Boring history lessons? Play video games instead!
05 May 2025
The products of the Czech creative industry might not usually be mass-consumed abroad, but one export article has taken over international popularity charts: the computer game Kingdom Come: Deliverance. The second part of the game, set in medieval Czech lands, was released in February and has been praised by players and reviewers ever since.
It's been so popular that the profit exceeded the production costs in less than one day. Kingdom Come 2 has been leading sales in Germany, Austria, and even the US, with some critics (and our editor-in-chief) labelling it one of the best PC games of this year.
The gaming industry has been blooming in Czechia ever since the global success of the Mafia game, created by a bunch of gaming enthusiasts in 2002. At that time, the world was hungry for open-world games such as Grand Theft Auto (GTA III), released a year earlier. Mafia offered just that – an open gangster world where you make interactive decisions for a character, playing from a third-person perspective.
The same person is behind the success of both Mafia and Kingdom Come: the game designer and creative director of Warhorse Studios, Daniel Vávra.
 | Eli Volencová Even though I am no gamer, I couldn't miss the hype around Kingdom Come 2. The game's influence goes beyond the virtual world. Some schools already use it in history classes to offer interactive education about Czech history. The landmarks in the game have noticed a boom in visitors since the game was released. Cities like Kutná Hora or castles like Trosky attract local and international tourists wishing to experience the game's set-up in real life. |
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