This year’s 59th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) marks an expansion of the Czech fest into featuring series and gaming content. On Wednesday, its Special Screenings section will world premiere “a cinematic cut of Warhorse Studios’ internationally successful video game Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Cinematic Cut,” a medieval role-playing game (RPG).
“Kingdom of Bohemia, 1403. Chaos has befallen the Kingdom,” reads a description of the game. “As invaders pillage this ungoverned land, sowing fear and terror, Henry of Skalitz seeks revenge for his murdered family. Now a trusted servant of the rightful king’s allies, Henry is sent to escort Sir Hans Capon on a diplomatic mission. After they are ambushed and nearly killed, the two young men embark on a series of perilous adventures, putting their skills, character, and friendship to the ultimate test.”
Ahead of the debut of the film version, a Wednesday discussion with the creators put the spotlight on Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, the game, the decision to bring it to the silver screen, as well as the state of the Czech gaming industry. The speakers were Martin Frývaldský, CEO of Warhorse Studios, Daniel Vávra, a Czech screenwriter, director and video game designer, were joined on stage by Petr Pekař, originally an editor and director who has spent the past 10 years in the video game industry as a creator of cutscenes and has since 2018 worked as cinematic director at Warhorse, and Pavel Barák, chairman of the Czech Game Developers Association. Vávra and Pekař are credited as directors of the movie.
What made the transformation into a cinematic cut possible was the high quality of the game, argued Pekař. “It was well written and acted in the first place, but we had to cut out parts,” he explained.
Frývaldský echoed that. “What Kingdom Come is famous for is that it has a very strong storyline. And to us, it sounded like a good idea to take a different view of the game industry and offer this to a different type of audience than video game players. And we thought that film was the best medium to actually show what computer games look like today.”
The creators emphasized that the movie audience will only experience about 30-40 percent of the game since the film focuses on its first half. The game’s cutscenes that advance its story amount to about six hours, they highlighted.
“This is a very interesting experiment for me,” Vávra told the audience, mentioning that one fascinating question is how gamers who are used to active engagement with a game will feel about the more lean-back experience of a film. “I would say it is viable and successful,” he concluded. “And games today look like films looked 10-20 years ago.”
Could the movie bring new fans to the game? “It is a demonstration of what the game looks like and what happens in the game, but it will definitely not spoil the fun,” said Pekař. “There is about 120 hours of gameplay in the game, so the cinematic cut is less than 5 percent of the entire game. So if you consume the movie, you will still be able to enjoy the game. Actually, it is interesting to see the film and then open the game and play the game and see what else there actually is to explore.”