How Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Was Transformed Into a Festival Feature Film

If you’ve enactment down your controller this twelvemonth to spell interaction a precise peculiar spot of grass, you mightiness person noticed that thing unusual is going connected astatine the world’s large movie festivals. It started successful May, erstwhile a movie adaptation of virally-successful Japanese indie crippled Exit 8 premiered astatine the prestigious Cannes Film Festival – the archetypal videogame movie to bash so. The film’s director, Genki Kawamura, gives his root worldly a compelling structural spin, appealing arsenic to the arthouse assemblage and to crippled fans. But live-action adaptations of video games are, of course, thing new.

That’s wherefore Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Cinematic Cut is truthful interesting. It is not a live-action adaptation of developer Warhorse Studios’ critically-acclaimed RPG. Instead, it is an abridged and reformatted mentation of Act One of the crippled itself, presenting a newly-edited blend of the open-world game’s cutscenes and gameplay successful a two-hour linear form. It was possibly the strangest Special Presentation astatine this month’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival successful the Czech Republic – a unsocial cross-format experiment. One that wasn’t Warhorse’s idea.

“It each happened astatine the authoritative motorboat of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2,” explains KVIFF creator director, Karel Och. “The archetypal interaction was made done a communal friend, and Warhorse and KVIFF made each different recognize that they wanted to collaborate astatine immoderate point. During the pursuing months, it was breathtaking to person a glimpse of what Warhorse represents – and I situation to accidental the aforesaid goes for our friends from the apical of the gaming business.”

Warhorse’s communications director, Tobias Stolz-Zwilling, concurs. “They wanted to marque the festival much modern and absorbing – to connection thing new”. The largest movie festival successful Eastern Europe, KVIFF attracts a younger, much adventurous assemblage than its contemporaries. The workplace saw the movie festival’s unusual thought arsenic a accidental to springiness video games greater taste relevancy successful the broader mainstream. Besides – overmuch of the game’s cinematics squad were already speaking the festival’s language.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2’s cinematic director, Petr Pekař, studied movie editing and directing with the volition of becoming a accepted filmmaker, but helium recovered his calling successful video games. “There are a batch of filmmakers successful the Czech Republic, but the marketplace is not that big, truthful it's a spot overcrowded.” says Pekař. “Thankfully, determination are aggregate studios creating cutscenes, which are fundamentally animated movies”. Pekar learned connected the occupation creating cutscenes for Mafia 3, past joined Warhorse – archetypal arsenic a cinematic decorator connected the archetypal Kingdom Come, past arsenic manager connected its sequel.

Bringing Deliverance 2’s cutscenes to the large surface invites examination with accepted cinema, an arena acold from the cinematics’ archetypal purpose. “If you're a player, you’re chiefly looking guardant to playing the game,” says Pekař. “The cutscenes are much similar dessert for the crippled – not indispensable – but erstwhile it's bully and it clicks, it truly helps the game, the story, and the wide feel”.

The Cinematic Cut opens, naturally, connected the game’s archetypal cutscene. As it happens, you can’t assistance but consciousness similar you’re settling successful for a YouTube video titled ‘Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 – All Cutscenes’ (“I don’t deliberation anybody really watches those successful full” Pekař quips). The team’s cinematic absorption is confident, but acquainted – steeped successful precocious phantasy tropes. A fiery siege connected the castle is highly reminiscent of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy – a large power connected Warhorse’s stylistic approach. Transported to the cinema screen, the country serves arsenic a striking reminder of however video games person traded successful pastiche since their inception, responding to our tendency to unrecorded retired the phantasy ourselves whenever we spot thing chill connected screen. But, of course, Cinematic Cut doesn’t present connected this pivotal phantasy similar its root worldly does – it’s non-playable.

When the cutscene footage ends, thing funny happens. Father Godwin readies his crossbow and the country transitions into first-person. But this is nary Let’s Play. Smart, speedy cuts found a new, much cinematic editing connection for first-person gameplay. Godwin heads towards the stairs – chopped – present he’s halfway up them – chopped – present he’s atop the ramparts, plunging his sword into an enemy. It’s remarkably thrilling. “[The gameplay] was mostly recorded by Vítek Mičke, our selling specialist,” explains Pekař. “He besides made the trailers, and he's got a bully consciousness of timing and aesthetics. He knows however to power the camera with the controller to decently acceptable the country and acceptable the temper – truthful it looks cool.”

A mates of awkward transitions disrupt this different ‘cinematic’ tempo. A abrupt chopped to a ladder lowering, for example, has the chiseled consciousness of a gameplay conception ending and a cutscene beginning, and reminds you of the objective-based crippled that birthed the footage. But these moments are fewer and acold between, and they accentuate however overmuch Warhorse has different succeeded successful their archetypal attempt.

“I deliberation this is an experimentation that idiosyncratic tin prime up and bash amended than we did – oregon possibly we tin bash it again successful the aboriginal with our aboriginal projects, and larn from our mistakes.” reflects Pekař. “It’s a truly absorbing acquisition to spot it connected the large surface – and I was amazed that it held up. It’s odd, but it somewhat works. It’s not immoderate benignant of caller cinematic media that volition beryllium adjacent to the movies, but for festivals and conventions, for fans – I deliberation it’s a format that others volition beryllium doing arsenic well”.

The squad astatine KVIFF are arsenic pleased with the results. “Storytelling has galore faces,” says Och. “We’re arrogant that a caller section successful the festival’s modern past was written successful collaboration with radical that we respect a large woody who travel the aforesaid goal.”

“I deliberation this format builds a bridge,” concludes Pekař. “Gamers tin travel to admit aesthetics and cinematography, the colour palettes and moods successful games more, and – successful the aforesaid mode – movie fans tin recognize however movies person antithetic functions erstwhile they’re moving with interactivity. When these 2 mediums collaborate, sometimes it creates truly unusual and chill ideas. When radical spell retired of their bubble to spot thing different, it helps america to recognize each other’s mediums.”

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Cinematic Cut is disposable to ticker connected the KVIFF.TV website for a tiny interest (approx. $6) until July 31, 2027.

Blake Simons is simply a writer with a sensation for the self-reflexive, sentimental and surreal.