One of the last things I got to check out at E3 2018 was the new upcoming Kingdom Come: Deliverance DLC. I sat down with Rick Lagnese and Adam Sporka, the US Community PR Manager and Adaptive Music Designer for Warhorse Studios respectively, who walked me through two pieces of DLC. One, the Hardcore mode, is completely free and is for those players who want even more of a challenge than the base game provides. The paid DLC is titled From the Ashes and aims to address some issues and feature requests players have while also introducing some completely new gameplay mechanics.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance – From the Ashes and Hardcore Mode Details

So to start, Hardcore mode. First, simply when starting the game, Hardcore mode makes the player choose two negative perks from a lengthy list, so right at the start you’re at a disadvantage. There’s no easy options either: all the negative perks will sting, such as nightmares, which makes player character Henry suffer from a debuff every time he wakes up, or Brittle Bones, which increases fall damage. It’s only downhill from there, as the compass has been removed, so navigation is much more difficult. There’s also no fast traveling and you can’t see where you are on the world map, so taking note of your environment is absolutely key. There’s also no health or stamina bars, no combat indicators, no auto-saves and traders pay less for goods you sell. Rick explained that even though the base game can be challenging, a significant portion of the fanbase wanted an even greater challenge, so the team doubled down on making Hardcore mode extremely difficult. You have been warned.

Now, let’s dive into From the Ashes. This DLC introduces a number of new mechanics and helpful quest lines by appointing Henry as a bailiff and allowing the player to rebuild a village quite literally from the ashes. This isn’t going to come cheap for Henry though, which is how the DLC solves a common complaint: by the end of the game, players generally have so much money they’ve no idea what to do with it. How does this DLC address that? Buildings are extremely expensive and you’ll need to pay the wages for the workers who are constructing them. Even with that in mind, Rick and Adam pointed out that it might actually be a good idea to start a new playthrough in order to reap the full benefits. Different buildings will provide different bonuses and you can sell stolen goods in this village without worry.

In order to start construction, the location for each new building has to be scouted. Then, the workers all need to be paid. They might overlook missing wages for a short amount of time but repeatedly fail to give them their due and you’ll actually be removed from your position as bailiff. Depending on the scale of the construction projects, you’ll need four different resources (Stone, Grain, Charcoal and Livestock) in addition to money. This can be solved by setting up different labor camps at resource points, which can supply you with what you need. Of course, you don’t want to be overcharged, so you can negotiate for different prices all throughout the rebuilding.

While it might take time to get everything organized, the scale and detail of Kingdom Come: Deliverance really comes in to play when you see the village brought back to life. Workers saw lumbers, villagers trading goods and new buildings or walls built up all around you is really something to behold.

Rick and Adam told me that Warhorse Studios is keeping track of what players want and based on the scale of these DLCs I believe them. So if you’re a fan of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, you’ve got a lot to look forward to this summer and beyond. In fact, you don’t have to look far at all: Hardcore mode is actually available tomorrow. That’s right, it’ll be available on June 26th, 2018. The From the Ashes DLC is releasing very soon afterwards and we’ll be sure to let you know when a date is available.

If you’re interested in checking out any of my other E3 2018 impressions, here’s the list of coverage so far: