Kingdom Come: Deliverance lead says Obsidian should use its Microsoft fortune to make games more like Kingdom Come: Deliverance—’Give me something more than… level grinding in a static scripted world’

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Here at PC Gamer, opinions on The Outer Worlds 2 are all over the place. Ted Litchfield really enjoyed it, giving it an 83% score and calling it a step up from the first game. However, Fraser Brown wasn’t as impressed, finding the game’s humor fell flat. We have a variety of perspectives on our team!

Daniel Vávra, the director of both Kingdom Come: Deliverance games, seems to agree with Fraser’s assessment. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Vávra gave Obsidian’s newest game a solid, but not spectacular, 7 out of 10. However, he expressed disappointment, stating that despite fifteen years and significant resources from Microsoft, the team behind his favorite games (Fallout and New Vegas) hasn’t been able to innovate beyond the established formula with any new gameplay mechanics.

To be honest, this aligns with what many of us at PCG have been discussing, both in our articles and internally. Obsidian’s current method of making RPGs results in solid games, though they don’t often reach truly exceptional levels. This is a shift from the past, when their games were known for being incredibly ambitious – sometimes even overly so.

So, I was reading an interview with the guy who made Kingdom Come: Deliverance, and he was talking about The Outer Worlds. He basically challenged anyone to name one new gameplay thing in that game that wasn’t already in Deus Ex or the first Fallout way back when. He couldn’t think of any, and honestly, neither could I! He’s really hoping for something more dynamic in the next game – a world that feels truly alive and reacts to you, not just a bunch of fixed locations. He wants less of the same old stuff like endless loot, boring hallways, loading screens, and just grinding for levels in a world that feels…staged. He’s basically saying he wants a game like Kingdom Come again – something really immersive and open-ended.

Let’s start with the good news: The Outer Worlds 2 won’t have loot boxes. It seems like Vávra’s final comment shifted from critiquing the game itself to a broader frustration with the gaming industry, though I don’t necessarily disagree with his point. I’m a big fan of RPGs with deep systems – I gave Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 a 90% score – and I really enjoyed older games made by Obsidian.

Would I like to see Obsidian make a game with deep RPG systems like some others? Absolutely! But do I think it’s essential for their future? Not really. Two of my all-time favorite Obsidian games – Pillars of Eternity 2 and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 – prove they can create amazing experiences even without overly complex systems, unlike games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

While I don’t completely agree with Vávra’s solution, I understand his assessment. I feel a loss of that strong drive and vision in Obsidian’s work, and I worry their games won’t reach the same level of quality they once did.

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2025-11-05 18:48