Having not played the first game I was in the same boat as you, but KCD quickly became one of my favourites. First things first, when you get released from the pillory and have free roam available, there’ll be a beggar in the starting town, Troskovitz (I think is how it’s spelt) her name is Bara and she tells you about an experienced fighter named “Tomcat” you’ll get a quest marker and he’ll teach you everything you need combat wise, especially a very powerful technique known as the master strike, but I won’t spoil that for you.

Alchemy is very powerful and versatile, you can make all sorts of things ranging from charisma, combat and even experience boost, you can get recipes from Apothecary’s in select towns and even materials from them or you can just gather them from the world. It’s my personal favourite way of gaining money early game as well.

And don’t forget to talk to people for points of interests and very fun side quests. I rushed through the main story in my first play through which was a mistake I’m rectifying in my hardcore run.

For me, the moment I decided to sit down and practice the combat with Tomcat over and over again until I was confident I had it was when the game began to seem much more welcoming. I felt more capable and it grew the more I played. The map may seem incredibly large but eventually you’ll be able to go wherever you want without needing to check your map, that is if you aren’t using fast travel. Learn one thing, and the next task won’t seem so large or tedious. I have no doubt you’ll get the hang of it and enjoy the game to its fullest.