Action role-playing game Kingdom Come: Deliverance release date is February 13, but that hasn't stopped enterprising but that hasn’t stopped game stores in the UAE from breaking street date and subsequently re-exporting copies of the game to countries like India. Gadgets 360 got its hands on the game for the PS4. Like most modern day video games, we were treated to a day one patch. And this one is on the bigger side, clocking in at 23GB. Well, 23.07GB to be exact. This takes the total file size of the game upto around 46GB.
Aside from updating the game to version 1.01 it comes with a host of improvements. These include better dialogue animations, an improved persuasion user interface, combat fixes as well as tweaks to sound. We played a bit of the game on a PS4 Pro before updating and after updating. Without spoiling much, the differences are palpable, making this update crucial. Still we can't help but feel that it will be taxing for those with lower bandwidth caps.
The patch notes in full have been listed below:
Nonetheless, the game's developer Warhorse Studios has issued a statement explaining why the game's file size is bigger than you'd expect it to be.
“Four years after our Kickstarter campaign, our game is set to be released tomorrow. The task was really big and our team although still quite small and we always wanted to deliver, to create the game we wanted and we believed you wanted. Before talking about some background, all of us at Warhorse would like to thank our community, the backers and friends who helped us to bring this dream to life by giving us the chance to develop what we believe is a unique RPG experience!," claims Martin Klima, Executive Producer at Warhorse.
"The production realities of game development mean that a ‘release’ version has to be finalized some time before the actual release date. We could have used this time to get some rest, or we could use it to create some additional content and sell it to you as DLC, but we went back to the version-to-be-released and worked on it. The results are obvious: quests are more balanced, RPG progression is smoother, the game runs faster and every facet of the game got more polish. The drawback of course is that most of the data in the old build was replaced and has to be downloaded as a patch. At a hefty size, it’s going to take some time to download and it’s a shame. Still, we strongly believe that after four years wait it will pay off to wait a little bit longer while the day one patch is downloading. Trust me, it will deliver the awesome experience you deserve!”
Furthermore, Senior Manager for Marketing and PR at the game's publisher, Deep Silver Will Powers took to popular gaming forum ResetEra to explain the nuances related to Kingdom Come: Deliverance's update size.
"So, let me stop the rumor mill dead in its tracks before everyone continues jumping to conclusions. The way that I've been told that the engine works, is it takes the entire game and separates the PKG or ISO into 2GB archives. If during a patch you so much as alter a 1KB text file within any of these 2GB archives, then you need to reupload the entire 2GB portion. That beings said, this is a major patch that improves overarching mechanics throughout the game, so it touches almost all of these 2GB archives in the entire game build. Essentially you are having to redownload the game to replace the existing files. It shouldn't stack them and inflate on your harddrive, but rather replace the previously downloaded build files," Powers' post reads.
In a later post he clarified that the file size remains the same for those buying it digitally with those buying the game on disc stuck with a larger file size.
"With disc versions, it can't replace the files from the disc. It does replace with digital downloads though," said Powers.
For the uninitiated Kingdom Come: Deliverance offers a highly detailed and period accurate set pieces including real-world locations and castles, and spins a story that’s ripe with the right amount of facts and fiction. Even the combat style and soundtrack used in the game are real representations of the 15th century European setting that the game is based in. Check out our full Kingdom Come: Deliverance review some time next week.
Update, February 10, 2018: story updated to incorporate comments from Deep Silver and Warhorse Studios regarding Kingdom Come: Deliverance's patch size.
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