Kingdom Come Deliverance 2's final expansion has you "curing medieval Covid"

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is about to welcome its second story expansion, Legacy of the Forge. Larger in size and scope than the first DLC, Brushes with Death, it sees Henry attempt to rebuild his father's old forge, become the elite blacksmith Kuttenberg needs, and sink his profits into a heavily customizable residence. At Gamescom in Germany, I was able to get a sneak peak at Legacy of the Forge before its release in a couple of weeks' time, but I also managed to learn some interesting details about DLC 3, Mysteria Ecclesiae, which Warhorse reaffirms will be its final expansion for KCD2 before moving on to new, immersive RPG projects.

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 Legacy of the Forge is perfect for fans that have been yearning for a proper, personalized pad to call Henry's home. The old forge that belonged to his father, Martin, is now in his possession, and Henry's determined to bring it back to its former glory and rise up through the ranks of the blacksmith's guild. Leaning on a similar system from KCD1's From the Ashes DLC, a series of narrative driven quests and daily, grindable commission activities will see Henry increase his prestige level, and his coin. I was able to check out a couple of said quests, including one that sees you conduct some rough-and-ready dentistry. That's all I'll say on that topic to dodge spoilers, but if the rest of the story beats are as unexpected and charming as this one, there'll be little room for complaint from the RPG's new expansion.

"Some of the stuff is unique little quest lines, just as you know them from KCD2," community manager Tobias Stolz-Zwilling tells me. "But for other people who really like to roleplay and [get] immersive, they can have these repeating activities [that make it feel like] you are now owning a shop. Now people want to buy something from you. It just ties into the guild system and with the [role-playing] philosophy we have already with the game."

While I didn't have much time to dive fully into all the options, the 100 million+ customization combinations at players' disposal are pretty remarkable. The exterior of the forge, the workshop, Henry's private quarters, and a garden space can all be renovated and personalized. As well as costing money, some items are also locked behind blacksmith guild prestige, so you'll gradually get access to more and more options as you progress through the story and complete commissions.

I mainly focused on the outdoor garden space, adding in new stables and paths and upgrading some of the outbuildings. It's not as flexible as something like The Sims where you can drag and drop things into the exact place you want, with everything still having its own static space. But there's still a lot of freedom when it comes to how you want things to look.

Stolz-Zwilling says it's been rewarding for the team to create this housing system, as it tackles two long-standing demands from fans.

"When we were looking into what DLCs we should do, we looked a lot at Reddit and forums and whatnot. The two most requested [things] in KCD1 already, but also in KCD2, was, 'I want to own a place, a castle' - well, you cannot own a castle in that sense, so we at least to get the forge - and 'I want to dump my money somewhere and invest in something.' So, yeah, we hope that with this DLC, we address both of those needs."

KCD2's Legacy of the Forge DLC goes live on Tuesday, September 9, so there's not long to wait to dive into the new storyline and get renovating. However, I can't help but ask Stolz-Zwilling about what's to come in the future for both Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 and Warhorse more generally.

We already knew that Mysteria Ecclesiae, the third DLC which is planned to launch before the end of 2025, will take players inside the Sedletz Monastery, a location that's mostly unexplorable in the base game. However, I managed to pry out a few more small teasers.

"[The monastery] will open up for you," Stolz-Zwilling tells me. "Monks are living there. And I can tease you that it will be a lot about medicine and sickness and alchemy, in a way - internally, we said you are curing medieval Covid. But there's something going on, and you have to work together with them. This time you're not blocked in the monastery, so you can freely run around. It will be pretty cool, I think." He also says it will be similar in size to Legacy of the Forge, so again, expect it to be larger than Brushes with Death.

He also reaffirms that this will be the last expansion for Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. When compared to KCD1's post-launch slate, the rollout of DLC for KCD2 is pretty rapid, and despite the game's huge success, Warhorse still appears keen to move onto new projects.

"We want to call it a day there, at least finish Henry's story," he says. "That doesn't mean that the Kingdom Come Deliverance IP is over forever. When we in 2014 imagined Kingdom Come Deliverance - the thing that we pitched on Kickstarter, if you remember - this [KCD2] is now it for us. This is the thing that we imagined 10 years ago, 11 years ago, [so now] let's see what comes next."

"We feel really at home with immersive RPGs," Stolz-Zwilling adds. "Some reviewer for KCD2 said that it feels like we picked up the RPG torch that someone [Bethesda] left on the ground. And we like that quote a lot. So immersive RPGs, no matter if it will be in space or underwater or whatever, this is what we want to try and establish."

If you're already well-acquainted with KCD2 and want a similar experience to pass the time between now and Legacy of the Forge, check out our list of the best medieval games. In what's going to be a busy month for new releases, be sure to also consult our upcoming PC games guide.

If you're sad to hear that there'll be no more KCD2 DLC after Mysteria Ecclesiae, or you're hyped for the new housing mechanic in Legacy of the Forge, head over to our community Discord server and lets us know.