Set to debut at The 59th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, hit game Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is sort of now a movie.
Here’s an interesting story that may one day prove to be a footnote in the annals of cinema history. Warhorse’s recently released epic video game Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is headed to a film festival where a recut version of the game will be presented, effectively as a film.
The game is a sprawling medieval adventure which sees players tasked with controlling Henry, a blacksmith’s son who comes from humble beginnings as he adventures around the Kingdom of Bohemia, itself a land ravaged by internal strife and foreign invaders.
The game – which has been highly-praised for its scale and its commitment to realism – will surely be a Game Of The Year contender when those awards next roll around, but it may be also leaving its mark in another, rather unexpected fashion.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the upcoming 59th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will see a recut version of the game premiered – effectively as a film, with audiences watching the game’s cutscenes and perhaps some other sections of the game reshaped into a narrative drama reworked for the silver screen.
“I have wished to see Kingdom Come: Deliverance II on the big screen for a long time,” Warhorse CEO Martin Frývadlský tells the outlet. “I believe that the civil story of a blacksmith’s son will also appeal to film audiences and stand up to the competition of international movie productions. Together with my colleagues in the studio, we are proud that we have the opportunity to present the story we have been working on for many years in a world premiere at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.”
It’s been some years now since the video games market overtook the film industry in terms of pure revenue, but what Frývadlský is suggesting here is that at some point, the medium could challenge cinema on its home turf – in cinemas – on an artistic and narrative level. It’s an audacious suggestion but storytelling in video games is certainly evolving at a more rapid pace than in films, although perhaps that’s because the latter is a much younger artform and therefore has more room to grow.
What certainly seems true is that these hugely expensive video game productions could certainly do with tapping into new revenue streams. A future where such projects are released as both games and films would certainly be a way to achieve that. That’s all pie in the sky thinking right now, but who knows if one day we’ll look back at the premiere of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II's cinematic cut and remember it as a small but important moment in the history of the medium?
