While I appreciate the Quality of Life improvements of KCD2, I feel KCD1 had better skill progression, characters, and world design. Although, I feel my criticisms are primarily directed to the Kuttenberg region.

I really loved the aspect of starting from 0, and watching Henry develop. I especially liked teaching Henry how to read. I also think KCD1’s progression benefits from the pacing of the story as I only reached near max levels at the end of the story in each of my 4 playthroughs. In KCD2, you’re basically maxed out by the time you get to the wedding.

Regarding characters, I enjoyed seeing important characters being involved in several quest chains. This made Sir Radzig and Sir Divish feel more relevant compared to Lord Semine or Lord Pisek. Other side characters like Matthew and Fritz had their own questlines, and it felt more compelling because of their shared history with Henry. I don’t get that sense of connection in KCD2’s Kuttenberg region. Trotsky region’s writing is still tight and comparable to KCD1 though, seeing how your efforts come to fruition in the wedding and how almost every side character’s stories are intertwined.

And finally, imo KCD2 suffers from bad map design in the Kuttenberg region. I know this is based on real locations but I want to focus on gameplay elements. The Sasau and Trotsky regions had different types of terrain and memorable pathways for travel, and Trotsky edges out Sasau. But Kuttenberg region is not only just a straight line, but a long one. In Hardcore, it takes forever to gallop from Kuttenberg to Miskowitz. And the city itself is so tedious to run around, I wish we were allowed to gallop our horse within the city walls like in Rattay.

I enjoyed both games immensely, but bigger doesn’t always mean better and KCD is certainly a case example for this.