Warhorse knows how to turn routine into adventure, making everyday tasks work to immerse players in the historical and cultural context. Already at the release of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, players appreciated the meditative nature of blacksmithing and repeatedly suggested making it a separate game. The second story DLC, Legacy of the Forge, attempts to give players an answer to this request, but it doesn't always sound as firm and clear as the hammer's blow on the anvil.
Return to Roots
The events of the DLC unfold parallel to the main story, weaving into the conditional second act of the game. In Kutná Hora, Henry finds a dilapidated forge, and the familiar outlines of the building awaken childhood memories in him. It turns out to be the very workshop where his foster father, Martin, spent his youth, learning the blacksmith's craft.
Only ruins remain of the once glorious forge. The workshop's owner, Skoda, died long ago, and the roof collapsed after a fire. Now, his widow, Magdalena, huddles in the only surviving room. Touched by the memory of his father and compassion for the woman, Henry decides to breathe life into the ruins and restore the forge to its former glory.
But before he can begin restoration, he must become a full member of the Kutná Hora blacksmith's guild. In Bohemia in 1403, this is much more complicated than registering as self-employed, so first, he needs to convince the masters that he is a true hereditary blacksmith with extensive experience. To do this, he will not only have to lie a little but also pass an exam with theoretical and practical parts.
In reality, the test is not so scary if you have held a blacksmith's hammer at least a couple of times. But if your memory fails you and all your experience has evaporated, the guild will gladly sell a textbook to prepare for the theory for a hundred groschen, and in practice, you will have to forge a simple blade. Nevertheless, even after a hundred hours spent in the game, I was nervous as if I were taking a real exam. Kingdom Come knows how to surprise, and several stern clicks from the masters made me involuntarily shrink in anticipation of failure.
And yet, joining the guild is only the first step. Crossing the threshold of the forge, Henry faces an unprecedented level of devastation, and instead of the grand opening of his own "business," he is greeted by the usual "Vávra-style" routine. Before taking on the first order, he needs to clear the rubble, take out the trash, unload bags into the cart, and sweep away the dust and dirt.
In its favorite manner, Warhorse turns these simple actions into part of the narrative and gently immerses the player in the atmosphere of the era. Thanks to this, even mundane chores do not seem boring or superfluous.
During the cleaning, Henry finds a strange drawing and asks Magdalena about it. It turns out that Skoda and Martin once planned to revive the astronomical clock of Kutná Hora, but the project for various reasons (which the player will learn later) was never completed. It is the repair of this clock that becomes the central line of the DLC.
Cozy Simulator
Having the forge at his disposal, Henry finally acquires his own home and household. But one general cleaning is not enough to make a new home truly cozy. This is where the construction table, installed directly in the workshop, comes to the rescue. With its help, you can gradually restore the building — from repairing the roof and exterior to improving the courtyard and personal chambers.
The housing customization system can be called modular. There is no detailed setting for each item, and repairs are done in one click. But it allows you to gradually turn the forge into a universal space for work and recreation.
In the personal room, you can put a bed that gives different bonuses depending on the choice. One increases endurance, another enhances skills, the third allows you to drink before bed and still guarantees waking up in your own bed, not in a ditch without pants. The same principle applies to tables: one helps in the craft, another in trade, the third will be useful for lovers of thieving.
In addition, Henry the reveler can put a whole barrel of wine in the chambers, and the pious Henry can arrange a corner for prayer. But the possibilities do not end there: there is also a place for decorations — from moose antlers to a bookcase or a stand for displaying the best weapons. And if the hero suddenly gets bored... Alas, you can't bring women into the chambers, but you can get a real talking raven and spend days teaching it bad words.
In the backyard, a trough for washing or a stable with a cowshed and a beehive will come in handy so that there is always fresh honey in the house. If desired, you can build a smokehouse, a drying room, and an alchemical table. In short, there are plenty of opportunities. And if you don't want to knead the mud after the rain, the yard can be easily paved with stone and forget about the puddles at the forge forever. Under the house, there is a place for a cellar where it is convenient to store wine and sausages.
In the process of passing, Henry will meet old acquaintances of Martin and make new ones. He can even shelter someone and build workshops for them — a foundry for weapons and an armorer's workshop. After all, no matter what, he is our weaponsmith — and he doesn't understand anything about armor.
Watching the house and yard transform day after day is incredibly pleasant. But for complete restoration and arrangement, you will need not only colossal reserves of groschen but also a high level of "prestige." And here it is time to remember that we are still dealing with a forge, not a mansion on Rublevka. To make all these benefits available, you will have to work not only with your tongue and fists but also with a hammer.
Prestigious Blacksmith
"Prestige" is a new type of reputation designed to cool the ardor of players who have returned to the game after hundreds of thousands of looted money in search of an easy life. In the DLC, it becomes the main indicator of progress and a way to feel the development of the hero.
Every day, Henry, as a blacksmith and member of the guild, receives new orders for the manufacture of weapons and special tests, of which there can be up to three per day. By fulfilling them, he strengthens his position in the city, increases his status in the guild, earns money, and at the same time helps local residents and colleagues.
Guild assignments pleasantly dilute the peaceful life in Kutná Hora. These are competitions — archery, duels, or dice games, and "part-time jobs" such as delivery or investigations with the search for missing cargo.
Traditionally, even the most banal request easily turns into a small adventure: an archery tournament suddenly turns into a search for hooligans who beat up the judge on the way; a tooth extraction turns into a brawl, during which the goal will still be achieved; a simple manufacture of horseshoes — into a story about a wife who planned to escape from a negligent husband obsessed with the beauty of his own... Sword! We, of course, will tactfully remain silent that we ourselves made this sword for him a couple of days ago.
The DLC offers a concentrated experience of side activities from the main game — and this, perhaps, is both its plus and minus. For those like me who returned to the game after six months, it gives the opportunity to spend a pleasant 15–20 hours doing familiar things, and then return to the real world without regret.
For those who stumble upon it during the main passage, it may seem stretched out: the guild's assignments are basically monotonous and inferior in content to the secondary quests from the base game. Most of them boil down to a standard cycle — "came, talked, got to the place, fought or found something, returned, talked again, left."
This circle has to be repeated dozens of times, especially if you intend to pump prestige to the maximum in order to fully equip the house and, say, get the same talking raven. Whether it's worth it — everyone will decide for themselves, but progress here is not fast. Having completed the plot of the DLC in about 15 hours, I reached only the 21st level of prestige with a maximum of 30, and then I was waiting for several more hours of routine, which was no longer fueled by the advancement of the plot.
Fortunately, the game does not force you to do things you do not like: if you do not want to complete any assignment, you can simply skip it, do something else, or even sleep until the next day to update the tasks. In Legacy of the Forge, there is no hard timer and pressure — you set the pace of your vacation in Bohemia yourself, and there are no penalties for refusing tasks.
Against this background, it is especially noticeable that the scale of the narrative in the DLC is chamber. There are no royal intrigues, epic battles, and intricate interweaving, as in the main game. Everything boils down to blacksmithing and conversations about the pressing, everyday life, and bureaucracy.
The story organically weaves into a routine cycle, where Henry improves in the craft and gradually discovers the past of a person whom he has long considered his real father, albeit an adoptive one. On the way, the hero meets acquaintances of Martin and collects fragments of his story.
Gradually, Henry not only spiritually gets closer to him but also becomes a full-fledged heir — a continuer of the family business. And if you are close to this, the DLC will surely please you. But first, you should decide on your attitude to blacksmithing: to say that there is a lot of it here is to say nothing. This is clear from the title, but there is a nuance.
Master of None
The fact is that the craft itself in the DLC almost does not develop. Personally, I expected that the forging mechanics would be somehow modified or deepened specifically for the DLC, but this did not happen.
In practice, the cycle remained the same: heat the workpiece, beat it with a hammer, temper it, sharpen it, and either take it to the customer or put it in a chest for subsequent sale.
The developers did not complicate the mini-game, limiting themselves to expanding the range of products. Now the order may require, say, an ax for a carpenter, a horseman, or an executioner, and there are noticeably more such variations, but the process itself does not change. There are no new forms of blanks, forging stages, or special techniques. The developers could have taught Henry to work with armor, but this also did not happen.
The only noticeable change around the craft, in addition to the new recipes, was a special chest, which is managed by Magdalena. It allows you to automatically sell products and unnecessary junk, opening up a convenient way to earn honestly without having to run around the city in search of a buyer. Moreover, you can put not only weapons in the chest but also any unnecessary things that used to gather dust in Henry's room.
Although the lack of fundamental changes and deepening of mechanics did not become a critical problem for me, I am sure that for someone this will be exactly the case. I was left with only a slight disappointment from the unrealized potential — largely due to inflated expectations.
However, the blacksmith's routine still works and draws you in, and the atmosphere and immersion in the game are in perfect order. After a busy work week, my mini-vacation in Czech Bohemia went great, and I would gladly recommend repeating it. But if you did not like the blacksmith's mechanics in the original game, the DLC is unlikely to change this opinion.
Diagnosis
The Legacy of the Forge DLC does not try to surprise with scale or drama. It offers to slow down and forget about wars and intrigues for a while, plunging into the quiet life of a blacksmith. There are more worries about the house, more meditative routine, and less of the usual heroism, although there were, of course, adventures. Yes, blacksmithing has hardly changed since the release, and guild assignments are guilty of monotony, sliding into outright grinding by the finale. But if you are ready to accept this measured rhythm, the DLC will give you several evenings of meditative pleasure, akin to a mini-vacation in Bohemia.
You will equip the house, get a swearing raven, hear new stories about Martin, "make happy" Skoda's widow (well, not quite you), and feel how even the simplest things add up to a holistic experience, for which it is worth returning to the game. For those who were waiting for new mechanics, bright plot twists, or do not share interest in blacksmithing at all — the DLC will seem superfluous, boring, and protracted.
