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Was Kingdom Come Deliverance Downgraded On PC?

Kingdom Come Deliverance

Kingdom Come Deliverance was one of those semi-rare instances where a game funded by Kickstarter actually delivered on its product. There have of course been many games created via crowdfunding, but few have been met with the same reception Kingdom Come Deliverance has.

Despite this, however, the PC release of the game may have been hit with some interesting controversy.

Downgraded graphics

For those who backed the Kickstarter at a certain tier, they were able to gain access to the beta release of the game. It is from this that the hype initially started to build. In a report via DSOGaming, however, one eagle eyes person believes he may have caught the developers out by giving the final version worse graphics than the beta.

In the above image, Shazoo member ‘design3d’ believes he has clearly found evidence that the graphics were downscaled on release.

There is definitely and clearly a decrease in the vegetation and, as many users have already pointed out a significant worsening of the lighting effects.

This, of course, would not represent the first instance we have seen of PC versions getting downgraded. Perhaps the most infamous instance of this was Watch Dogs where the PC version had better quality imagery within the installation files, but due to the recent PS4 and Xbox One release, there was the opinion either with the developers or the publishers that the PC version didn’t have to look better.

The Evidence is Clear! – Guilty!

Having reviewed the evidence myself, at this moment, I’m fairly convinced downgrading to the PC version did occur. I do, however, perhaps suggest an ulterior and perhaps more benign motive.

Given how good it looked in the beta, I’m presuming some pretty decent specifications were required to run this at Ultra High. It is, after all, an open-world RPG. It wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility that graphics had to be toned down to accommodate the many rather than the few. There will, of course, be the counter argument that this could’ve been controlled by the graphics options. Yes and no. Unless a game has specifically separate texture backs, generally speaking (once again, generally speaking) the only real way to easily control graphics vs performance is to either reduce environmental clutter, shadows, water effects or draw distances.

So, despite this, I am willing to forgive and forget. Kingdom Come Deliverance still looks fantastic and is perhaps one of the most visually impressive PC games in recent history. It’s just a shame that they didn’t really try to push the graphical boat out.

Oh well, Final Fantasy XV is only 2 weeks away.

What do you think? Have you played Kingdom Come Deliverance? What did you think? In addition, any complaints about the graphics? – Let us know in the comments!

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