Bachelor S Thesis Rasilovova

Masaryk University
Faculty of Arts
Comparative analysis of game

principles 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, which
I have worked out on my own. All sources, references, and literature
used or excerpted during elaboration of this work are properly cited
and listed in complete reference to the due source.
Tereza Rašilovová
i
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Mgr. et Mgr. Zdeněk Záhora for his guidance,
support and valuable pieces of advice while writing this thesis. I
would also like to thank my mother, grandmother and the rest of my
family for help and support during my studies. Nonetheless I would
like to also thank my friends and everyone else who supported me
while writing this thesis.
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Contents
1 Abstract 1
1.1 Abstract in English language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Abstract in Czech language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 Introduction 3
2.1 About Game Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2 Structure and goal of the thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3 Theory of game principles 5

3.1 Five game mechanics by Jesse Schell . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.1.1 First game mechanic: Space . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1.2 Second game mechanic: Game objects, attributes
and states . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1.3 Third game mechanic: Activity . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.1.4 Fourth game mechanic: Rules . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.1.5 Fifth game mechanic: Coincidence . . . . . . . . 9
3.2 Game design according to Jesse Schell . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.3 Game design according to Raph Koster . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.3.1 What games need, to be successful . . . . . . . . 12
3.4 Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4 Role playing games 17

4.1 Typology of the RPG genre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
5 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 21

5.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
5.2 Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.3 The game principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5.3.1 Game mechanics and design . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5.3.2 Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
5.4 Reception of the game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
5.4.1 Gameplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
5.4.2 Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
5.4.3 Criticsm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
6 Kingdom Come: Deliverance 33
v
6.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
6.2 Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
6.3 The game principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
6.3.1 Game mechanics and design . . . . . . . . . . . 36
6.3.2 Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
6.4 Reception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
6.4.1 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 mainly
analyzes game mechanics, design and narrative by comparing two
of the newest games in the RPG genre. Both games work with the
open world in which there is more variability on how the player can
progress through the game and the gaming community writes an
imaginary equal sign between those two games. In my thesis, I show
differences for example in game mechanics or design I mentioned
before. Polish The Witcher 3 is displaying fantasy world to the player
whilst Czech game Kingdom Come: Deliverance is trying to be realis-
tic. We can see those differences of the games not only in how those
games 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 nejnovějších
her v žánru RPG. Obě hry pracují s otevřeným světem, ve kterém
se vypráví s mnohem větší variabilitou, jakým způsobem může hráč
hrou postupovat a mezi hry dává hráčská obec pomyslné rovná se. Ve
své práci poukazuji na rozdíly, kterými se hry liší v rámci například
již zmíněných herních mechanik nebo celkového herního designu.
Polský The Witcher 3 zobrazuje svět více fantaskní, zatímco česká
hra Kindgom Come: Deliverance se snaží o realističnost. Tyto rozdíly
jsou patrné nejen v tom, jak jsou hry prezentovány hráčům, ale i ve
vnitřních herních principech.
Keywords: game studies, game design, naratology, game mechanics,

RPG, ludology, analysis, comparation
1
2 Introduction
We can say that digital games are one of the most progressive and
the fastest growing media in the last few decades. Something that
began as a scientific experiment became one of the biggest attractions
of show business. The complexity that digital games’ technologic
platform offers is the reason that they grew into various different
genres and have many forms. The approach to making digital games
is also different in many cases. We can observe the same thing with
media like film or music. We see creators make simple games that are
more experimental and artistic. On the other hand, there are digital
games with a budget worth of millions, huge marketing campaigns
and games that create franchises. We can hardly doubt the stand that
digital games have in today’s culture.
Digital games nowadays are a phenomenon with extraordinary
economical turnover and social impact. We can safely say that it is
mainstream media and its academical reflection is on the rise in recent
years. In the Czech republic we can observe the creation of a field of
study called game studies, subjects focusing on analyzing games and
also subjects teaching how to create games. However those are still
not very expanded trough universities and we would hardly find a lot
of publications from famous authors under the keyword ludology.
This thesis is going to analyze the genre of digital games called
role-playing games, RPG for short. The main motive of this thesis is
to compare two titles of this genre, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and
Kingdom Come: Deliverance. The games were released three years
apart from each other but they are often compared by the gaming
community. There are a lot of voices who say that the games are the
same. In this thesis, I want to focus on their differences and how they
are reflecting the RPG genre. Differences in the question are game
mechanics, design and narrative.
2.1 About Game Studies

The academic field of game studies which this thesis is supported by
went through a rather dramatic development in its short existence.
At present time it can be considered an established discipline and
3
2. Introduction
periods of defensive rhetoric is in the past. There had been doubts

voiced by troubled academics who started to closely examine medium
of digital games. They just could not agree on how to approach this
medium. At the end of the 20th century came a Finish game designer
and academic Gonzalo Frasca. He introduced ludologic approach to
the narratological approach which was degrading digital game to just
a carrier of a story. He urges the necessity that we need to study digital
games with less basic tendency and free ourselves from concepts and
stands that are more suited for traditional media. Those media are
for example literature, theatre or film.1 Frasca supports this claim by
pointing out the uniqueness of digital games that needs a separate
field 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 and
analyze them. For game mechanics, I will use the definitions by Amer-
ican game designer Jesse Schell. When looking closer at the narrative
part I will be mainly using the work of Marie-Laure Ryan. Then I will
thoroughly describe both games and based on previous definitions of
game mechanics, narrative and design I will identify them in those
games. 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 this
thesis.
1. FRASCA, Gonzalo. Ludology Meets Narratology: Similitude and Differences

Between (Video)games and Narrative. [online]. 1999 [cit. 2018-05-11]. Available from:
http://www.ludology.org/articles/ludology.htm
4
3 Theory of game principles
Before I dive in the description of both games that I’m comparing in
this thesis I would like to cover the theory first. I will more closely
look at the game mechanics as it is the main principle I will study in
my analysis. Then I would like to explain the basics about the game
design 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 be
mentioned. Jesse Schell is an American game developer and designer
who has his own game studio and he also works as a Distinguished
Professor at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.2 In his
book The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses he offers a very clear
factual overview of what game mechanics are and how to define them.
This book is widely appreciated for its intelligibility and the book
is used by students and even senior designers when talking about
digital games.3 For the purpose of my thesis and this chapter, I will
use mainly parts that talk about game mechanics.
However we need to describe and define what game mechanics
are. 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 may
or may not achieve said goal. The player can also determine what is
happening in the game with the help of game mechanics.4
This is how Schell speaks about game mechanics in general. We
can say that they are some kind of a layer between a game and the
player that is enabling mutual interaction and communication.5 In the
next 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-schell
3. 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.php
4. SCHELL, Jesse. The art of game design: a book of lenses. Boston: Elsevier/Morgan
Kaufmann, c2008, p.41. ISBN 01-236-9496-5
5. The term "game" means software that is created by a series of numbers which
are for the ordinary player unreadable and incomprehensible in this context.
5
3. Theory of game principles
3.1.1 First game mechanic: Space

Every game is limited by a certain space. Even games based on the
conversation of two players are no exception and there is a so-called
"conversational space" created between them. Space in digital games is
a purely mathematical construct and it is freed from any stylization or
visualization. Properties of game space in digital games are as follows:
1. Continuity or discontinuity
2. Number of dimensions
3. Splitting the space into multiple areas (connected or not)6
However empty space without items is still only space. In the next
subsection, 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 can
see and interact with is a game mechanic.7 Schell gives us an analogy
where he considers game objects to be „nouns" of game mechanics.
„Adjective“ in this analogy translates to attributes and states of those
game objects. The attribute can be static and unchanging (e.g. colour
of objects) or dynamic (e.g. variable speed of a car).
In a racing digital game, the object is a car and the attribute of
that car is its position in gaming space. Another attribute can be an
actual or maximum speed of the car as I mentioned before. The specific
variable value of this parameter will be a state. The best example for
this is the game of chess. The figure of the king (game object) has an
attribute 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 the
player knows about it or the game hides it before him. In the game of
chess, the information about objects, attributes and states is publicly
Kaufmann, c2008, p.130-135. ISBN 01-236-9496-5.
7. In the same place, p.136.
6
known, but e.g. in card games, the player doesn’t know the cards of
the opponent.8
3.1.3 Third game mechanic: Activity

If we continue in Schell’s analogy of part of speech we can say that the
activity in the game is "verb" of game mechanics. We have two types
of activity which we can obtain by answering the question: "What can
the 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. a
character can move).
The second types of activities are deductive and they follow up
the first type. Schell calls them resultant actions. As the name suggests,
they are deduced from the operative actions. Those derived actions
determine how a player uses the operative actions to achieve the goal
of the game and the list of them will naturally be much longer. They
are also often strategic in nature.
For example, in the digital game Counter strike,9 the operative action
will be a movement of the player, interaction with items, and shooting
the gun. Resultant action will be the distraction of the enemies or
appropriate 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
Kaufmann, c2008, p.136-137. ISBN 01-236-9496-5.
9. Valve Corporation. 2000. Half-Life: Counter-Strike. (Sierra Online, Inc., Win-
dows)
Kaufmann, c2008, p.144. ISBN 01-236-9496-5
7
He basically says that the rules condition the existence of previous

three game mechanics. They also create one very important game
attribute - they make the goal of the game. Jesse Schell then uses dis-
memberment of game rules defined by historian David Parlett. He
dived them into these eight categories:
1. Operative rules: they are what the player needs to do to play

the game.
2. Foundational rules: they are the lower layer that defines the
formal structure of the game. They have the same result as
operative 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 as
a manual. In digital games, they are in the form of the tutorial
so the player can understand the operative rules.
5. Tournament rules: they change the written rules to balance the
game 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 encounter
during the game. They are not really rules, but rather recom-
mended strategy.
8. User rules12 : modifications of operative rules by the players
who have the need to change the original rules.
When we speak about changing the rules, a lot of the games offer
various modes themselves. They are different variations within one
content and they are defined by the changed rules of the game. These
kinds of changes are mostly very significant and Schell says that we
can consider each game mode as a completely new game title.13 Digital
games offer a wide range of game modes that are available as a option
in the menu of the game (e.g. campaign, cooperative game) or they are
12. In original "house rules", Schell, 2008, p. 147

Kaufmann, c2008, s.147. ISBN 01-236-9496-5.
8
implemented in the game as some sort of a mini-game or additional

content.
The digital game itself also checks if the player follows the rules
that are set. It is an important parameter that the game needs to do.
The developer can execute a command that will monitor if the player
is sticking to the rules. The player does not have to remember the rules
in 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 moving
that the rules of the game do not allow it. These physical restrictions
are the most apparent form of how the player sees the rules.14 This
is a big difference from traditional games like board games or sports
where the other players or referee keep an eye if everyone is following
the rules.
As it was mentioned at the beginning of this subsection, the rules
are the ones that define the goal of the game. We can divide them
in main and secondary goals. In most cases, there are many goals in
digital games. Completing the secondary goal or task can help the
player to get closer to the main goal. There are two ways how that can
happen - direct and indirect way. In the first, way the access to the
main task is gained trough completion of the small task, in the latter,
the secondary task is voluntary, but it makes the walkthrough of the
game easier and brings valuable rewards.
3.1.5 Fifth game mechanic: Coincidence
Last game mechanic works with the ones I already described. It is an

element of coincidence that comes from pre-calculated mathematical
probability which the designer creates for the game. From the view of
game design, the element of coincidence is very important, as it gives
the player a moment of surprise and make the game fun. In the next
section of my thesis I want to write about the topic of game design
and what makes the game fun.
Kaufmann, c2008, p.147-148. ISBN 01-236-9496-5.
9
3.2 Game design according to Jesse Schell

Jesse Schell in his book also focuses on game design. What is game
design? Who is game designer? What or who determines answers
to these questions? Schell gives us very open and comprehensive
answer.15 He says that game design is the act of deciding what the
game should be.
There is important distinction between game designer and game
developer. Anyone who is working on any part of the game is game
developer. The term applies to animators, writers, coders etc. Game
designer is only one of those game developers. Game designer need
to make tens of thousands decisions and he does not need any special
tools. He can design the game solely in his head. He does not even
need to be programmer because many games can be played without
using a computer. But for purpose to design functional digital game
he needs to have some technological knowledge. Schell also points
out 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 that
the developers need to decide about the game.
2. Game designer is present all the time. It rarely happens that
the designer decides about some few aspects of the game and
then leaves its development.
3. Designer is role and not a person. Anyone who makes any
decisions about the form of the is designer.
So we can say that game design is something like decision-making

process. It is more than ordinarily that there are more people present
during this kind of process.
Kaufmann, c2008, p.24. ISBN 01-236-9496-5
10
One of elementary aspect of any creative process is inspiration and

Schell 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 invent
new principles on your own."16
Schell thinks that inspiration can be found as a basic element in many

big games we know. But how can we change inspiration into good
game design? A logic step would be to use tools available for game
development to achieve that. But Jesse Schell has different approach.
Firstly we need to admint to ourselves that we have a problem. The
main job of any design is to solve problem and game design is no
exception. Game designer needs to be sure of why he trying to come
up with an idea. Stating the problem clearly is good way how to do
that.17
Problem solving is everyday task for regular person. In game de-
velopment it become very important component of game design. The
players are actively looking for problems that they want to solve be-
cause they find pleasure in it. Schell is saying that there can be many
other game activities or game aspects but problem solving is different.
Although activities like social interaction can improve the game they
are not a necessity. If we remove problem solving from the game, it
ceases 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 design
and that is by Raph Koster. He was a creative lead and lead designer
on various massive online multiplayer games. He is currtently chief
creative officer for Sony Online Entertainment. Koster also regularly
writes on subject of game design, online communities and virtual lives.
One of such works is book called A theory of Fun for Game Design.
Kaufmann, c2008, p.29. ISBN 01-236-9496-5
11
In his book Raph Koster writes similar thing to Schell. He says

that games are puzzles to solve like everything else we encounter in
life. Koster compares games to activities like learning to drive a car or
learning multiplication tables. Games are exercise for our brains, we
learn through them and the ones that fail to exercise the brain become
boring. So according to Koster of on main things to make games fun
is solving puzzles.19
However different people bring different experiences and they also
have different levels of ability to solve problems that are put in front
of them. On average females tend to have trouble with certain types of
spatial perceptions. The interesting thing is that power of video games
can change this. Research has shown that if we give those types of
women video game that encourages them to rotate object in 3-D, their
spatial 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 it
means that not only will a game be unlikely to appeal to everyone, but
that it is also probably impossible for it to do so. The difficulty range
is almost certain to be wrong for many people. The basic systems are
most likely to not be interesting or to be too difficult for large segments
of the people.
3.3.1 What games need, to be successful
Kostner presents in his book list of six important elements that he

thinks all successful games tend to incorporate. If these elements are
included in a game, it has potential to be fun.21
1. Preparation: before the player dive into the challenge, he needs

to make some choices that affect their odds of success. It can be
anything 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: ParaglyphPress
Inc., 2005. p.34-40. ISBN 1-932111-97-2
12
2. A sense of space: it might be landscape of a war game or even

a chess board. In role playing games it might be certain part of
the world the player can explore.
3. A solid core mechanic: this is a puzzle to solve. It is usually
kind of small rule. The complexity of games come from either
having a lot of mechanics or having only few that were elegantly
chosen.
4. A range of challenges: it is content. Challenges do not change
the rules of the game but they work within them. Each enemy
the player encounters in a game is one of these.
5. A range of abilities to use: if the player have only one weapon
to use the whole game and nothing else than the game becomes
dull. Most games uncover different abilities over time and then
at 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 them
and the skill can be anything. For example it can be resource
management during encounter with an enemy of failure in
timing.
Kostner also reminds that the game needs to be learning experi-

ence becuase that makes it fun. He names three features that should
be present.22
1. A variable feedback system. The result of the encounter should

not be completely predictable.
2. The Master Problem must be dealt with. High-level player do
not get rewards or benefits for easy challenges. Inexpert players
will not be able to get most of the game and the content will
open for them over time.
3. Failure must have cost. There should be an opportunity cost
at least or there can be more. Player should be somehow pun-
ished if he fails an attempted challenge. Next time he tries that
challenge he needs to start from scratch for example.
Inc., 2005. p.123. ISBN 1-932111-97-2
13
3.4 Narrative
If we want to study and compare stories of the games, first we need
to define what a story is. Here, we are able to use more theory from
literature that studies this question for a long time. When we have a
story, 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 narrative
discourse. He uses the same definition of a story as Genett uses for
narrative - that it is an event or a series of events. Abbot then explains
narrative discourse as a representation of those events.24 The third
opinion on narrative comes from Marie-Laure Ryan, who argues that
these definitions are not specific enough.
Ryan says that we need to stop studying narrative as something
that is or is not when talking about a certain subject. The definition
that Ryan presents to us and labels as "fuzzy-set" is allowing us to put
subjects with different levels of narrative under one set.25 This makes
for a very flexible terminology that leaves a choice to determine what
we 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 independent
beings. This condition means that we can exclude texts dealing with
general and abstract entities like "human race", "brain" or "atoms".
The second condition says that these worlds need to be embedded
in time and go through visible changes. With the third condition,
Marie-Laure Ryan defines those changes a little bit more by saying that
they 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. The
Cambridge companion to narrative. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007, s.
22-35. ISBN 978-0521673662.
14
some participants that take part in those events have to be intelligent

with an emotional response to the world around them. Those events
need to be deliberate actions of participants mentioned before which
is the fifth condition. Events have to be in a sequence and form a single
string that leads to their denouement. Last but one says that at least
one of those events has to be presented within the fictional world as
factual. The final condition says that the whole story has to make sense
to the audience.
With these eight conditions, we can exclude some stories that don’t
fit this definition. They are stories with static descriptions, repetitive
events and changes caused by natural causes (e.g. aging), description
of events of natural phenomena or monologues of characters. The last
condition excludes stories that are bad and Ryan herself labels it as
controversial and poetic. She says that it needs further specifications
and better explanation of what it means "to make sense".
15
4 Role playing games
Let’s start with some basic information about this genre. The main
characteristic of role playing games [RPG for short] is that the player
can improve the skills of his character. Skills can be physical, magical
and psychical. The player can also discover new abilities and items
that affect his statistics during the game. In the most basic sense we can
define RPG as "a game where you play as a hero". Mark J. P. Wolf says that
it is a game where the player creates a character represented by certain
statistics which develop it further.26 The player usually controls one
character or avatar and through it he can explore the world. In many
games of RPG genre players have the option to change the appearance
of 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 Bolter
and Grusin spoke about remediation when they mentioned RPG in
the late 90s.27 This opinion is also backed by Geoff King and Tanya
Krzywinska few years later when they were speaking about the rela-
tionship between cinema and videogames.28 They all say that the RPG
is a remediation of stories by J. R. R. Tolkien. There is definitely some
truth in their claims, but they forget about more closer predecessor of
the role playing videogames which is Dungeons & Dragons.29 A lot of
the rules that were later used in the concept of computer role playing
games are based precisely on the rules of these "pen and pencil" ones
that originated in the 1970s. Digital RPGs just took over these existing
rules 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 Studies
Rules, Inc., tabletop game)
17
4. Role playing games
4.1 Typology of the RPG genre
I would like to briefly divide games in the RPG genre into following
subcategories using naratology and ludology to get better idea what
types of game there can be.
Firstly there is aproach that comes from naratology. We split the
RPG genre according to visual representation and from that we get
sci-fi RPG and fantasy RPG that I already mentioned. Naratology also
allows us to categorize the genre acording to camera’s point of view
which I present in following list.
1. Bird perspective point of view: in this type of game the player

usually moves and interacts with the environment primarily by
way of a mouse and other actions, such as casting a spell, are
performed 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 they
actually are the character but such camera positioning gives a
wider field of view of the surrounding area
3. First person view: allows the player to perceive the game through
the eyes of the character, observing the world around them up
close, giving a clear view of the scenery in front of them
When we aproach this genre in the way of ludology we can see that
the main differences are in networkability. We have this kinds of role
playing games:
1. Singleplayer RPG: a single-player game is usually a game that

can only be played by one person
2. Multiplayer RPG: more than one person can play in the same
game environment at the same time, either locally or over the
internet
3. Massive multiplayer RPG: it is commonly known as MMORPG
and the most famous example is the game World of Warcraft30
30. Rob Pardo, Jeff Kaplan and Tom Chilton. 2004. World of Wacraft. (Blizzard
Entertainment, Inc., PC)
18
4. Role playing games
We can also use ludology to split the genre according to playability

to get action RPG or adventure RPG for example. The last way how
ludology can split the RPG genre is by interactivity where the game
can be very complex and let the player freely explore - sandbox RPGs,
or it can limit the player to stricly follow certain storyline that the
developers want to show to the player.
19
5 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
5.1 Context
The game is the third continuation of the popular fantasy role playing
game The Witcher from 2007. The first game in the series was highly
acknowledged by the public and it recieved very positive reviews by
the critics. This success is significant because the game originated in a
then small Polish studio CD Project RED. The gaming industry is one
of the globalized industries and country of origin of games is usually
not something people pay attention to, but in case of the first Witcher
game we can not miss some kind of "polish archetypes". The target
group for the game seems to be old-school fans of the role playing
game genre which is a group typical for middle and east Europe.
The reason for "polish archetype" in The Witcher is its original source
series of books by Andrzej Sapkowski which have cult status in Poland
and Czech republic. As I mentioned before The Witcher was widely
accepted so sequel The Witcher 2: Assasins of King was released four
years later and the last game in the series came out in 2015.
Development of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt began in early 2010’s
little bit after releasing The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. It took over
four years to finish and the writers were trying to bring complexity
and authenticity to the game and really focused to reflect Sapkowski’s
novels. Sapkowksi himself did not take part in development and he
only helped with creating the in-game map.31 The game was also
heavily localized and translated to around fifteen languages. It re-
ceived critical acclaim, with praise for its gameplay, narrative, world
design, combat and visuals although it received minor criticism due
to 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/z114c36
32. LEACK, Jonathan. The Witcher 3 has won more Game of the Year Awards than any
other 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
21
5. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The game was released on PC, XBox One and Playstation 4 and
because of its huge popularity it also got two expansions called Hearts
of Stone and Blood and Wine. The Witcher 3 is also responsible for fame
of card game Gwent33 that was introduced as a minigame available for
players at first. In 2018 it was release as a standalone title which was
also developed by studio CD Project RED.
5.2 Story
Story of THe Witcher 3: Wild Hunt takes place on the Continent which
is a world filled with characters of various species. Creatures we know
from classic fantasy worlds like elves, dwarves and monsters live
together with humans. However everyone who is not human can
be very often oppressed. Around the Continent are various parallel
dimensions and extra-dimensional worlds. The Continent is also torn
by war between the Empire of Nilfgaard, led by Emperor Emhyr var
Emreis, and Northern Kingdoms.34 .
In the game, the player takes a role of Geralt of Rivia who is monster
hunter know as the witcher.35 He is the main character and he is
trained in combat, magic, alchemy and other things since his early
childhood. By his side helping him is Yennefer of Vengerberg who is
powerful sorceress and Geralt’s love interest in the works of Andrzej
Sapkowski.36 At the beggining of the game she and Geralt reunite
again and start to search for their lost adopted daughter named Ciri
who 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 Witcher
3. 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-
witcher
essentials/
22
she was trained to be a witcher by Geralt. Ciri is very important to the

story as her real father is the emperor and she is last heir to very old
elfish bloodline that is able to manipulate space and time.37
The subtitle "Wild Hunt" for this instalment of the Witcher series
is not just a phrase. In the game it is a group of spectral riders who
show as a sign of war. They are in search of mortals that they kill and
turn into new riders. The Wild Hunt want to find Ciri because she
escaped them. They can not be killed and Geralt is familiar with them
since they appeared in previous games before.38
The game offers various endings that depend on how the player
chooses to play but the main things that decides which ending the
player get is the fate of Ciri. If she lives, Geralt can spend the rest of
his life with either of his love interests or be witcher on his own. If
Ciri is or is not presented to the emperor she either become empress
or 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 view
in and open world setting. They control a Witcher named Geralt as
I 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 variety
of weapons like crossbow, bombs, steel sword and silver sword. It
is important to divede the swords like this because the steel one is
used to fight and kill humans and the silver sword is mainly effective
against various creatures and monsters. Players can use and switch
either of their swords whenever they like. However Geralt is not 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.
23
only character players can control. They can also be in charge of Ciri
who can use her powers to teleport on short distances.
The combat system is influenced by games like Dark Souls40 and
Demon’s Souls.41 Game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz admitted in
an interview42 and even game designer Damien Monnier wrote about
it on his personal page.43 Players can use two types of melee attack
where he uses his sword. The first one is called "light attack" and
is very fast. Player can strike multiple blows in short period of time
but they are weak. The second attack is "heavy attack" which is the
complete opposite and that is very slow but strong. Players can also
use their swords to protect their character from enemies and block
or counter attacks from their foes. However there is a downside to
using swords and that is that they have endurance and require regular
repair.
The game of course does not limit player to only using psychical
attacks. The main character also has five magical sings. These sings
use stamina and so they can not be used continuously.
1. Aard: unleashes a telekinetic blast

2. Axii: confuses enemies
3. Igni: burns enemies
4. Yrden: slows the enemies down
5. Quen: give the player temporary protective shield
Player can also use mutagens which separate the witcher from
normal humans. Those mutagens made Geralt stronger, faster and
resistant 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 Year
Awards than any other game [online] [visited on 2019-05-09]. Available
from: 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].Available
from: https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/gaming/567240/Witcher-3-Dark-
Souls-big-influence-CD-Projekt-RED-Wild-Hunt.
24
ities more powerful. If the character is attacked by enemies, he can

loose health and evenutally even die. This can be reduced by wearing
armour. So when player chooses what equipment his character will
wear the main thing he looks for is efficiency. Geralt’s health can be
restored by meditating or consuming food and potions.44
In the game is very advanced artificial intelligence and dynamic
environment. Monsters are affected by the rotation of day and night
and their powers change. For example mystical creature like werewolf
is stronger during the night of full moon. Players is able to strategize
and learn useful information about each monster and how to beat them
in in-game bestiary. When any monster is defeated it can be looted
for valuable items for further use. These items are stored in inventory
which is capable of expanding by buying upgrades. To find other
collectible items players can use Geralt’s special witcher sense. On
their travels trough the world players can come across various vendors
who will buy any unwanted items. There are also blacksmiths that are
used to craft new weapons and armour thanks to objects the player
obtained.
5.3.2 Narrative
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is heavily oriented on narrative and when
the main character is interacting with other non-player characters
there is dialogue wheel present. Players can choose how they respond
and some of those choices influence the outcome of the game. There
are total of 36 possible endgame states although a lot of them are
very minor and variations of each other. Geralt’s actions throughout
the game help shape international politics as well as his own life. At
the end of the game there are short cutscenes that show the result of
player’s choices during the game. Those choices are also reflected the
state of the world during the last mission.45 In the end there are only
three 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-beginners
45. HILLIER, Brenna. The Witcher 3: how to get the best ending [online] [visited on
2019-05-09]. Available from: https://www.vg247.com/2017/12/19/the-witcher-3-
how-to-get-the-best-ending/
25
the fate of Ciri as I mentioned in previous section. In addtion to that

if the player completes certain quests Geralt will end up with on of
his love interest, Yennefer of Vengerberg or Tris Meringold. This then
determinates how the story ends for Geralt. Players need to choose only
one of the female characters. If they try to build romantic relationship
with 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 are
also side missions. We can find them in towns on noticeboards or they
can see them on the map. They may be elaborate missions requiring
players to hunt monsters called Witcher Contracts. The players are also
able to choose side missions called Treasure Hunt that reward them
with better weapons or armour. For every successfully completed
mission or killing a monster, the players receive certain amount of
experience points. Geralt’s level increases every time when there is
enough experience points and he receives ability points. The player is
able to use these ability points to perfect Geralt’s skills. There are four
to choose: combat, signs, alchemy and general. I wrote about rules of
combat and different signs in paragraphs before. If the player chooses
one of these two skill it enhances Geralt’s attacks, unlocks new fight-
ing techniques and help him to use magic better. Alchemy upgrades
improve crafting abilities and generally have several functions. They
can raise Geralt’s vitality which is connected to his amount of health
or they increase crossbow damage.46
5.4 Reception of the game

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt received universal acclaim. Critics agreed
that it was an ambitious action role-playing game which was grand in
scale, but marred by technical difficulties and a lack of innovation. This
was mentioned in several big online magazines that focus on game
reviews as IGN, Polygon or PCGamer. These three online magazines
also included The Witcher 3: Wild hunt in their list of the greatest
video 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
26
public which we can see on the sales of the game published by the
annual report published by CD Project Red.47
The game was praised for its immersion and attention to detail. It
was also acclaimed for its size, which many people found enormous
and would take players hours to explore. Tom Senior from online
medium GamesRadar praised the open world’s variety and he writes
following 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 the
convolutions of the main plot, it’s a varied and exciting realisation of the
Ronin fantasy."48
Other critics were excited that the game is encouraging exploration;

many quests would only become available to players after they met
non-playable characters in different parts of the world. Vince Ingenito
from IGN and Shaun Prescott of PC Gamer were impressed by the
game’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, cementing
The Witcher 3’s landscape as one of the most authentic-feeling open worlds
I’ve ever seen."50
In the next parts of this section I would like to focus individual parts
of the game as narrative, game mechanics, gameplay and the main
criticism 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.
27
5.4.1 Gameplay
We clarified that the game got really good reviews and the combat
system it has is no exception. Geralt is more agile with the ability
to climb and swim. The as a whole was significantly simplified and
a lot of strategic elements that we could see in the previous games
from The Witcher series. However the action in the game is better
than in its predecessors. Overall the combat obtained very good re-
views where it was praised and its fluidity described as a significant
improvement.51 However the combat system was not perfect for all
and some people disliked disruptive weapon-degradation system and
unrefined crossbow shooting mechanic. Jonathan Leack wrote in his
review that the system was missing complexity. He claimed that the
mechanic lacks refinement caused by the unreliable lock-on system,
camera issues and excessively-long combat animation.52 Other combat
gameplay mechanics such as rolling and dodging, seemed inconsis-
tent and made the system feel unfair. Anyway the simplified alchemy
system, a decent user interface and diverse difficulty settings made
the combat more accessible to the players.
Other gameplay elements got very mixed review and the critics
were not able to agree on it. Some praised the game’s customisation
and upgrade systems. These mechanics give the player a certain sense
of progression through the game and they were made harder further
in the story. When I went back to the review by Vince Ingenito that
was published on IGN I can tell that he also praised the upgrade
system. He described it as deep and flexible because players have
substantial freedom when they want to customize Geralt’s skills.53 .
With an absolutely opposite opinion was Johnatha Leack who already
criticized 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] [visited
on 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.
28
There was a similar discussion between two other critics, Tom

Senior Chris Carter, where the latter is writing about games since 2008.
Carter mentioned in his review the Witcher senses and decribed them
as repetitive.54 Senior on the other hand was really excited about them
and considered them superior to the traditional objective markers that
are the norm in role playing games. He also wrote about the card game
Gwent that the players can play withing the main game. He found
it very addictive.55 . The minigame became very popular among the
players and was release as a standalone title as I mentioned at the
beginning of this chapter.
5.4.2 Narrative
Narrative was more involving in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt than it
could 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 that
happen in a game and even made choices that had consequences on
the 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 side
mission had its own short story and could similar to short films. Wal-
lace also wrote about the main mission and thought that it deepened
the main character. There was definitely an added value because of the
romance choices that were really significant enhancement in compari-
son with previous games. It had more characterisation for Geralt and
it gave players emotional connections to the characters. Even though
Wallace expressed her excitement over the overall narrative in the
game she found the various endings disappointing.56
The best part of the narrative were definitely the side missions
and 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.
29
following in his review:
"The main plot is lacking - you spend a big chunk of it chasing someone
who’s having a more important and exciting adventure than you - but the
trove of sidequests makes up for that with a compilation of dark fantasy short
stories."57
Others joined him in his claims. For Ignenito the main story was full
of dull quests and Shaun Prescott from PC Gamer backed him up on
it. He also added that the narrative would feel flat it the other content
in 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 some
of the female characters are overly sexualized. He also voiced his
disapproval that there are no people of colour in the main game.58
These issues were not widely talked by the journalists or players. There
were different problems that brought controversy to the game which I
will talk about in next section.
5.4.3 Criticsm
The biggest problem in the game that was mentioned by many critics
was its technical issues. I have to mention Shaun Prescott from PC
Gamer who described many of the animations stiff and the climbing
ones in particular. He also claimed that some gameplay mistakes or
bugs could restrain player’s progress trough the game.59
Other critics had problem with the loading times that they found
too long. Jonathan Leack was disappointed with the graphics. There
was a slight visible downgrade in graphics compared with the game’s
demonstration 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 on
2019-05-09]. 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/.
30
issue and multiple news articles were written about it. Even the players
loudly voiced there dissatisfaction with the graphical downgrade.
There was also problem with frame rate and several critics gave the
game poorer rating because of that. Even though Vince Ingenito did
not think it has an impact on gameplay, it was still a persistent problem
which overshadowed many of the game’s achievements.
31
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 which
originated in Czech republic. Even though this is their first and only
title, developers from the studio worked on several big games in the
past. Warhorse Studios was founded in 2011 by Daniel Vávra and
Martin Klíma. Vávra is the creator, director and the main designer
of the famous game Mafia.60 He also wrote screenplay for its second
continuation, Mafia II.61 Klíma significantly took part in founding the
game industry in Czech republic. He created Czech version of famous
game Dungeons & Dragons called Dračí doupě 62 and released games
like Fish Fillets63 , Original War64 and UFO trilogy. Other key people in
the studio are Victor Bocan, designer and screenwriter who worked on
Operation 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 2K
Czech. He had an idea for a realistic role playing game. With small
team he started to pitch the idea to investors which was successful
and they found one in Czech republic. The studio was created and the
developers were able to start working on the prototype of the game.
After more than a year and a half Vávra tried to find publisher for
the game with finished prototype. However no publisher displayed
interest 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 also
from:https://warhorsestudios.cz/index.php?page=aboutus
33
6. Kingdom Come: Deliverance
players for realistic medieval digital role playing game. Publishers

agreed that the players want magic and fantasy creatures.68
In response to the claims of publishers and to prove their original
investor that the game market wants the game they are making, the
developers started Kickstarter campaing on 22 January 2014. Their
plan was to raise £300 000 which was 10 % of the total budget. After
almost a month the campaign ended and they overcame this goal.
People from all over the world donated more than one million British
pounds.69 The studio continued to raise money trough their website
and few years later they were able to find a publisher.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance was published by Deep Silver for
Microsoft Windows, PlayShtation 4 and Xbox One. It was released
worldwide on 13 February 2018. It is set in the medieval Kingdom of
Bohemia 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 that
is accurate for early 15th century. For that the studio used assistance
of various architects and historians during development. Warhorse
Studio also released four downloadable content packs and during
2019 they are planning to relase fifth one. Developers also created a
lot of additional content as rewards for the people who backed the
project 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 and
the Holy Empire called Lands of the Bohemia. The place is nowadays
know as the Czech Republic. The area which the player accesses in
the game is located in the region between Sasau and Rattay. There
are many places that were taken from the real world. Players can also
visit settlements and towns in the game like Stříbrná Skalice, Sázava,
68. Kingdom Come: Deliverance. USA: Warhorse. Available also

from:https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1294225970/kingdom-come-
deliverance/description.
69. In the same place.
34
Ledečko, Sázava Monastery, Talmberk Castle, Samopše, Úžice and

Nový Dvůr.70
The game is not only set in real life locations but it is also based
on real historic events. Before the main story begins the Kingdom of
Bohemia is ruled by Charles IV who is its king and also Holy Roman
Emperor. 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. The
Bohemian nobility considered him a bother because they could not
control him. Wenceslaus was stripped of the Holy Roman Emperor
status and kidnapped on order by his uncle Sigismund. This however
started a civil war in the country because Sigismund invaded Bohemia
with his Hungarian army.71
At this point also starts the story of the game. The exact year when
the game begins is 1403. The players take on role of blacksmith’s son
Henry whose village was invaded and completely destroyed. His
whole family was killed right before his eyes by Sir Markvart von
Aulitz. Henry manages to escape to Talmberk Castle. He swears he
will avenge the death of his parents and that he gets back sword that
belonged to his father. He wishes to join several Bohemian lords in a
quest to defeat the Sigismund’s army and bandits that are destroying
their kingdom. On his journey he meets Sir Hanush of Leipa, acting
Lord of Rattay as his young nephew Lord Hans Capon. He tries to
join envoy of Sir Radzig in aiding the battle against Sigismund’s army
but is not able to because of his peasant origin. After he proves to be
courageous soldier who saves Lord Hans Capon from bandits he is
accepted in the envoy. Later in the story it is revealed that Henry is
actually illegitimate son of Sir Radzig. The lords are betrayed in their
fights by Istvan Toth, a Hungarian nobleman. They rally against him
and defeat him in the end. Henry is acknowledged by Sir Radzig as
his son however he devastated by the loss of his father’s sword.
Towards the end of the game the lords are visited by Jobst, the
Margrave of Moravia, and king Wenceslaus’ cousin. They all talk about
the 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 českém
trůně II. Praha: Libri, 2000. Dějiny českých zemí. ISBN 80-85983-98-2.
35
uncle is still plundering their homes. In the end the lords come up
with a plan to rescue Wenceslaus, put him back on the throne and
the the war. In a final scene, Henry leaves together with Lord Capon
on a journey to visit one of Sigismund’s allies, Otto von Bergow, at
his estate in Trosky Castle. They also carry a letter that states their
wish to end the war peacefully. Henry remarks that his personal quest
remains 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 a
classless RPG system. The player is able to choose one from three
paths of how he wants to play the game. The path of warrior enables
him to solve any issue that he encounters in the game solve with
brute force and fighting. The path of thief allows the player to solve
issues stealthily and unnoticed. Third path is path of bard where the
player can talk others to do the fighting for him. The game also offers
player to choose any combination of these paths and solve every issue
differently.
Abilities and stats grow depending on what the player does and
says through branched dialogue trees. During conversations, the time
a player takes to make a decision is limited and will have an effect on
their relationships with others. Reputation is based on player choices.
Therefore everything the player’s character does or say in the game
can have consequences which is similar game mechanic to the one we
saw in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
As I already mentioned, the game is in first person perspective. The
player can only see his own hands or body in different activities. Player
can equip on his character up to sixteen items of clothing on various
areas of the body. They can also be layer over each other. If the player
chooses that his character is armored knight, he will wear mail and
plate armor on his upper body. Under this armor the character can have
gambeson (medieval kind of coat) and over the armor the character
can 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 makes
regarding clothing because if he equips heavy clothing it will slow
down the character. Clothing also gets progressively more worn, dirty,
or bloody through use, affecting the character’s appearance. This can
also influence how the non-playable characters view the player and the
way they interact with him. Each clothing type also provides different
levels of protection against different types of weapons.
Horses are big part of the game. They are designed with their
own AI. Player’s character has its own horse which will run to him
when called. Because of the AI the horse can even refuse obedience
when it decides that a player’s order is inappropriate. Horse can gain
experience and higher levels similarly to the player. This and the AI
are huge differences from The Wither 3: Wild Hunt. These things can
be a step to changing the old mechanics of the RPG genre where only
the main character gains experience. The player can also use their
horse’s steed to carry items if they need additional inventory space
and the horse can wear armor of its own. Similarly to The Witcher, the
player can also fight from horseback.
The main difference between Kingdom Come: Deliverance and
other 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 stay
healthy. The system is applied to other things too. Food will spoil
over time and does not benefit the player anymore. As I mentioned
before the clothing can get dirty but it also degrade. The same things is
happening to various equipment like weapons and armor. The player
needs to repair them if he wants to continue to use them. To make this
more fun to the player, developers turned these tasks into mini-games.
The combat in the game was designed by using new approach. It is
based on real physics. It is using inverse kinematics to determine the
reactions of both combatants based on the speed and weight of a blow.
In practical sense this mean that the swords clash and slide along the
armor and the characters have more than thirty target zones on their
bodies.72 This approach to combat system is completely new and it
aims to add greater variety and realism to the combat. For creating the
best realism in their medieval combats, the developers got in touch
72. Mapa. Czechia: Bohumil Jahoda. Available also from: https ://kingdom-
come.cz/mapa.
37
with professional swordsmen who study and teach medieval fighting

techniques.
6.3.2 Narrative
In Kingdom Come: Deliverance there are not typical quests we know
from role playing games where non-playable characters will wait
for the player to finish the quest. Quests are intended to be nonlinear,
with multiple ways to complete objectives because of the various paths
player can take as I described at the earlier in the text. The storyline
features some large-scale events such as castle sieges and large battles.
Similar to the main character needs, the non-playable characters have
their need system. Kingdom Come: Deliverance brings an unique AI
system where every non-player character has their daily routine and
need to sleep, eat and work. The AI even reacts to events that are
happening in the game. For example if the NPC is supposed to go to
work and it is raining, the characters stays home. The game’s designer
Viktor Bocan talks more about the system in one of many videos the
studio made about the mechanics of the game.
"[...] the whole system reacts to the player’s actions. Which is very important
part because the player is some variable in the system. Every NPC does some
stuff that is prescripted, to some extent, and they react to situations and the
player 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 crimes

to authorities, who will punish the player accordingly, either with a
fine or time in jail. Crime will affect economics and people will get
suspicious or aggressive after unresolved crimes.
6.4 Reception
The game generally received positive reviews from critics, especially
for 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:Warhorse
Studios. Available also from: https://youtu.be/3c_ANy-4TS4.
38
gregator Metacritic where we can find reviews collected from various

sources.
Thing that surprised players and critics alike was the game’s saving
system. 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 was
full of them. We can find lot of funny videos made by the players
that are showcasting various mistakes that they came across in the
game. Some of those bugs even blocked the players from continuing
to play the game. Some critics complained that they had logged 30
hours of real-time play, but had only advanced the game around 19
hours because of this.
"What could have been an intriguing, unique, if somewhat underwhelming

RPG is completely crippled by a terrible save system and game-breaking
bugs."74
The players were calling after some big update that would fix the
technical issue and the critics were advising players to avoid the game.
However the public opinion was that if the historical setting and focus
on realism appeal to the player, then the deep gameplay systems and
methodical pace are worth learning.
But not everyone had the bad experience with the game. It was
compared to games like Skyrim and The Witcher if we stripped them
of all the magic and fantastical creatures. Many players pardoned
the game’s technical issues because the experience was good enough
to justify them. The players acknowledged the game’s attention to
detail. They praised the historical details and extensive, lifelike quests.
The game also caught the eye of many players because of its unique
fighting system. Although the combat system is very hard to master
since it takes psychics into account.
Game mechanics where player receives better status for "manly
odor" or that by visiting a brothel he acquires an "alpha male" status
did 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/kingdomcome-deliverance-review/.
39
We can say the same thing about the saving system. Player basically
consumes 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 Witcher
3: 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 Witcher
3: Wild Hunt still have big steady base of player.75 Player numbers for
Kingdom Come: Deliverance are rather on a decline.76
6.4.1 Controversy
Kingdome Come Deliverance was surrounded by huge controversy
after some publications and websites accused the developers of white-
washing for not portraying people of color in the game. The problem
was also portrayal of Cumans and Hungarians who are shown as cruel
invaders 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 black
people. The developers answered to these accusation by saying that
the game is historically accurate. It is taking place on a very small
part of the country and people of color simply did not live in Central
Europe in early 15th century.
Czech journalist for newspaper Lidové noviny wrote commentary
on the issue.
"Kingdom Come: Deliverance is based on the consistent preservation of me-

dieval life, the comments are often beneficial. In addition, there are suggestions
that out of place. [...] Perhaps every European would say very little [people
of color] lived there, if any."78
75. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. USA: Steam Charts. Available also
from: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-making
and 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 Čech
žádní černoši? ptají se v zámoří [online] [visited on 2019-05-09].
40
When we try to search more information on the issue we will find

that there were actually non-white people living in Europe at that
time. Online academic magazine called Public Medievalist maps the
world in its medieval times. One of its authors is Adam Simmons, PhD
student at the University of Lancaster. He is researching the impact
and role of Africa in the Global Middle Ages. In his article he claims
that trough 15th century many Ethiopians embassies traveled trough
Europe. Although they were notably present in Italy, France or Spain.
He also writes that a lot of Africans were Christians and regularly
interacted with European Christians. Since medieval Bohemia was
Christian country it is more than likely that people of color were occa-
sionally present there. So the point that black Africans were present
and accepted in medieval Europe still stands.79
Even though these accusations originated before the release of the
game, developers are still asked questions about the issue to this day.
I was witness of this at international game conference Game Access
on one of Daniel Vávra’s talks in 2018. Some people also reproached
the views held by the game’s director Daniel Vávra, who has been a
vocal critic of what he believes is a progressive bias in video games
journalism.
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-covering
the African Presence in Medieval Europe [online] [visited on 2019-05-09]. Available
from: https://www.publicmedievalist.com/uncovering-african/
41
7 Comparation of both digital games
Now that I explained the theory behind digital game principles and
looked closely on both games I would like to compare them. The
Witcher series is long standing leader in digital role playing games
with a huge fanbase. Is Kingdom Come: Deliverance its successor and
will it set new trends in digital games? As we can see both games
have a lot of similar aspects in terms of game principles that I would
like to explore in this chapter. When we look at the Schell’s five game
mechanic we can find all of them in both games. However there are
differences in third game mechanic called activity.
As I stated in previous chapters, activity basically means what the
player can do in the game. One difference between the games is that
the player can swim in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This is not possible
in Kingdom Come: Deliverance and some players were calling for
a possibility to allow swimming trough some future downloadable
content. But the biggest difference is that the player can use magic and
other kinds of unnatural abilities in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The
other game is heavily based on realism and so there is not anything
unordinary. This also goes against all traditions in the genre of role
playing games since its origin is primarily in written fantasy worlds.
As I wrote in the chapeter about Kingdom Come: Deliverance, the
publishers and investors did not have trust in this type of RPG game.
However the player community proved them otherwise. The question
is if this shift from fantasy to realism in the RPG genre will be reflected
in other titles as well. Unfortunately we can not say for sure but there
are not more games that seem to be following this trend. In other ways
of "what the player can do" mechanic, the games are mostly the same.
The characters can interact with non-playable characters. They can
also move, use weapons and even ride a horse. However there is a
difference in how they move or which weapons they use. In Kindgom
Come: Deliverance all weapons are historically accurate and modeled
using the real weapons as exemplar.
When we look at the fourth mechanic called rules we can see that
both games have a main goal and many side goals or quests. They
both also offer some mini-games that the player can enjoy. However
in 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 called
Gwent and some of them do not even have a desire to continue in the
main story. This also may be the reason why The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
still have tens of thousands active players each month. The popularity
of the mini-game is also the reason for it becoming a standalone title
and it has a potential to become a competitive card game similar to
Hearthstone.80 Kingdom Come: Deliverance offers some mini-games
but they do not have the same potential. They are mostly practical
ones where the player can repair his tools. Exception is the game of
dice which is a game of two players. However the game of dice is
nothing new and original. This particular type of mini-game does not
change its mechanics solely relies on chance. Even thought the fifth
game mechanic says that the element of coincidence is important in
the game, there are still some other rules that needs to be applies. Raph
Kostner 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 abilities
for player to use. The player can learn strategy and all elements of the
game very quickly and then it can start to bore him.
The combat system is in many ways different. I already wrote about
the absence of magic in Kingdom Come: Deliverance but there is more.
As the game is based on reality, the combat is no exception. It was
created by mapping moves of actual experienced swordsmen and it is
based on real psychics. The player need to take into account weight
and speed of the weapon more than ever. This is something that is not
usual in the RPG genre and in digital games as a whole. But it is not
something that goes againts rules of game design. As Raph Kostner
writes it is part of the point of preparation where the game makes the
player to make some choices before he takes on a challenge.
Another thing that the player need to take into account in terms
of combat and navigating through the game is what kind of items
will his character use and wear. Usually in role playing games the
player chooses items that give him the biggest advantage, help him
with his skill and suit the character. There is not really this kind of
logic in Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Logically the player would put
80. Blizzard Entertainment. 2014. Hearthstone. (Blizzard Entertainment, Windows,

iOS, Android)
Inc., 2005. p.120. ISBN 1-932111-97-2
44
7. Comparation of both digital games
on helmet and various armor to make his character protected against

attacks from enemies. However medieval helmets used to have just
small areas to look through. So when the player put the helmet on his
vision is compromised. This goes against what Raph Koster writes in
his book. He says that only player’s failures should be punished.
In terms of design Kingdom Come: Deliverance brings interesting
new mechanics to the genre and to the digital games overall. Its unique
AI is something that we did not see in many games before. Every non-
playable character has its own life in the game. The characters have
work, hobbies and they can live everyday differently depending on
outside effects like weather. When the player is fulfilling some mission
for them they do not wait for him to come back on the same spot
which is the usual way in RPG genre. The non-playable character likes
to go to the pub at the evening the AI tells that character to go there
but if the pub is full, the system then looks at the second thing the
character like to do or send it to bed early. We are starting to see this
unique design of living world in other games too. Most recent in the
game Red Dead Redemption 282 which was released in October 2018.
Similar to Kingdom Come: Deliverance, in this tile each non-playable
character 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 is
the new trend setter in terms of digital games. In conclusion I would
say that the success of the game does not mean there is a new leader in
the role playing games genre. Even thought it brings some interesting
new mechanics and designs. The game is interesting experiment and
the developers found a hole in the digital games’ market to make a
title that has not been made before.
82. Rockstar Studios. 2018. Red Dead Redemption 2. (Rockstar Games, Playstation,
Xbox)
45
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Masaryk University

Comparative analysis of game

Brno, Spring 2019

3 Theory of game principles 5

4 Role playing games 17

5 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 21

6 Kingdom Come: Deliverance 33

7 Comparation of both digital games 43

1.1 Abstract in English language

1.2 Abstract in Czech language

Keywords: game studies, game design, naratology, game mechanics,

2.1 About Game Studies

periods of defensive rhetoric is in the past. There had been doubts

2.2 Structure and goal of the thesis

1. FRASCA, Gonzalo. Ludology Meets Narratology: Similitude and Differences

3.1 Five game mechanics by Jesse Schell

3.1.1 First game mechanic: Space

3.1.2 Second game mechanic: Game objects, attributes and states

3.1.3 Third game mechanic: Activity

3.1.4 Fourth game mechanic: Rules

He basically says that the rules condition the existence of previous

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

12. In original "house rules", Schell, 2008, p. 147

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

3.1.5 Fifth game mechanic: Coincidence

Last game mechanic works with the ones I already described. It is an

3.2 Game design according to Jesse Schell

1. Design a game is not to fabricate a story. It is not only that.

So we can say that game design is something like decision-making

One of elementary aspect of any creative process is inspiration and

Schell thinks that inspiration can be found as a basic element in many

3.3 Game design according to Raph Koster

In his book Raph Koster writes similar thing to Schell. He says

3.3.1 What games need, to be successful

Kostner presents in his book list of six important elements that he

1. Preparation: before the player dive into the challenge, he needs

2. A sense of space: it might be landscape of a war game or even

Kostner also reminds that the game needs to be learning experi-

1. A variable feedback system. The result of the encounter should

23. GENETTE, Gérard, Figures of Literary Discourse. Translated by Marie-Rose Logan.

some participants that take part in those events have to be intelligent

4.1 Typology of the RPG genre

1. Bird perspective point of view: in this type of game the player

1. Singleplayer RPG: a single-player game is usually a game that

We can also use ludology to split the genre according to playability

she was trained to be a witcher by Geralt. Ciri is very important to the

5.3 The game principles

1. Aard: unleashes a telekinetic blast

ities more powerful. If the character is attacked by enemies, he can

the fate of Ciri as I mentioned in previous section. In addtion to that

5.4 Reception of the game

Other critics were excited that the game is encouraging exploration;

47. CD PROJEKT summarizes its 2016 financial results [online].

51. INGENITO, Vince. The Witcher 3 Review [online] [visited on 2019-

There was a similar discussion between two other critics, Tom

following in his review:

60. Illusion Softworks. 2002. Mafia. (Gathering of Developers., Windows, Playsta-

players for realistic medieval digital role playing game. Publishers

68. Kingdom Come: Deliverance. USA: Warhorse. Available also

Ledečko, Sázava Monastery, Talmberk Castle, Samopše, Úžice and

6.3 The game principles

with professional swordsmen who study and teach medieval fighting

In practice it means that non-playeble characters will report crimes