Henry is a blacksmith's son in fifteenth-century Bohemia, and the game refuses to pretend he is anything more until he has earned it. Everything here is researched rather than invented.

Fighting takes practice

Directional strikes, feints, master strokes and armour that actually stops a blade. Early on you will lose to a single drunk with a stick, and later you will beat four men, and both will feel correct.

Skills improve by doing

Reading, lockpicking, alchemy, riding, haggling — no experience bar, just use. Speech and reputation genuinely change which routes through a quest are open.

What the Royal Edition adds

The base game with every update, plus Brushes with Death, Legacy of the Forge and Mysteria Ecclesiae, the Gallant Huntsman's Kit, Shields of Seasons Passing and The Lion's Crest.