.

3.1 Five game mechanics by Jesse Schell

When talking about game mechanics, the name Jesse Schell has to bementioned. Jesse Schell is an American game developer and designerwho has his own game studio and he also works as a DistinguishedProfessor at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.2 In hisbook The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses he offers a very clearfactual overview of what game mechanics are and how to define them.This book is widely appreciated for its intelligibility and the bookis used by students and even senior designers when talking aboutdigital games.3 For the purpose of my thesis and this chapter, I willuse mainly parts that talk about game mechanics.

However we need to describe and define what game mechanicsare. They are one of the basic elements which make a digital game.They define the goal of the game and the way of how the player mayor may not achieve said goal. The player can also determine what ishappening in the game with the help of game mechanics.4

This is how Schell speaks about game mechanics in general. Wecan say that they are some kind of a layer between a game and theplayer that is enabling mutual interaction and communication.5 In thenext part, I would like to look closely on individual game mechanics.

2. Jesse Schell. Schell games [online]. 2018 [cit. 2018-11-19]. Available from:https://www.schellgames.com/leadership/jesse-schell3. COOK, Daniel. Book Review: The Art of Game Design [online]. In: Gamasutra. [cit.2018-11-18]. Available from: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/132326/book_review_the_art_of_game_design.php4. SCHELL, Jesse. The art of game design: a book of lenses. Boston: Elsevier/MorganKaufmann, c2008, p.41. ISBN 01-236-9496-55. The term "game" means software that is created by a series of numbers whichare for the ordinary player unreadable and incomprehensible in this context.

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http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/132326/book_review_the_art_of_game_design.php


3. Theory of game principles

3.1.1 First game mechanic: Space

Every game is limited by a certain space. Even games based on theconversation of two players are no exception and there is a so-called"conversational space" created between them. Space in digital games isa purely mathematical construct and it is freed from any stylization orvisualization. Properties of game space in digital games are as follows:

1. Continuity or discontinuity2. Number of dimensions3. Splitting the space into multiple areas (connected or not)6

However empty space without items is still only space. In the nextsubsection, I will elaborate on what that space can contain.

3.1.2 Second game mechanic: Game objects, attributes and states

The game objects themselves are a game mechanic. Every item, char-acter, an indicator of the score and everything else that the player cansee and interact with is a game mechanic.7 Schell gives us an analogywhere he considers game objects to be „nouns" of game mechanics.„Adjective“ in this analogy translates to attributes and states of thosegame objects. The attribute can be static and unchanging (e.g. colourof objects) or dynamic (e.g. variable speed of a car).

In a racing digital game, the object is a car and the attribute ofthat car is its position in gaming space. Another attribute can be anactual or maximum speed of the car as I mentioned before. The specificvariable value of this parameter will be a state. The best example forthis is the game of chess. The figure of the king (game object) has anattribute of movement around the board which can have three states -free movement, check and checkmate.

The most important thing of this game mechanic is whether theplayer knows about it or the game hides it before him. In the game ofchess, the information about objects, attributes and states is publicly

6. SCHELL, Jesse. The art of game design: a book of lenses. Boston: Elsevier/MorganKaufmann, c2008, p.130-135. ISBN 01-236-9496-5.7. In the same place, p.136.

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known, but e.g. in card games, the player doesn’t know the cards ofthe opponent.8

3.1.3 Third game mechanic: Activity

If we continue in Schell’s analogy of part of speech we can say that theactivity in the game is "verb" of game mechanics. We have two typesof activity which we can obtain by answering the question: "What canthe player do in the game?".

The first ones are operative actions. They are the ones that de-termine the most basic tasks the player can do in the game (e.g. acharacter can move).

The second types of activities are deductive and they follow upthe first type. Schell calls them resultant actions. As the name suggests,they are deduced from the operative actions. Those derived actionsdetermine how a player uses the operative actions to achieve the goalof the game and the list of them will naturally be much longer. Theyare also often strategic in nature.

For example, in the digital game Counter strike,9 the operative actionwill be a movement of the player, interaction with items, and shootingthe gun. Resultant action will be the distraction of the enemies orappropriate time of the attack.

3.1.4 Fourth game mechanic: Rules

"The rules are the most basic game mechanic. They define space, objects,actions and their consequences [..] and the goal of the game"10

This is what Jesse Schells says about the rules in his book and he con-tinues by stating following:

"Game is not defined by its rules but the game is its own rules"11

8. SCHELL, Jesse. The art of game design: a book of lenses. Boston: Elsevier/MorganKaufmann, c2008, p.136-137. ISBN 01-236-9496-5.9. Valve Corporation. 2000. Half-Life: Counter-Strike. (Sierra Online, Inc., Win-dows)10. SCHELL, Jesse. The art of game design: a book of lenses. Boston: Elsevier/MorganKaufmann, c2008, p.144. ISBN 01-236-9496-511. In the same place, p.149.

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He basically says that the rules condition the existence of previousthree game mechanics. They also create one very important gameattribute - they make the goal of the game. Jesse Schell then uses dis-memberment of game rules defined by historian David Parlett. Hedived them into these eight categories:

1. Operative rules: they are what the player needs to do to playthe game.

2. Foundational rules: they are the lower layer that defines theformal structure of the game. They have the same result asoperative rules but in more mathematical record.

3. Code of conduct: the unwritten rules of the player’s behaviour.They mostly have ethical nature.

4. Written rules: the player receives these rules with the game asa manual. In digital games, they are in the form of the tutorialso the player can understand the operative rules.

5. Tournament rules: they change the written rules to balance thegame and achieve fair-play.

6. Official rules: they are created when there is the need to com-bine tournament and written rules into one group.

7. Advisory rules: tips and tricks that the player can encounterduring the game. They are not really rules, but rather recom-mended strategy.

8. User rules12: modifications of operative rules by the playerswho have the need to change the original rules.

When we speak about changing the rules, a lot of the games offervarious modes themselves. They are different variations within onecontent and they are defined by the changed rules of the game. Thesekinds of changes are mostly very significant and Schell says that wecan consider each game mode as a completely new game title.13 Digitalgames offer a wide range of game modes that are available as a optionin the menu of the game (e.g. campaign, cooperative game) or they are

12. In original "house rules", Schell, 2008, p. 14713. SCHELL, Jesse. The art of game design: a book of lenses. Boston: Elsevier/MorganKaufmann, c2008, s.147. ISBN 01-236-9496-5.

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implemented in the game as some sort of a mini-game or additionalcontent.

The digital game itself also checks if the player follows the rulesthat are set. It is an important parameter that the game needs to do.The developer can execute a command that will monitor if the playeris sticking to the rules. The player does not have to remember the rulesin this case because the game reminds him, using very visual and non-violent way. If the object in the game is not supposed to be movingthat the rules of the game do not allow it. These physical restrictionsare the most apparent form of how the player sees the rules.14 Thisis a big difference from traditional games like board games or sportswhere the other players or referee keep an eye if everyone is followingthe rules.

As it was mentioned at the beginning of this subsection, the rulesare the ones that define the goal of the game. We can divide themin main and secondary goals. In most cases, there are many goals indigital games. Completing the secondary goal or task can help theplayer to get closer to the main goal. There are two ways how that canhappen - direct and indirect way. In the first, way the access to themain task is gained trough completion of the small task, in the latter,the secondary task is voluntary, but it makes the walkthrough of thegame easier and brings valuable rewards.

3.1.5 Fifth game mechanic: Coincidence

Last game mechanic works with the ones I already described. It is anelement of coincidence that comes from pre-calculated mathematicalprobability which the designer creates for the game. From the view ofgame design, the element of coincidence is very important, as it givesthe player a moment of surprise and make the game fun. In the nextsection of my thesis I want to write about the topic of game designand what makes the game fun.

14. SCHELL, Jesse. The art of game design: a book of lenses. Boston: Elsevier/MorganKaufmann, c2008, p.147-148. ISBN 01-236-9496-5.

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3.2 Game design according to Jesse Schell

Jesse Schell in his book also focuses on game design. What is gamedesign? Who is game designer? What or who determines answersto these questions? Schell gives us very open and comprehensiveanswer.15 He says that game design is the act of deciding what thegame should be.

There is important distinction between game designer and gamedeveloper. Anyone who is working on any part of the game is gamedeveloper. The term applies to animators, writers, coders etc. Gamedesigner is only one of those game developers. Game designer needto make tens of thousands decisions and he does not need any specialtools. He can design the game solely in his head. He does not evenneed to be programmer because many games can be played withoutusing a computer. But for purpose to design functional digital gamehe needs to have some technological knowledge. Schell also pointsout following things:

1. Design a game is not to fabricate a story. It is not only that.Deciding of what the story will be is one of many aspects thatthe developers need to decide about the game.

2. Game designer is present all the time. It rarely happens thatthe designer decides about some few aspects of the game andthen leaves its development.

3. Designer is role and not a person. Anyone who makes anydecisions about the form of the is designer.

So we can say that game design is something like decision-makingprocess. It is more than ordinarily that there are more people presentduring this kind of process.

15. SCHELL, Jesse. The art of game design: a book of lenses. Boston: Elsevier/MorganKaufmann, c2008, p.24. ISBN 01-236-9496-5

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One of elementary aspect of any creative process is inspiration andSchell says following about becoming game designer:

"To become a great designer [...] you must be ready to think for yourself,to figure out why certain principles don’t work in certain cases, and to inventnew principles on your own."16

Schell thinks that inspiration can be found as a basic element in manybig games we know. But how can we change inspiration into goodgame design? A logic step would be to use tools available for gamedevelopment to achieve that. But Jesse Schell has different approach.Firstly we need to admint to ourselves that we have a problem. Themain job of any design is to solve problem and game design is noexception. Game designer needs to be sure of why he trying to comeup with an idea. Stating the problem clearly is good way how to dothat.17

Problem solving is everyday task for regular person. In game de-velopment it become very important component of game design. Theplayers are actively looking for problems that they want to solve be-cause they find pleasure in it. Schell is saying that there can be manyother game activities or game aspects but problem solving is different.Although activities like social interaction can improve the game theyare not a necessity. If we remove problem solving from the game, itceases to be a game.18

3.3 Game design according to Raph Koster

I would like to briefly present a another view on video game designand that is by Raph Koster. He was a creative lead and lead designeron various massive online multiplayer games. He is currtently chiefcreative officer for Sony Online Entertainment. Koster also regularlywrites on subject of game design, online communities and virtual lives.One of such works is book called A theory of Fun for Game Design.

16. SCHELL, Jesse. The art of game design: a book of lenses. Boston: Elsevier/MorganKaufmann, c2008, p.29. ISBN 01-236-9496-517. In the same place, p.60.18. In the same place, p.35.

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In his book Raph Koster writes similar thing to Schell. He saysthat games are puzzles to solve like everything else we encounter inlife. Koster compares games to activities like learning to drive a car orlearning multiplication tables. Games are exercise for our brains, welearn through them and the ones that fail to exercise the brain becomeboring. So according to Koster of on main things to make games funis solving puzzles.19

However different people bring different experiences and they alsohave different levels of ability to solve problems that are put in frontof them. On average females tend to have trouble with certain types ofspatial perceptions. The interesting thing is that power of video gamescan change this. Research has shown that if we give those types ofwomen video game that encourages them to rotate object in 3-D, theirspatial rotation will gets better. The results will also be permanent.But very few women will choose these types of games on their own.20

What does this mean for game designer? Raph Koster says that itmeans that not only will a game be unlikely to appeal to everyone, butthat it is also probably impossible for it to do so. The difficulty rangeis almost certain to be wrong for many people. The basic systems aremost likely to not be interesting or to be too difficult for large segmentsof the people.

3.3.1 What games need, to be successful

Kostner presents in his book list of six important elements that hethinks all successful games tend to incorporate. If these elements areincluded in a game, it has potential to be fun.21

1. Preparation: before the player dive into the challenge, he needsto make some choices that affect their odds of success. It can beanything like healing before battle or handicapping the enemy.Most games offer some kind of training system for battles.

19. KOSTER, Raph.A Theory of Fun: for Game design. Arizona: ParaglyphPressInc., 2005. p.34-40. ISBN 1-932111-97-220. In the same place, p.102.21. In the same place, p.120.

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2. A sense of space: it might be landscape of a war game or evena chess board. In role playing games it might be certain part ofthe world the player can explore.

3. A solid core mechanic: this is a puzzle to solve. It is usuallykind of small rule. The complexity of games come from eitherhaving a lot of mechanics or having only few that were elegantlychosen.

4. A range of challenges: it is content. Challenges do not changethe rules of the game but they work within them. Each enemythe player encounters in a game is one of these.

5. A range of abilities to use: if the player have only one weaponto use the whole game and nothing else than the game becomesdull. Most games uncover different abilities over time and thenat a high level the player has many to choose from.

6. Skill required to use the abilities: bad choices lead to failure.The player need to think trough his actions before he does themand the skill can be anything. For example it can be resourcemanagement during encounter with an enemy of failure intiming.

Kostner also reminds that the game needs to be learning experi-ence becuase that makes it fun. He names three features that shouldbe present.22

1. A variable feedback system. The result of the encounter shouldnot be completely predictable.

2. The Master Problem must be dealt with. High-level player donot get rewards or benefits for easy challenges. Inexpert playerswill not be able to get most of the game and the content willopen for them over time.

3. Failure must have cost. There should be an opportunity costat least or there can be more. Player should be somehow pun-ished if he fails an attempted challenge. Next time he tries thatchallenge he needs to start from scratch for example.

22. KOSTER, Raph.A Theory of Fun: for Game design. Arizona: ParaglyphPressInc., 2005. p.123. ISBN 1-932111-97-2

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3.4 Narrative

If we want to study and compare stories of the games, first we needto define what a story is. Here, we are able to use more theory fromliterature that studies this question for a long time. When we have astory, we also have narrative. These two go hand in hand and some-times we can change one for the other. According to Gérard Genett,narrative is simply a representation of an event or series of events.23

H. Porter Abbot says that narrative consists of a story and narrativediscourse. He uses the same definition of a story as Genett uses fornarrative - that it is an event or a series of events. Abbot then explainsnarrative discourse as a representation of those events.24 The thirdopinion on narrative comes from Marie-Laure Ryan, who argues thatthese definitions are not specific enough.

Ryan says that we need to stop studying narrative as somethingthat is or is not when talking about a certain subject. The definitionthat Ryan presents to us and labels as "fuzzy-set" is allowing us to putsubjects with different levels of narrative under one set.25 This makesfor a very flexible terminology that leaves a choice to determine whatwe will see as narrative.

In practical case, this definition is realized into a set of eight condi-tions aligned according to claims they place on the examined subject.Each condition also contains the one before her. The individual condi-tions are as follows.

The narrative has to tell us about worlds inhabited by independentbeings. This condition means that we can exclude texts dealing withgeneral and abstract entities like "human race", "brain" or "atoms".

The second condition says that these worlds need to be embeddedin time and go through visible changes. With the third condition,Marie-Laure Ryan defines those changes a little bit more by saying thatthey have to be caused by unusual events. Fourth condition says that

23. GENETTE, Gérard, Figures of Literary Discourse. Translated by Marie-Rose Logan.New York: Columbia University Press, 1982, p. 127. ISBN 978-023-1049-856.24. ABBOTT, H. The Cambridge introduction to narrative. New York, NY, USA: Cam-bridge University Press, 2002, xiv, 203 p. ISBN 05-216-5969-8.25. RYAN, Marie-Laure. Toward a definition of narrative. In: HERMAN, David. TheCambridge companion to narrative. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007, s.22-35. ISBN 978-0521673662.

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some participants that take part in those events have to be intelligentwith an emotional response to the world around them. Those eventsneed to be deliberate actions of participants mentioned before whichis the fifth condition. Events have to be in a sequence and form a singlestring that leads to their denouement. Last but one says that at leastone of those events has to be presented within the fictional world asfactual. The final condition says that the whole story has to make senseto the audience.

With these eight conditions, we can exclude some stories that don’tfit this definition. They are stories with static descriptions, repetitiveevents and changes caused by natural causes (e.g. aging), descriptionof events of natural phenomena or monologues of characters. The lastcondition excludes stories that are bad and Ryan herself labels it ascontroversial and poetic. She says that it needs further specificationsand better explanation of what it means "to make sense".

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4 Role playing games

Let’s start with some basic information about this genre. The maincharacteristic of role playing games [RPG for short] is that the playercan improve the skills of his character. Skills can be physical, magicaland psychical. The player can also discover new abilities and itemsthat affect his statistics during the game. In the most basic sense we candefine RPG as "a game where you play as a hero". Mark J. P. Wolf says thatit is a game where the player creates a character represented by certainstatistics which develop it further.26 The player usually controls onecharacter or avatar and through it he can explore the world. In manygames of RPG genre players have the option to change the appearanceof the character so they can better identify themselves with it.

Role playing games are often very closely connected with litera-ture and the sci-fi and fantasy genres. This is the reason why Bolterand Grusin spoke about remediation when they mentioned RPG inthe late 90s.27 This opinion is also backed by Geoff King and TanyaKrzywinska few years later when they were speaking about the rela-tionship between cinema and videogames.28 They all say that the RPGis a remediation of stories by J. R. R. Tolkien. There is definitely sometruth in their claims, but they forget about more closer predecessor ofthe role playing videogames which is Dungeons & Dragons.29 A lot ofthe rules that were later used in the concept of computer role playinggames are based precisely on the rules of these "pen and pencil" onesthat originated in the 1970s. Digital RPGs just took over these existingrules and mechanics.

26. WOLF, Mark J. P. The medium of the video game. Austin: University of Texas Press,2001. ISBN 02-927-9150-X.27. BOLTER, Jay David & GRUSIN, Richard. Remediation: understanding new media.Cambridge: MIT Press, c1999. ISBN 02-625-2279-9.28. KING, Geoff & KRZYWINSKA, Tanya. ScreenPlay: Cinema/videogames/interfacings.London: Wallflower Press, 2002. ISBN 1-903364-23-X.29. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. 1974. Dungeons & Dragons. (Tactical StudiesRules, Inc., tabletop game)

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4. Role playing games

4.1 Typology of the RPG genre

I would like to briefly divide games in the RPG genre into followingsubcategories using naratology and ludology to get better idea whattypes of game there can be.

Firstly there is aproach that comes from naratology. We split theRPG genre according to visual representation and from that we getsci-fi RPG and fantasy RPG that I already mentioned. Naratology alsoallows us to categorize the genre acording to camera’s point of viewwhich I present in following list.

1. Bird perspective point of view: in this type of game the playerusually moves and interacts with the environment primarily byway of a mouse and other actions, such as casting a spell, areperformed in response to keyboard inputs

2. Third person view: allows the player to observe the main char-acter in action, without giving the player the sense that theyactually are the character but such camera positioning gives awider field of view of the surrounding area

3. First person view: allows the player to perceive the game throughthe eyes of the character, observing the world around them upclose, giving a clear view of the scenery in front of them

When we aproach this genre in the way of ludology we can see thatthe main differences are in networkability. We have this kinds of roleplaying games:

1. Singleplayer RPG: a single-player game is usually a game thatcan only be played by one person

2. Multiplayer RPG: more than one person can play in the samegame environment at the same time, either locally or over theinternet

3. Massive multiplayer RPG: it is commonly known as MMORPGand the most famous example is the game World of Warcraft30

30. Rob Pardo, Jeff Kaplan and Tom Chilton. 2004. World of Wacraft. (BlizzardEntertainment, Inc., PC)

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4. Role playing games

We can also use ludology to split the genre according to playabilityto get action RPG or adventure RPG for example. The last way howludology can split the RPG genre is by interactivity where the gamecan be very complex and let the player freely explore - sandbox RPGs,or it can limit the player to stricly follow certain storyline that thedevelopers want to show to the player.

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5 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

5.1 Context

The game is the third continuation of the popular fantasy role playinggame The Witcher from 2007. The first game in the series was highlyacknowledged by the public and it recieved very positive reviews bythe critics. This success is significant because the game originated in athen small Polish studio CD Project RED. The gaming industry is oneof the globalized industries and country of origin of games is usuallynot something people pay attention to, but in case of the first Witchergame we can not miss some kind of "polish archetypes". The targetgroup for the game seems to be old-school fans of the role playinggame genre which is a group typical for middle and east Europe.The reason for "polish archetype" in The Witcher is its original sourceseries of books by Andrzej Sapkowski which have cult status in Polandand Czech republic. As I mentioned before The Witcher was widelyaccepted so sequel The Witcher 2: Assasins of King was released fouryears later and the last game in the series came out in 2015.

Development of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt began in early 2010’slittle bit after releasing The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. It took overfour years to finish and the writers were trying to bring complexityand authenticity to the game and really focused to reflect Sapkowski’snovels. Sapkowksi himself did not take part in development and heonly helped with creating the in-game map.31 The game was alsoheavily localized and translated to around fifteen languages. It re-ceived critical acclaim, with praise for its gameplay, narrative, worlddesign, combat and visuals although it received minor criticism dueto technical issues. It also obtained many Game of the Year awards.32

31. Wiedźmin 3: Dziki Gon – kompendium wiedzy [online]. October 31, 2017 [cit.2019-04-15]. Available from: https://www.gry-online.pl/newsroom/wiedzmin-3-dziki-gon-kompendium-wiedzy-aktualizacja-30-wsparcie-dla-ps4-pro-devils-pit-mod-i-inne/z114c3632. LEACK, Jonathan. The Witcher 3 has won more Game of the Year Awards than anyother game. In: Gamerevolution [online]. March 17, 2016 [cit. 2019-04-15]. Avail-able from: https://www.gamerevolution.com/news/12340-the-witcher-3-has-won-more-game-of-the-year-awards-than-any-other-game

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5. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The game was released on PC, XBox One and Playstation 4 andbecause of its huge popularity it also got two expansions called Heartsof Stone and Blood and Wine. The Witcher 3 is also responsible for fameof card game Gwent33 that was introduced as a minigame available forplayers at first. In 2018 it was release as a standalone title which wasalso developed by studio CD Project RED.

5.2 Story

Story of THe Witcher 3: Wild Hunt takes place on the Continent whichis a world filled with characters of various species. Creatures we knowfrom classic fantasy worlds like elves, dwarves and monsters livetogether with humans. However everyone who is not human canbe very often oppressed. Around the Continent are various paralleldimensions and extra-dimensional worlds. The Continent is also tornby war between the Empire of Nilfgaard, led by Emperor Emhyr varEmreis, and Northern Kingdoms.34.

In the game, the player takes a role of Geralt of Rivia who is monsterhunter know as the witcher.35 He is the main character and he istrained in combat, magic, alchemy and other things since his earlychildhood. By his side helping him is Yennefer of Vengerberg who ispowerful sorceress and Geralt’s love interest in the works of AndrzejSapkowski.36 At the beggining of the game she and Geralt reuniteagain and start to search for their lost adopted daughter named Ciriwho is a source. That is someone born with big magical powers and

33. Michał Dobrowolski, Damien Monnier. 2018. Gwent: The Witcher Card Game.(CD Project RED, all platforms)34. FENLON, Wes. The Witcher 3 story primer: catch up on the essentials.In: PCgamer [online]. May 18, 2015 [cit. 2019-04-15]. Available from:https://www.pcgamer.com/the-witcher-3-story-primer-catch-up-on-the-essentials/35. LEAR, Jake. A Witcher primer: What you need to know to play The Witcher3. In: Polygon [online]. May 18, 2015 [cit. 2019-04-15]. Available from:https://www.polygon.com/2015/5/18/8620223/witcher-3-guide-witcher-2-witcher36. FENLON, Wes. The Witcher 3 story primer: catch up on the essentials.In: PCgamer [online]. May 18, 2015 [cit. 2019-04-15]. Available from:https://www.pcgamer.com/the-witcher-3-story-primer-catch-up-on-the-essentials/

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she was trained to be a witcher by Geralt. Ciri is very important to thestory as her real father is the emperor and she is last heir to very oldelfish bloodline that is able to manipulate space and time.37

The subtitle "Wild Hunt" for this instalment of the Witcher seriesis not just a phrase. In the game it is a group of spectral riders whoshow as a sign of war. They are in search of mortals that they kill andturn into new riders. The Wild Hunt want to find Ciri because sheescaped them. They can not be killed and Geralt is familiar with themsince they appeared in previous games before.38

The game offers various endings that depend on how the playerchooses to play but the main things that decides which ending theplayer get is the fate of Ciri. If she lives, Geralt can spend the rest ofhis life with either of his love interests or be witcher on his own. IfCiri is or is not presented to the emperor she either become empressor a witcher. The worst ending of the game is that Ciri dies.

5.3 The game principles

5.3.1 Game mechanics and design

The gamers play this action role playing game in third-person viewin and open world setting. They control a Witcher named Geralt asI stated earlier. Geralt can walk, run, roll and dodge and even jump,climb and swim for the first time in the series.39 He can use varietyof weapons like crossbow, bombs, steel sword and silver sword. Itis important to divede the swords like this because the steel one isused to fight and kill humans and the silver sword is mainly effectiveagainst various creatures and monsters. Players can use and switcheither of their swords whenever they like. However Geralt is not the

37. FENLON, Wes. The Witcher 3 story primer: catch up on the essentials.In: PCgamer [online]. May 18, 2015 [cit. 2019-04-15]. Available from:https://www.pcgamer.com/the-witcher-3-story-primer-catch-up-on-the-essentials/38. In the same place.39. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Game Manual [online].USA, 2015 [visited on 2019-05-09]. Available from:http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/292030/manuals/The_Witcher_3_Wild_Hunt_Game_Manual_PC_EN.pdf.

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only character players can control. They can also be in charge of Ciriwho can use her powers to teleport on short distances.

The combat system is influenced by games like Dark Souls40 andDemon’s Souls.41 Game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz admitted inan interview42 and even game designer Damien Monnier wrote aboutit on his personal page.43 Players can use two types of melee attackwhere he uses his sword. The first one is called "light attack" andis very fast. Player can strike multiple blows in short period of timebut they are weak. The second attack is "heavy attack" which is thecomplete opposite and that is very slow but strong. Players can alsouse their swords to protect their character from enemies and blockor counter attacks from their foes. However there is a downside tousing swords and that is that they have endurance and require regularrepair.

The game of course does not limit player to only using psychicalattacks. The main character also has five magical sings. These singsuse stamina and so they can not be used continuously.

1. Aard: unleashes a telekinetic blast2. Axii: confuses enemies3. Igni: burns enemies4. Yrden: slows the enemies down5. Quen: give the player temporary protective shield

Player can also use mutagens which separate the witcher fromnormal humans. Those mutagens made Geralt stronger, faster andresistant to toxins. Player can use them to make Geral’s magical abil-

40. FromSoftware. 2011. Dark Souls. (Namco Bandai Games., Windows, Xbox,Playstation)41. FromSoftware. 2009. Demon’s Souls. (Sony Computer Entertainment., Playsta-tion)42. PURCHESE, Robert. The Witcher 3 has won more Game of the YearAwards than any other game [online] [visited on 2019-05-09]. Availablefrom: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-11-19-the-witcher-3-what-is-a-next-gen-rpg.43. JONES, Gary. Witcher 3: Why Dark Souls has proved a big influence,new details on 200+ hours gameplay [online] [visited on 2019-05-09].Availablefrom: https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/gaming/567240/Witcher-3-Dark-Souls-big-influence-CD-Projekt-RED-Wild-Hunt.

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ities more powerful. If the character is attacked by enemies, he canloose health and evenutally even die. This can be reduced by wearingarmour. So when player chooses what equipment his character willwear the main thing he looks for is efficiency. Geralt’s health can berestored by meditating or consuming food and potions.44

In the game is very advanced artificial intelligence and dynamicenvironment. Monsters are affected by the rotation of day and nightand their powers change. For example mystical creature like werewolfis stronger during the night of full moon. Players is able to strategizeand learn useful information about each monster and how to beat themin in-game bestiary. When any monster is defeated it can be lootedfor valuable items for further use. These items are stored in inventorywhich is capable of expanding by buying upgrades. To find othercollectible items players can use Geralt’s special witcher sense. Ontheir travels trough the world players can come across various vendorswho will buy any unwanted items. There are also blacksmiths that areused to craft new weapons and armour thanks to objects the playerobtained.

5.3.2 Narrative

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is heavily oriented on narrative and whenthe main character is interacting with other non-player charactersthere is dialogue wheel present. Players can choose how they respondand some of those choices influence the outcome of the game. Thereare total of 36 possible endgame states although a lot of them arevery minor and variations of each other. Geralt’s actions throughoutthe game help shape international politics as well as his own life. Atthe end of the game there are short cutscenes that show the result ofplayer’s choices during the game. Those choices are also reflected thestate of the world during the last mission.45 In the end there are onlythree main outcomes that the player can get and they all depend on

44. PHIPPS, Brett. The Witcher 3 Guide: Combat Basics for Beginners [online][visited on 2019-05-09]. Available from: https://www.videogamer.com/guides/the-witcher-3-guide-combat-basics-for-beginners45. HILLIER, Brenna. The Witcher 3: how to get the best ending [online] [visited on2019-05-09]. Available from: https://www.vg247.com/2017/12/19/the-witcher-3-how-to-get-the-best-ending/

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the fate of Ciri as I mentioned in previous section. In addtion to thatif the player completes certain quests Geralt will end up with on ofhis love interest, Yennefer of Vengerberg or Tris Meringold. This thendeterminates how the story ends for Geralt. Players need to choose onlyone of the female characters. If they try to build romantic relationshipwith both of them, neither of them will end up with Geralt.

As the players progress through the game they complete quests.Besides the main missions that contain the story of the game, there arealso side missions. We can find them in towns on noticeboards or theycan see them on the map. They may be elaborate missions requiringplayers to hunt monsters called Witcher Contracts. The players are alsoable to choose side missions called Treasure Hunt that reward themwith better weapons or armour. For every successfully completedmission or killing a monster, the players receive certain amount ofexperience points. Geralt’s level increases every time when there isenough experience points and he receives ability points. The player isable to use these ability points to perfect Geralt’s skills. There are fourto choose: combat, signs, alchemy and general. I wrote about rules ofcombat and different signs in paragraphs before. If the player choosesone of these two skill it enhances Geralt’s attacks, unlocks new fight-ing techniques and help him to use magic better. Alchemy upgradesimprove crafting abilities and generally have several functions. Theycan raise Geralt’s vitality which is connected to his amount of healthor they increase crossbow damage.46

5.4 Reception of the game

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt received universal acclaim. Critics agreedthat it was an ambitious action role-playing game which was grand inscale, but marred by technical difficulties and a lack of innovation. Thiswas mentioned in several big online magazines that focus on gamereviews as IGN, Polygon or PCGamer. These three online magazinesalso included The Witcher 3: Wild hunt in their list of the greatestvideo games of all time and it is considered so even by majority of

46. HAWKINS, Josh. The Witcher 3 -: How to Use Skills, Signs, and Magic [online][visited on 2019-05-09]. Available from: https://www.usgamer.net/articles/28- 06-2017- the- witcher- 3- wild-hunt-how-to-use-skills-signs-and-mutagens-guide

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public which we can see on the sales of the game published by theannual report published by CD Project Red.47

The game was praised for its immersion and attention to detail. Itwas also acclaimed for its size, which many people found enormousand would take players hours to explore. Tom Senior from onlinemedium GamesRadar praised the open world’s variety and he writesfollowing text about the game:

"The Witcher 3 is at its best when you choose solely to wander, taking side-quests from peasants and contracts from town noticeboards. Freed from theconvolutions of the main plot, it’s a varied and exciting realisation of theRonin fantasy."48

Other critics were excited that the game is encouraging exploration;many quests would only become available to players after they metnon-playable characters in different parts of the world. Vince Ingenitofrom IGN and Shaun Prescott of PC Gamer were impressed by thegame’s scenery and its day-night cycle,49 with Ingenito saying follow-ing:

"A full day/night cycle and dynamic weather pull it all together, cementingThe Witcher 3’s landscape as one of the most authentic-feeling open worldsI’ve ever seen."50

In the next parts of this section I would like to focus individual partsof the game as narrative, game mechanics, gameplay and the maincriticism that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt received.

47. CD PROJEKT summarizes its 2016 financial results [online].Poland: CD Projekt RED, 2017 [visited on 2019-05-09]. Available from:https://www.cdprojekt.com/en/media/news/cd-projekt-posts-strong-results-2016/.48. SENIOR, Tom. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt review [online] [visitedon 2019-05-09].Available from:https://www.gamesradar.com/witcher-3-wild-hunt-review/49. PRESCOTT, Shaun. The Witcher 3 PC review [online] [visited on2019-05-09].Available from: https://www.pcgamer.com/the -witcher-3-review/.50. INGENITO, Vince. The Witcher 3 Review [online] [visited on2019-05-09]. Avail-able from: https://www.ign.com/articles/2015/05/12/the-witcher-3-the-wild-hunt-review.

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5.4.1 Gameplay

We clarified that the game got really good reviews and the combatsystem it has is no exception. Geralt is more agile with the abilityto climb and swim. The as a whole was significantly simplified anda lot of strategic elements that we could see in the previous gamesfrom The Witcher series. However the action in the game is betterthan in its predecessors. Overall the combat obtained very good re-views where it was praised and its fluidity described as a significantimprovement.51 However the combat system was not perfect for alland some people disliked disruptive weapon-degradation system andunrefined crossbow shooting mechanic. Jonathan Leack wrote in hisreview that the system was missing complexity. He claimed that themechanic lacks refinement caused by the unreliable lock-on system,camera issues and excessively-long combat animation.52 Other combatgameplay mechanics such as rolling and dodging, seemed inconsis-tent and made the system feel unfair. Anyway the simplified alchemysystem, a decent user interface and diverse difficulty settings madethe combat more accessible to the players.

Other gameplay elements got very mixed review and the criticswere not able to agree on it. Some praised the game’s customisationand upgrade systems. These mechanics give the player a certain senseof progression through the game and they were made harder furtherin the story. When I went back to the review by Vince Ingenito thatwas published on IGN I can tell that he also praised the upgradesystem. He described it as deep and flexible because players havesubstantial freedom when they want to customize Geralt’s skills.53.With an absolutely opposite opinion was Johnatha Leack who alreadycriticized the combat system. He called the upgrade system unexciting.

51. INGENITO, Vince. The Witcher 3 Review [online] [visited on 2019-05-09]. Available from: https://www.ign.com/articles/2015/05/12/the-witcher-3-the-wild-hunt-review.52. LEACK, Jonathan. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Review [online] [visitedon 2019-05-09]. Available from: https://www.gamerevolution.com/review/67931-the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-reviw.53. INGENITO, Vince. The Witcher 3 Review [online] [visited on 2019-05-09]. Avail-able from: https://www.ign.com/articles/2015/05/12/the-witcher-3-the-wild-hunt-review.

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https://www.ign.com/articles/2015/05/12/the-witcher-3-the-wild-hunt-review


https://www.gamerevolution.com/review/67931-the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-reviw

https://www.gamerevolution.com/review/67931-the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-reviw


There was a similar discussion between two other critics, TomSenior Chris Carter, where the latter is writing about games since 2008.Carter mentioned in his review the Witcher senses and decribed themas repetitive.54 Senior on the other hand was really excited about themand considered them superior to the traditional objective markers thatare the norm in role playing games. He also wrote about the card gameGwent that the players can play withing the main game. He foundit very addictive.55. The minigame became very popular among theplayers and was release as a standalone title as I mentioned at thebeginning of this chapter.

5.4.2 Narrative

Narrative was more involving in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt than itcould be in other games. The players could be part of the story signifi-cantly more. They had a chance to be witnesses to the key events thathappen in a game and even made choices that had consequences onthe world around them. I already described this in previous sections.

Kimberley Wallace wrote about narrative in the game in her review.She highlighted the dialogues and mainly the side missions. Each sidemission had its own short story and could similar to short films. Wal-lace also wrote about the main mission and thought that it deepenedthe main character. There was definitely an added value because of theromance choices that were really significant enhancement in compari-son with previous games. It had more characterisation for Geralt andit gave players emotional connections to the characters. Even thoughWallace expressed her excitement over the overall narrative in thegame she found the various endings disappointing.56

The best part of the narrative were definitely the side missionsand the main story suffered a little because of that. Tom Senior wrote

54. CARTER, Chris. Review: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt [online] [visited on 2019-05-09]. Available from: https://www.destructoid.com/review-the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-291344.phtml.55. SENIOR, Tom. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt review [online] [visited on 2019-05-09].Available from: https://www.gamesradar.com/witcher-3-wild-hunt-review/.56. WALLACE, Kimberley. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: Choice On A Grand Scale[online] [visited on 2019-05-09]. Available from: https://www.gameinformer.com/games/the_witcher_3_wild_hunt/b/playstation4/archive/2015/05/12/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-review-game-informer.aspx.

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https://www.gameinformer.com/games/the_witcher_3_wild_hunt/b/playstation4/archive/2015/05/12/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-review-game-informer.aspx




following in his review:

"The main plot is lacking - you spend a big chunk of it chasing someonewho’s having a more important and exciting adventure than you - but thetrove of sidequests makes up for that with a compilation of dark fantasy shortstories."57

Others joined him in his claims. For Ignenito the main story was fullof dull quests and Shaun Prescott from PC Gamer backed him up onit. He also added that the narrative would feel flat it the other contentin the game was not so engaging.

There was also a little bit of controversion surrounding the game.However it was not anything that affected the game on bigger scale.Arthur Gies from Polygon wrote in his article that he found someof the female characters are overly sexualized. He also voiced hisdisapproval that there are no people of colour in the main game.58

These issues were not widely talked by the journalists or players. Therewere different problems that brought controversy to the game which Iwill talk about in next section.

5.4.3 Criticsm

The biggest problem in the game that was mentioned by many criticswas its technical issues. I have to mention Shaun Prescott from PCGamer who described many of the animations stiff and the climbingones in particular. He also claimed that some gameplay mistakes orbugs could restrain player’s progress trough the game.59

Other critics had problem with the loading times that they foundtoo long. Jonathan Leack was disappointed with the graphics. Therewas a slight visible downgrade in graphics compared with the game’sdemonstration in 2013, two years prior its release. This was really huge

57. SENIOR, Tom. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt review [online] [visitedon 2019-05-09].Available from:https://www.gamesradar.com/witcher-3-wild-hunt-review/.58. GIES, Arthur. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: Review: Off the path [online] [visited on2019-05-09]. Available from: https://www.polygon.com/2015/5/13/8533059/the-witcher-3-review-wild-hunt-PC-PS4-Xbox-one.59. PRESCOTT, Shaun. The Witcher 3 PC review [online] [visited on 2019-05-09].Available from: https://www.pcgamer.com/the-witcher-3-review/.

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issue and multiple news articles were written about it. Even the playersloudly voiced there dissatisfaction with the graphical downgrade.There was also problem with frame rate and several critics gave thegame poorer rating because of that. Even though Vince Ingenito didnot think it has an impact on gameplay, it was still a persistent problemwhich overshadowed many of the game’s achievements.

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6 Kingdom Come: Deliverance

6.1 Context

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is realistic medieval action role play-ing game that was developed by indie game studio Warhorse whichoriginated in Czech republic. Even though this is their first and onlytitle, developers from the studio worked on several big games in thepast. Warhorse Studios was founded in 2011 by Daniel Vávra andMartin Klíma. Vávra is the creator, director and the main designerof the famous game Mafia.60 He also wrote screenplay for its secondcontinuation, Mafia II.61 Klíma significantly took part in founding thegame industry in Czech republic. He created Czech version of famousgame Dungeons & Dragons called Dračí doupě62 and released gameslike Fish Fillets63, Original War64 and UFO trilogy. Other key people inthe studio are Victor Bocan, designer and screenwriter who worked onOperation Flashpoint65 and senior graphics programmer Tomáš Blaho,who cooperated on Forza Horizon.66 67

Development of the game began in 2009 after Daniel Vávra left 2KCzech. He had an idea for a realistic role playing game. With smallteam he started to pitch the idea to investors which was successfuland they found one in Czech republic. The studio was created and thedevelopers were able to start working on the prototype of the game.After more than a year and a half Vávra tried to find publisher forthe game with finished prototype. However no publisher displayedinterest in funding the game even though they were excited about vi-suals of the game. They all did not believe that there is a demand from

60. Illusion Softworks. 2002. Mafia. (Gathering of Developers., Windows, Playsta-tion, Xbox)61. 2K Czech. 2002. Mafia II. (2K Games., Windows, Playstation, Xbox)62. Martin Klíma. 1990. Dračí Doupě. (Altar)63. Altar Games. 1997. Fish Fillets. (Altar)64. Altar Interactive. 2001. Original War. (Altar)65. Bohemia Interactive Studio. 2001. Operation Flashpoint. (Codemasters., Win-dows)66. Playground Games. 2012. Forza Horizon. (Microsoft Studios., Xbox)67. Warhorse studios: KDO JSME. Czechia: Warhorse. Available alsofrom:https://warhorsestudios.cz/index.php?page=aboutus

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6. Kingdom Come: Deliverance

players for realistic medieval digital role playing game. Publishersagreed that the players want magic and fantasy creatures.68

In response to the claims of publishers and to prove their originalinvestor that the game market wants the game they are making, thedevelopers started Kickstarter campaing on 22 January 2014. Theirplan was to raise £300 000 which was 10 % of the total budget. Afteralmost a month the campaign ended and they overcame this goal.People from all over the world donated more than one million Britishpounds.69 The studio continued to raise money trough their websiteand few years later they were able to find a publisher.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance was published by Deep Silver forMicrosoft Windows, PlayShtation 4 and Xbox One. It was releasedworldwide on 13 February 2018. It is set in the medieval Kingdom ofBohemia and the game main focus is on historically accurate content.The game contains various quest lines and an open world environment.It also portrays weapons, clothing, techniques and architecture thatis accurate for early 15th century. For that the studio used assistanceof various architects and historians during development. WarhorseStudio also released four downloadable content packs and during2019 they are planning to relase fifth one. Developers also created alot of additional content as rewards for the people who backed theproject on Kickstarter. Other players can buy this content.

6.2 Story

The story of Kingdom Come: Deliverance is set in the early 15th cen-tury. It takes place in part of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown andthe Holy Empire called Lands of the Bohemia. The place is nowadaysknow as the Czech Republic. The area which the player accesses inthe game is located in the region between Sasau and Rattay. Thereare many places that were taken from the real world. Players can alsovisit settlements and towns in the game like Stříbrná Skalice, Sázava,

68. Kingdom Come: Deliverance. USA: Warhorse. Available alsofrom:https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1294225970/kingdom-come-deliverance/description.69. In the same place.

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Ledečko, Sázava Monastery, Talmberk Castle, Samopše, Úžice andNový Dvůr.70

The game is not only set in real life locations but it is also basedon real historic events. Before the main story begins the Kingdom ofBohemia is ruled by Charles IV who is its king and also Holy RomanEmperor. The kingdom experienced a golden age under his reign.Charles’ son Wenceslaus received the crown and all titles after Charles’death. However Wenceslaus was seen as an idle and useless ruler. TheBohemian nobility considered him a bother because they could notcontrol him. Wenceslaus was stripped of the Holy Roman Emperorstatus and kidnapped on order by his uncle Sigismund. This howeverstarted a civil war in the country because Sigismund invaded Bohemiawith his Hungarian army.71

At this point also starts the story of the game. The exact year whenthe game begins is 1403. The players take on role of blacksmith’s sonHenry whose village was invaded and completely destroyed. Hiswhole family was killed right before his eyes by Sir Markvart vonAulitz. Henry manages to escape to Talmberk Castle. He swears hewill avenge the death of his parents and that he gets back sword thatbelonged to his father. He wishes to join several Bohemian lords in aquest to defeat the Sigismund’s army and bandits that are destroyingtheir kingdom. On his journey he meets Sir Hanush of Leipa, actingLord of Rattay as his young nephew Lord Hans Capon. He tries tojoin envoy of Sir Radzig in aiding the battle against Sigismund’s armybut is not able to because of his peasant origin. After he proves to becourageous soldier who saves Lord Hans Capon from bandits he isaccepted in the envoy. Later in the story it is revealed that Henry isactually illegitimate son of Sir Radzig. The lords are betrayed in theirfights by Istvan Toth, a Hungarian nobleman. They rally against himand defeat him in the end. Henry is acknowledged by Sir Radzig ashis son however he devastated by the loss of his father’s sword.

Towards the end of the game the lords are visited by Jobst, theMargrave of Moravia, and king Wenceslaus’ cousin. They all talk aboutthe state of the country. Their king is held captive in Vienna and king’s

70. Mapa. Czechia: Bohumil Jahoda. Available also from: https ://kingdom-come.cz/mapa.71. ČECHURA, Jaroslav. České země v letech 1378-1437: Lucemburkové na českémtrůně II. Praha: Libri, 2000. Dějiny českých zemí. ISBN 80-85983-98-2.

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uncle is still plundering their homes. In the end the lords come upwith a plan to rescue Wenceslaus, put him back on the throne andthe the war. In a final scene, Henry leaves together with Lord Caponon a journey to visit one of Sigismund’s allies, Otto von Bergow, athis estate in Trosky Castle. They also carry a letter that states theirwish to end the war peacefully. Henry remarks that his personal questremains to hunt von Aulitz and recapture his father’s sword.

6.3 The game principles

6.3.1 Game mechanics and design

As I stated at the beginning of this chapter, Kingdom Come: Deliver-ance is an action role-playing game set in an open world environment.The game is played from a first-person perspective which utilizes aclassless RPG system. The player is able to choose one from threepaths of how he wants to play the game. The path of warrior enableshim to solve any issue that he encounters in the game solve withbrute force and fighting. The path of thief allows the player to solveissues stealthily and unnoticed. Third path is path of bard where theplayer can talk others to do the fighting for him. The game also offersplayer to choose any combination of these paths and solve every issuedifferently.

Abilities and stats grow depending on what the player does andsays through branched dialogue trees. During conversations, the timea player takes to make a decision is limited and will have an effect ontheir relationships with others. Reputation is based on player choices.Therefore everything the player’s character does or say in the gamecan have consequences which is similar game mechanic to the one wesaw in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

As I already mentioned, the game is in first person perspective. Theplayer can only see his own hands or body in different activities. Playercan equip on his character up to sixteen items of clothing on variousareas of the body. They can also be layer over each other. If the playerchooses that his character is armored knight, he will wear mail andplate armor on his upper body. Under this armor the character can havegambeson (medieval kind of coat) and over the armor the charactercan have tabard. So in total the character will have four clothing items

36


in the chest slots. Player needs to think about the choices he makesregarding clothing because if he equips heavy clothing it will slowdown the character. Clothing also gets progressively more worn, dirty,or bloody through use, affecting the character’s appearance. This canalso influence how the non-playable characters view the player and theway they interact with him. Each clothing type also provides differentlevels of protection against different types of weapons.

Horses are big part of the game. They are designed with theirown AI. Player’s character has its own horse which will run to himwhen called. Because of the AI the horse can even refuse obediencewhen it decides that a player’s order is inappropriate. Horse can gainexperience and higher levels similarly to the player. This and the AIare huge differences from The Wither 3: Wild Hunt. These things canbe a step to changing the old mechanics of the RPG genre where onlythe main character gains experience. The player can also use theirhorse’s steed to carry items if they need additional inventory spaceand the horse can wear armor of its own. Similarly to The Witcher, theplayer can also fight from horseback.

The main difference between Kingdom Come: Deliverance andother games in the same genre is that it also features a needs system.The player needs to regularly sleep and eat for the character to stayhealthy. The system is applied to other things too. Food will spoilover time and does not benefit the player anymore. As I mentionedbefore the clothing can get dirty but it also degrade. The same things ishappening to various equipment like weapons and armor. The playerneeds to repair them if he wants to continue to use them. To make thismore fun to the player, developers turned these tasks into mini-games.

The combat in the game was designed by using new approach. It isbased on real physics. It is using inverse kinematics to determine thereactions of both combatants based on the speed and weight of a blow.In practical sense this mean that the swords clash and slide along thearmor and the characters have more than thirty target zones on theirbodies.72 This approach to combat system is completely new and itaims to add greater variety and realism to the combat. For creating thebest realism in their medieval combats, the developers got in touch

72. Mapa. Czechia: Bohumil Jahoda. Available also from: https ://kingdom-come.cz/mapa.

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with professional swordsmen who study and teach medieval fightingtechniques.

6.3.2 Narrative

In Kingdom Come: Deliverance there are not typical quests we knowfrom role playing games where non-playable characters will waitfor the player to finish the quest. Quests are intended to be nonlinear,with multiple ways to complete objectives because of the various pathsplayer can take as I described at the earlier in the text. The storylinefeatures some large-scale events such as castle sieges and large battles.Similar to the main character needs, the non-playable characters havetheir need system. Kingdom Come: Deliverance brings an unique AIsystem where every non-player character has their daily routine andneed to sleep, eat and work. The AI even reacts to events that arehappening in the game. For example if the NPC is supposed to go towork and it is raining, the characters stays home. The game’s designerViktor Bocan talks more about the system in one of many videos thestudio made about the mechanics of the game.

"[...] the whole system reacts to the player’s actions. Which is very importantpart because the player is some variable in the system. Every NPC does somestuff that is prescripted, to some extent, and they react to situations and theplayer is some wild card in the middle of this that can do almost anything"73

In practice it means that non-playeble characters will report crimesto authorities, who will punish the player accordingly, either with afine or time in jail. Crime will affect economics and people will getsuspicious or aggressive after unresolved crimes.

6.4 Reception

The game generally received positive reviews from critics, especiallyfor the PC version. Version of the game for the gaming consoles Playsta-tion 4 and Xbox One got rather mixed critics according to review ag-

73. Kingdom Come: Deliverance - Video Update #5: Living world. Czechia:WarhorseStudios. Available also from: https://youtu.be/3c_ANy-4TS4.

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https://youtu.be/3c_ANy-4TS4


gregator Metacritic where we can find reviews collected from varioussources.

Thing that surprised players and critics alike was the game’s savingsystem. It was hugely criticised and difficult to use for many people.And with big open world role playing game like Kingdom Come:Deliverance we can also expect some bugs. Howewer the game wasfull of them. We can find lot of funny videos made by the playersthat are showcasting various mistakes that they came across in thegame. Some of those bugs even blocked the players from continuingto play the game. Some critics complained that they had logged 30hours of real-time play, but had only advanced the game around 19hours because of this.

"What could have been an intriguing, unique, if somewhat underwhelmingRPG is completely crippled by a terrible save system and game-breakingbugs."74

The players were calling after some big update that would fix thetechnical issue and the critics were advising players to avoid the game.However the public opinion was that if the historical setting and focuson realism appeal to the player, then the deep gameplay systems andmethodical pace are worth learning.

But not everyone had the bad experience with the game. It wascompared to games like Skyrim and The Witcher if we stripped themof all the magic and fantastical creatures. Many players pardonedthe game’s technical issues because the experience was good enoughto justify them. The players acknowledged the game’s attention todetail. They praised the historical details and extensive, lifelike quests.The game also caught the eye of many players because of its uniquefighting system. Although the combat system is very hard to mastersince it takes psychics into account.

Game mechanics where player receives better status for "manlyodor" or that by visiting a brothel he acquires an "alpha male" statusdid not resonate with some players. They found them too juvenile.

74. GOROFF, Michael. Kingdom Come: Deliverance review: My king-dom for a playable game. [online] [visited on 2019-05-09]. Available from:http://www.egmnow.com/articles/reviews/kingdom- come-deliverance-review/.

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We can say the same thing about the saving system. Player basicallyconsumes an alcoholic drink to save his progress trought the game.

Even though Kingdom Come: Deliverance had the technical mis-takes and surprising new mechanics, the game surpassed The Witcher3: Wild Hunt in number of all-time peak of active players on Steam.However if we compare both games now we can see that The Witcher3: Wild Hunt still have big steady base of player.75 Player numbers forKingdom Come: Deliverance are rather on a decline.76

6.4.1 Controversy

Kingdome Come Deliverance was surrounded by huge controversyafter some publications and websites accused the developers of white-washing for not portraying people of color in the game. The problemwas also portrayal of Cumans and Hungarians who are shown as cruelinvaders in the game.77

The most significant was blog post from Japanese fan of the game.In it he shows proof of period paintings from Bohemia that show blackpeople. The developers answered to these accusation by saying thatthe game is historically accurate. It is taking place on a very smallpart of the country and people of color simply did not live in CentralEurope in early 15th century.

Czech journalist for newspaper Lidové noviny wrote commentaryon the issue.

"Kingdom Come: Deliverance is based on the consistent preservation of me-dieval life, the comments are often beneficial. In addition, there are suggestionsthat out of place. [...] Perhaps every European would say very little [peopleof color] lived there, if any."78

75. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. USA: Steam Charts. Available alsofrom:https://steamcharts.com/app/292030.76. Kingdom Come: Deliverance. USA: Steam Charts. Available also from:https://steamcharts.com/app/379430.77. MCCARTER, Reid. Kingdom Come: Deliverance – Myth-makingand Historical Accuracy [online] [visited on 2019-05-09]. Available from:https://unwinnable.com/2018/03/02/deliverance-myth-making-and-historical-accuracy/.78. NEVYHOŠTĚNÝ, Martin. Proč nejsou ve středověké hře z Čechžádní černoši? ptají se v zámoří [online] [visited on 2019-05-09].

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When we try to search more information on the issue we will findthat there were actually non-white people living in Europe at thattime. Online academic magazine called Public Medievalist maps theworld in its medieval times. One of its authors is Adam Simmons, PhDstudent at the University of Lancaster. He is researching the impactand role of Africa in the Global Middle Ages. In his article he claimsthat trough 15th century many Ethiopians embassies traveled troughEurope. Although they were notably present in Italy, France or Spain.He also writes that a lot of Africans were Christians and regularlyinteracted with European Christians. Since medieval Bohemia wasChristian country it is more than likely that people of color were occa-sionally present there. So the point that black Africans were presentand accepted in medieval Europe still stands.79

Even though these accusations originated before the release of thegame, developers are still asked questions about the issue to this day.I was witness of this at international game conference Game Accesson one of Daniel Vávra’s talks in 2018. Some people also reproachedthe views held by the game’s director Daniel Vávra, who has been avocal critic of what he believes is a progressive bias in video gamesjournalism.

Available from: https://www.lidovky.cz/byznys/firmy-a-trhy/proc-nejsou-ve-stredoveke-hre-z-cech-zadni-cernosi-ptaji-se-v-zamori.A140228_145020_firmy-trhy_mev.79. SIMMONS, Adam. RACE, RACISM, AND THE MIDDLE AGES: Un-coveringthe African Presence in Medieval Europe [online] [visited on 2019-05-09]. Availablefrom: https://www.publicmedievalist.com/uncovering-african/

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https://www.lidovky.cz/byznys/firmy-a-trhy/proc-nejsou-ve-stredoveke-hre-z-cech-zadni-cernosi-ptaji-se-v-zamori.A140228_145020_firmy-trhy_mev



7 Comparation of both digital games

Now that I explained the theory behind digital game principles andlooked closely on both games I would like to compare them. TheWitcher series is long standing leader in digital role playing gameswith a huge fanbase. Is Kingdom Come: Deliverance its successor andwill it set new trends in digital games? As we can see both gameshave a lot of similar aspects in terms of game principles that I wouldlike to explore in this chapter. When we look at the Schell’s five gamemechanic we can find all of them in both games. However there aredifferences in third game mechanic called activity.

As I stated in previous chapters, activity basically means what theplayer can do in the game. One difference between the games is thatthe player can swim in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This is not possiblein Kingdom Come: Deliverance and some players were calling fora possibility to allow swimming trough some future downloadablecontent. But the biggest difference is that the player can use magic andother kinds of unnatural abilities in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Theother game is heavily based on realism and so there is not anythingunordinary. This also goes against all traditions in the genre of roleplaying games since its origin is primarily in written fantasy worlds.As I wrote in the chapeter about Kingdom Come: Deliverance, thepublishers and investors did not have trust in this type of RPG game.However the player community proved them otherwise. The questionis if this shift from fantasy to realism in the RPG genre will be reflectedin other titles as well. Unfortunately we can not say for sure but thereare not more games that seem to be following this trend. In other waysof "what the player can do" mechanic, the games are mostly the same.The characters can interact with non-playable characters. They canalso move, use weapons and even ride a horse. However there is adifference in how they move or which weapons they use. In KindgomCome: Deliverance all weapons are historically accurate and modeledusing the real weapons as exemplar.

When we look at the fourth mechanic called rules we can see thatboth games have a main goal and many side goals or quests. Theyboth also offer some mini-games that the player can enjoy. Howeverin The Witcher the developers create a whole new card game as a

43

7. Comparation of both digital games

mini-game. Players can spend hours just playing the card game calledGwent and some of them do not even have a desire to continue in themain story. This also may be the reason why The Witcher 3: Wild Huntstill have tens of thousands active players each month. The popularityof the mini-game is also the reason for it becoming a standalone titleand it has a potential to become a competitive card game similar toHearthstone.80 Kingdom Come: Deliverance offers some mini-gamesbut they do not have the same potential. They are mostly practicalones where the player can repair his tools. Exception is the game ofdice which is a game of two players. However the game of dice isnothing new and original. This particular type of mini-game does notchange its mechanics solely relies on chance. Even thought the fifthgame mechanic says that the element of coincidence is important inthe game, there are still some other rules that needs to be applies. RaphKostner writes about it in the list of six elements for successful games.81

The game of dice does not offer range of challenges or different abilitiesfor player to use. The player can learn strategy and all elements of thegame very quickly and then it can start to bore him.

The combat system is in many ways different. I already wrote aboutthe absence of magic in Kingdom Come: Deliverance but there is more.As the game is based on reality, the combat is no exception. It wascreated by mapping moves of actual experienced swordsmen and it isbased on real psychics. The player need to take into account weightand speed of the weapon more than ever. This is something that is notusual in the RPG genre and in digital games as a whole. But it is notsomething that goes againts rules of game design. As Raph Kostnerwrites it is part of the point of preparation where the game makes theplayer to make some choices before he takes on a challenge.

Another thing that the player need to take into account in termsof combat and navigating through the game is what kind of itemswill his character use and wear. Usually in role playing games theplayer chooses items that give him the biggest advantage, help himwith his skill and suit the character. There is not really this kind oflogic in Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Logically the player would put

80. Blizzard Entertainment. 2014. Hearthstone. (Blizzard Entertainment, Windows,iOS, Android)81. KOSTER, Raph.A Theory of Fun: for Game design. Arizona: ParaglyphPressInc., 2005. p.120. ISBN 1-932111-97-2

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7. Comparation of both digital games

on helmet and various armor to make his character protected againstattacks from enemies. However medieval helmets used to have justsmall areas to look through. So when the player put the helmet on hisvision is compromised. This goes against what Raph Koster writes inhis book. He says that only player’s failures should be punished.

In terms of design Kingdom Come: Deliverance brings interestingnew mechanics to the genre and to the digital games overall. Its uniqueAI is something that we did not see in many games before. Every non-playable character has its own life in the game. The characters havework, hobbies and they can live everyday differently depending onoutside effects like weather. When the player is fulfilling some missionfor them they do not wait for him to come back on the same spotwhich is the usual way in RPG genre. The non-playable character likesto go to the pub at the evening the AI tells that character to go therebut if the pub is full, the system then looks at the second thing thecharacter like to do or send it to bed early. We are starting to see thisunique design of living world in other games too. Most recent in thegame Red Dead Redemption 282 which was released in October 2018.Similar to Kingdom Come: Deliverance, in this tile each non-playablecharacter lives its own life where it goes to work or enjoys its hobbies.

Is this new design a future of open world and role playing games?It might be. But it does not seem that Kingdom Come: Deliverance isthe new trend setter in terms of digital games. In conclusion I wouldsay that the success of the game does not mean there is a new leader inthe role playing games genre. Even thought it brings some interestingnew mechanics and designs. The game is interesting experiment andthe developers found a hole in the digital games’ market to make atitle that has not been made before.

82. Rockstar Studios. 2018. Red Dead Redemption 2. (Rockstar Games, Playstation,Xbox)

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https://warhorsestudios.cz/index.php?page=aboutus

https://www.gry-online.pl/newsroom/wiedzmin-3-dziki-gon-kompendium-wiedzy-aktualizacja-30-wsparcie-dla-ps4-pro-devils-pit-mod-i-inne/z114c36




Comparative analysis of game principles in The Witcher 3

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