Warhorse Studios, the Czech developer behind Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, has confirmed that it was hit by a cyberattack. In an official statement on its website, the studio says the attack involved unauthorized access to company systems and company data. Warhorse is working with cybersecurity experts to secure its systems and assess the full impact, and says it is coordinating with the relevant authorities, though it didn't name them. A much shorter message also went up on the studio's X account on October 27, telling players it was sorry to share the news and thanking them for standing with the studio.

CEO Martin Frývaldský called it "a serious incident for Warhorse Studios and everyone affected," adding that the priority is to secure systems, establish the full extent of the breach, and protect employees, partners, and the community. Other details are thin, however. Warhorse hasn't said when the attack happened, who is behind it, what kind of data was accessed, or whether anything was actually taken, and it isn't giving interviews or further comments while the investigation is ongoing.

The Blood of Dawnwalker reportedly cost around $40 million to make, according to a new Bloomberg report. Rebel Wolves director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz self-funded the first year in 2022 to build a prototype, and NetEase stepped in by the end of that year. The Chinese company took a 26% stake in the studio and supplied the $40 million budget. Hiring took most of 2023, and full production started toward the end of that year, with Bandai Namco publishing the game. Apparently, the team originally planned to cap headcount at 90, but the studio has since grown to around 160 people.

Rebel Wolves also seems to have picked a September release over June to avoid overtime, and it kept the game's foundations the same as its original pitch deck. That puts the game in AA territory, close to the roughly $41 million reported for Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. It looks like the figure covers development funding only, so it probably doesn't include marketing and publishing costs. Still, to make a game as well-received as The Blood of Dawnwalker on this budget is a great achievement. The game sold over 1 million copies within days of launch, and Rebel Wolves has already started hiring for a sequel. It's safe to assume that plenty of larger publishers will be looking at that ratio.

Warhorse Studios recently announced that a "new Kingdom Come adventure" was already in development at the game studio, although not much else was revealed about the upcoming game. Now, in a new video by Warhorse Studios, the studio has revealed that "if everything goes right, it comes next fiscal year," meaning the 2027 fiscal year, which likely refers to the studio's parent company, Embracer Group's fiscal year, which will run from April 2027 to March 2028. The video also confirmed that the new Kingdom Come game will be an open-world RPG.

The video also revealed that Prokop Jirsa, the lead designer of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, will be the creative director of the new Kingdom Come game, and the Middle Earth RPG game announced alongside the Kingdom Come game, will be led by Viktor Bocan, who worked as design director on Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. It's still unclear if the new Kingdom Come game will be a direct successor to Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 or a spin-off, but the condensed timeline seems to suggest that it will be a spin-off based on assets from existing Kingdom Come: Deliverance games.

March is in full bloom, and that means a fresh wave of games heading to the cloud. 15 new titles are joining the GeForce NOW library this month. Leading the March lineup is Pearl Abyss' Crimson Desert, an open-world action-adventure set in a war-torn fantasy land, alongside plenty of other games to explore. Whether looking to shake off the winter blues or jump into some bracket-worthy gaming action, there's something for everyone in the cloud. March into the cloud and see what's new - and keep an eye on GFN Thursdays all month for more updates. This week kicks off the month with eight new games.

March Gaming Madness
LORT dials chaos up to 11 and snaps the knob clean off. Big Distraction's off-the-rails adventure hurls players into a world where every corner hides a bad idea waiting to become a great story, powered by wild weapons, weirder characters and "Did that just happen?" moments. Catch every glorious disaster in full fidelity and play it on GeForce NOW, available this week.

Welcome to February, also known as the shortest month of the year. This week's AAA release brings you some open-world medieval knight action. The rest of the week is pretty low-key, kicking off with a rather odd action-puzzle game which is followed by a new take on the vampire genre. Up next is some musical combat, some more knights, although this time we're back in Camelot and the week is finished off with a paranormal point-and-click adventure.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II / This week's AAA release / Tuesday 4 February
Diving back into the heart-pounding world of 15th Century Bohemia (Central Europe), Kingdom Come: Deliverance II picks up where its predecessor left off, thrusting players into the shoes of Henry, the steadfast son of a blacksmith, embroiled in a tumultuous tale of vengeance, betrayal, and self-discovery. In this gripping sequel, players will traverse a meticulously crafted medieval landscape, from the humble confines of a blacksmith's forge to the grandeur of royal courts, all while navigating the treacherous currents of a kingdom torn apart by civil war. Steam Link

Polish your armor and sharpen your sword: Warhorse Studios and PLAION have released details of the post-launch roadmap for Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. The game's upcoming February 4 launch signifies the start of an epic journey through medieval Bohemia, with a range of additional free and paid content set to arrive throughout 2025. From Horse Racing and Hardcore Mode to mastering blacksmithing and exploring compelling new quests, there is plenty for players to look forward to as they continue their adventure with Henry.

Alongside these expansions will be a number of free quality of life updates to further enhance the game experience. Unlock the full experience with the Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Gold Edition, which includes the base game, the Gallant Huntsman Kit and the Expansion Pass, which includes Shields of Season Passing and all three paid story expansions. The Gold Edition is truly the ultimate way to enjoy everything the game has to offer.

In 2018, Kingdom Come: Deliverance's celebrated score played a crucial role in supporting Warhorse's unique vision for immersive RPG gaming. Composer Jan Valta returns for the sequel with an expanded, handcrafted score that delicately blends authenticity with the tastes of a modern world. This gentle approach matters. The medieval music of Henry's world was dominated by the spoken word, with the instruments assuming more of a background role. Time signatures ebbed and flowed with far more fluidity than modern mainstream ears are accustomed to - a story-focused form of jazz, if you like. "It didn't always go in four beats or four bars, and then another four bars," Jan explains. "In medieval times the music was led by the lyrics. It was led by the text which was usually sacred. It came from God, or from the Apostles, or from Jesus. The music was tamed by the lyrics."

Music to Your Ears
Jan instead prefers to view his final touches of authenticity as "seasoning", designed to elevate a more traditionally structured soundtrack. The score exists first and foremost to serve the narrative beats that drive Henry's adventure forwards, in other words, rather than authenticity for authenticity's sake. "Daniel Vávra (creative director) and I quickly came to a common ground, which was a symphonic soundtrack: film-like music, which is then spiced or seasoned with medieval times," he says.

The EPIC Games Store has been a great source of free weekly games, with such offerings such as Observer, The Witness, and Surviving Mars all seeing their way into players' libraries without spending a penny. Now, a juggernaut of last year's releases comes our way as well in the form of Kingdom come: Deliverance, the immersive open-world sim from Warhorse Studios. If you'll remember, our own W1zzard has taken a look at this game, and even in its release state, found it to be hugely engrossing. Now, with months of active bug fixing behind it, it should be an even better, more polished experience.

The other title on offer, Aztez, is described as a hybrid beat-them-up and turn-based strategy game, with striking black, white and red visuals (and developed by Team Colorblind, so that might have something to do with the aesthetic choice). The game actually looks like a lot of fun, and the visuals are what they are already, so why not get yourself another game for your already endless waiting list?

Kingdom Come: Deliverance was released on Steam on February 13, but we know that many of you were waiting anxiously for the DRM-free version. Well, we come bearing great news! Kingdom Come: Deliverance is available as of today on GOG. The DRM-free version, which doesn't require activation or an online connection to play, carries a price tag of $47.30. Surprising or not, that's $12.69 cheaper than Steam's asking price. If you want to spoil yourself just a little bit, the OST and artbook bundle can be had for $51.46 which, if you look at it, still costs less than the standard game on Steam. Wondering if your PC can handle the game? Take a look at our Kingdom Come: Deliverance performance analysis.

Medieval RPG "Kingdom Come: Deliverance" is on course to becoming 2018's first gaming blockbuster. The game sold over a million copies in its first week since launch, with the PC platform amounting to 45 percent of the sales, through Steam. The sales data was compiled by SteamSpy, accounting the first week of sales since the game's February 13 release across Windows (PC), Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 platforms. Czech developer Warhorse Studios debuted with the game, which is published by Deep Silver.

In related news, the game already received its first major patch, version 1.2.5, which fixes controller issues on the console platforms, such as an unresponsive R2 button; bugs in quests with Hans Capon; and bugs in the "Ginger in a Pickle" quest. "We're about one million when I count all the platforms and distribution channels. We certainly thought about one million. The number is surprisingly positive, but it's not something we thought we could not achieve," said Martin Frývaldský, CEO of Warhorse Studios.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance has deployed itself unto the already overwhelming amount of games that users can spend both their time and money on ("spend" that takes the form of "invest" if it's a good experience, naturally). Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a 1400's era open-world simulator that runs on CryEngine, so expect beautiful graphics and vistas. There's been some clamoring over the games' systems; however, gripes with the game design and such considerations being put to rest (they're always better sampled by users themselves on a case by case basis, anyway), there's something strange on this distribution of the game.

This is because while Kingdom Come: Deliverance is being marketed as a fully single-player experience, there seems to be some sort of strange, overly eager DRM solution embedded, which invokes an error message that reads "There is no live connection to server" if users try to launch the game in offline mode. Not strange in the sense that developers would want to protect their return on investment - just strange that such an always-on server ping would be required for a single player experience. And alas, the game has already been cracked by the pirate scene - so this is a case where pirates are actually better served in getting the game that way than actual paying customers with an immediate lack of internet connection or spotty service. Fret not, however; for those who don't want to acquire a DRM-enabled version of the game, the developers, Warhorse Studios, are releasing a DRM-free version via GOG on February 27th. This is users' opportunity to show the developers that they abide to a DRM-less game - provided it's a good experience, naturally.

Update Feb 16th: This has been fixed by the developer in version 1.2.2 and the game will now run perfectly fine while Steam is in Offline Mode.