In Kingdom Come: Deliverance, you’ll find that life as the son of a blacksmith can be pretty tough. You’re not the chosen hero of legend, in fact, you’re not even that good with a sword. In order to survive in 15th century Bohemia, you’ll need to know what you’re doing – so we’ve compiled some tips on Things to Do First as you start your adventure.
The following tips extend from the start of the game all the way past the “tutorial areas” to when you are finally able to explore the world at large upon reaching the town of Rattay.
Life in the town of Skalitz can be pretty boring, and the worst part is – you’re pretty much broke. Considering it will take awhile for you to start amassing your own wealth, you should be on the lookout for handouts whenever possible. One such early trick you can do is when you must collect a debt from the town drunk.
Since he’s not willing to pay what he owes, you need to find a way to change his mind – like stealing stuff back. However, the trunk in his house is locked. No problem! Just go ask your friend Fritz, and he’ll give you a bunch of lockpicks for free.
You won’t be able to get your own until later in the game, and there’s more to unlock both in Skalitz and Talmberg that can set you up nicely early in the game – which leads us to our next tip:
After you arrive at Talmberg, Henry will eventually want to leave by way of some hi-jinks. Before you make your escape, be sure to sneak into the guardhouse above the main gate to the castle.
This area is rarely patrolled, and contains bows, arrows, and a locked trunk full of armor for you – which should be no problem for the lockpicks you obtained earlier.
If that doesn’t work, you can also snoop around the slightly more guarded towers on either side of the castle. There may be a few chests in here that aren’t locked, and you’ll still get free armor you’d otherwise have to wait much longer to come by. This is also good knowledge to have when exploring other castles in the game – even with a full garrison, there are often places you can slip into and steal from. Speaking of which:
Sure, Henry may daydream of becoming an honorable knight, but here in reality you have to get your hands dirty if you want to survive. There are many opportunities in the first few areas of the game to get your hands on a lot of items. It’s even more important to note that not all of these items are marked as “owned”.
Pay close attention when raiding the pantry of your home or the castle in Talmberg: If the prompt says “steal” then people won’t like you if they catch you – but if a container just says “open”, or Food lying around says “pick up”, you can freely take what you please.
Even better, you can sell them all back to vendors and cushion yourself with a few extra Groschens early on. Kitchens and pantries tend to have lots of unclaimed containers, but so do some cabinets in castles, as well as barrels of arrows in armories or archery ranges. As for what to do with stolen loot, read on:
When Henry finally arrives in Rattay, he’ll be temporarily bedding at the local mill – much to the ire of the miller. However, there’s more to Miller Peshek than meets the eye. Early on, he’ll ask you to perform an odd task for him. If you decide to take him up on this request, you’ll eventually learn of the miller’s less-than-honorable lifestyle.
For most skills, Henry only needs to try his hand at that skill to get better at it – but when it comes to pick-pocketing, you won’t know how on your own. It turns out only Miller Peshek can teach you (for free!), and after that you’ll be able to level the skill like any other. It’s a risky way to make a living, but pick-pocketing drunks and sleeping people can net you some easy money.
It’s not certain if a blacksmith’s son always pays his debts – but you should. Certain quests and story beats may end up with Henry owing money or favors to certain individuals, and some people will tell you that you can just pay them back whenever you want. However, others can get impatient very quickly.
Like many quests in Kingdom Come, the amount of time you take to finish tasks for people may result in unintended consequence. Sometimes people related to the quest may just move on or embark without you – but when it comes to paying up, you may find yourself accosted by angry thugs ready to teach you a lesson.
Not only can this be a very painful experience, but they may also ambush you in a public place, and people in Bohemia generally frown upon public brawling – which may hurt your reputation with nearby people. Best to pay as soon as you are able, or find alternative methods.
Spades are in surprisingly short supply in Bohemia, and you may wonder why you’d need one at all. You’ll need one for a task in the Main Questline, but will soon discard it. However, as you start to explore the land, you’ll eventually find that digging can unearth a variety of treasures.
As you travel, you may encounter points of interest, which can include gravesites or other areas with mounds of dirt. If you happen to own a spade, you can dig up these mounds and help yourself to the treasures left within. Speaking of treasures, certain merchants also carry Treasure Maps, and you can bet any good treasure will be buried.
So where to find a spade? Simply take Miller Peshek up on the task he gives you in Rattay, and he’ll direct you to spade next to a wagon near the mill. You can hang onto it – and we recommend leaving it with your horse once you get one, so it’s never far from reach.
In 1403, Bohemia was pretty terrible when it came to literacy, as they didn’t have the luxury of the Derek Zoolander Center For Kids Who Can’t Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too. As the son of a blacksmith, Henry begins the game as an illiterate. Don’t believe me? Just try and read a book in the game.
Why is reading in the Middle Ages worth it, you may ask? Because certain books you can find in Bohemia are Skill Books, and full reading them will increase your skills in everything from Charisma to Pick-pocketing, and everything in between. Reading becomes even easier when lying in bed or sitting at a desk, but like pick-pocketing – you can’t learn without a teacher.
If you ask the kind old apothecary in Rattay, he’ll tell you that a scribe in the town of Uzhitz – to the far Northeast – is available to teach people how to read. Be sure to find a breather between main quests and exploring to take a trip up and get your reading on – may just save your life one day.
Talk is cheap, but effective. In a game like Kingdom Come, combat can be risky and brutal – but also avoided. All it takes is some charisma and speech-craft, and new opportunities may present themselves. Fortunately, all it takes for Henry to become a better speaker is to literally never shut up.
Whenever you find yourself in civilization, be sure to go out of your way to chat up the locals. Ask them how they are doing, how the local lord treats them, if they need any help, and so on. All of this will quietly build Henry’s Speech Skill – as will haggling and other attempts at persuasion. This will enable you to score better deals when haggling with merchants, and get more information out of people who may be unwilling to talk otherwise. So if anyone ever asks Henry to tell them about something – by all means, spill the beans!
In Kingdom Come: Deliverance, you’ll always need to keep one eye on Henry’s health, energy, and nourishment. There are many ways you can treat these needs – like resting in bed to refill health and energy – but having food ready to fill your stomach is a must.
You’ll always find easy food near towns – you can help yourself to some stew at a camp, or buy some produce in the market, but it’s in the wilds where you need to be careful – especially when you survive a fight far from home with the wind knocked out of you. Unfortunately, a lot of food you can obtain will go bad over time – increasing the risk you get food poisoning when the freshness drops.
You can prepare for this by investing in dried food. Dried fruit, meat, and mushrooms all have unlimited durability, and will never drop in freshness, and they are pretty nourishing to boot. You can find a lot of these items on the bodies of villagers tragically killed by invading mercenaries, so don’t let their food go to waste!
Eventually, you’ll want to keep a supply pack of rations on your horse, which can free you up to carry less durable food and other items, knowing that in case of emergency, you’ll always have food to turn to when in trouble.
