Daniel Vávra Goes Scorched Earth on Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Critics
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- Vávra fired back at critics, including bloggers and journalists.
- Developer dismissed controversy over an optional same-sex relationship and criticized negative reviews.
- The game sold one million copies in 24 hours and received strong reviews.
Daniel Vávra, founder of Warhorse Studios and the creative director of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II has taken a no-holds-barred approach in responding to online criticism, firing back at detractors and challenging negative reviews of the game.
One of the most entertaining controversies stemmed from a video game blogger Jon Del Arroz, who criticized the game’s handling of diversity and historical accuracy. In a viral 11-post thread on X, Del Arroz described the game as “one of the biggest insults to gamers and Christians in recent years.” He further accused the developers of “trying to be subversive and woke, promoting DEI, and lying to gamers along the way.”
His comments, which have been viewed more than a million times, largely centered around an optional side quest in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II that features a same-sex relationship. Choosing to engage in said relationship, like the quest itself, is completely optional and is left to player’s discretion.
Vávra, known for his outspoken presence online, responded by challenging Del Arroz’s credibility, and then sharing a screenshot of a court case record alleging a domestic violence incident involving the blogger. Vávra also dismissed Arroz’s credibility, calling out his lack of firsthand experience with the game and emphasizing that the entire controversy—resulting in “crying and whining for a month”—arose from “one optional choice in a sidequest in a 100+ hour game. Without even playing it.”
Several days before this altercation Vávra took aim at Eurogamer’s review of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, which awarded the game a 60 out of 100, a score he called unjustified. Soon after, he lashed out at another publication, GamesHub, blaming its review for dropping the game’s Metacritic score below the 90% threshold.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is seeing strong commercial and critical success. The game sold one million copies within its first 24 hours, with review scores reflecting an overall positive reception. IGN and GameSpot both rated it 9/10, while Metacritic currently lists it at 88%. The game has also achieved a peak of 176,285 players on Steam.
