Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's Crime System, Explained

In any RPG, choice is one of the most prevalent features within the genre. A player can choose to be a moral, just, upstanding hero to those in need. On the other hand, they can also choose to be an immoral, vile, reprehensible villain that ruins everyone and everything in their path. Or they can choose to walk the middle ground, and be a morally gray individual with no ties to anyone save themselves. Hero, villain, or somewhere in between; whatever path is chosen, an RPG should give you the means to walk it.

In Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, this is no less the case. Players can make Henry into an honest and honorable man who helps those in need, or an ignoble degenerate who steals, lies, and kills his way to the top. The game allows players to shift Henry into the role of good or bad depending on their actions, and its world will respond to those actions with either approval or disdain. But if it's the latter, expect consequences.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's Crime System is Reactive to Henry's Actions

The Punishment That Fits the Crime

Bohemia is a land ripe with interaction, and players can choose to interact with it and its people however they wish. However, if they choose to do so with less than noble intentions, then they may find themselves in trouble. Crime in the medieval era was severely reprehensible, and the punishments for committing such in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 are just as severe.

When committing crimes in the world, especially in settlements like villages or towns, the people will react swiftly and justly. If players steal something, the aggrieved will report it. If someone is killed, the guards will attack on sight. Even if players are not caught in the act per se, the local populace is surprisingly perceptive and will mark Henry as the culprit if he looks or has done something suspicious.

For example, if an item is stolen from someone's house, they will suspect Henry if he is seen entering and leaving their home. Or if someone was killed, the guards may mark Henry as the culprit if he has blood on his clothes or was seen near the body. Henry's actions in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 aren't just interactive, they're reactive. Just as the world and its people can reward him for speaking and acting justly, they will also vilify him if he cheats, steals, or even kills his way throughout Bohemia.

For every choice, there is a consequence, and evil actions in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 beget punishable consequences. Players can try and talk, bribe, or even fight their way out of the situation, but speech checks can fail, and the price may be too high to pay. In which case, all that's left for players is to face the music. So then the question stands: what's the punishment that fits the crime?

The Stockades are for Those Who Disturb the Peace

Minor Crimes Equals Major Discomfort

For minor acts such as stealing, trespassing, or unprovoked brawls, the guards won't come down so hard on Henry. Often enough, players can pay a minor fine of groschen, or if their speech check is high enough, persuade them to let them go. However, if they are lacking in either, and they don't want a fight, then it's off to prison; or rather the stockades.

Henry will be locked in the pillory, hands and head barred, and left on public display to all those around. He will find himself laughed at and berated, with people throwing a heap of rotting foodstuffs at his head. And he will remain there, throughout the clear day and the rainy night, and for some time after, until finally being released.

Sullen, humiliated, and most likely sore, Henry will be worse for wear, which also affects the players. This comes in the form of a debuff that lowers their Charisma and increases their Conspicuousness rating, making it harder for them to succeed in speech checks and sneaking around.

For Repeated Offenses, Henry is Whipped Publicly

Not Sparing the Rod

For repeated offenders, or more serious crimes like picking a fight with a guard or nobleman, the fine will be higher, as will the speech checks. Failing either will only leave one option to players: a public beating. For this punishment, Henry is tied to a post shirtless, and beaten repeatedly on the back with a cane as a crowd watches, after which he is released.

Even though this punishment isn't life-threatening, it is detrimental to Henry, particularly when it comes to his stats. After the caning, players will receive a massive debuff that reduces the majority of Henry's stats by forty percent, along with a twenty percent reduction to his stamina regeneration. Not to mention, Henry's health will be considerably depleted, and players will need to rest or see a healer to deal with his wounds.

The Crime of Murder Leaves Henry With a Brand

A Permanent Mark

A few days in the pillory or a public beating are bad enough, but there are worse punishments to be had if players don't change their ways. For the most serious crime in the game, murder, players will find a severely difficult speech check, along with a staggering fine to pay. If they can succeed in neither, then Henry is given the penultimate punishment within the game: the brand.

Henry is tied and brought to his knees in front of a crowd of onlookers, and held down by one of the guards as the executioner heats up a branding iron. Held firmly by the head, the brand is then seared into Henry's neck as an agonizing scream echoes throughout the square. After this, Henry is released, and players are left with a permanent mark that makes them a social pariah among the majority of Bohemia's populace. But that's only the beginning of their troubles.

In addition to the mark, players are given a debuff that severely decreases their positive reputation gain; a whopping fifty percent. Along with this, they are unable to talk or even trade with a majority of the people throughout Bohemia, leaving only fellow vagabonds and scoundrels to do business with. Over time the mark will fade, along with the debuff, but it is there to stay. And if players continue with their wicked ways while the brand is still fresh, then an even worse punishment awaits them.

The Final Punishment for Henry is Execution

An Eye For an Eye

After the stockades, the caning, and the brand, if players still continue to be a menace to society, then there is only one path left to them. The final, most severe punishment for crime in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is execution, and it is only handed down to Henry if he has committed murder again while the brand on their neck is still fresh (the debuff is still active).

Here is where the consequences are fatal, and if players cannot pass the speech check or pay the fine – both of which are severely difficult to pass at this point – then outside of fighting their way out, they can only surrender and prepare Henry to meet god. Henry is locked in a dungeon for an unspecified amount of time, but when the morning light comes, he is taken to the town square.

Here he wades through a sizable crowd of onlookers, all of whom berate him with curses and insults. He looks down on the crowd from the gallows, then above them to a clear blue sky with birds flying through the breeze. There are visible signs of remorse on his face, regret, and fear. And then the bailiff orders the execution, the executioner kicks the stump from underneath Henry's feet, and the screen fades to black.

The cutscene itself is a harrowing – not to mention haunting – scene for players to watch; it's a brutal, realistic sequence that shows the consequences of their actions. And on the subject of consequences, the execution, as one can imagine, results in Henry's death, and a "Game Over" screen detailing how they were executed for their crimes.