Having spent hundreds of hours with both Kingdom Come: Deliverance games, I always expected Warhorse Studios to return to the series after the success of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. In fact, I would have been more surprised if the studio had decided to move on from it entirely, especially considering how much potential the franchise still has. What I wasn’t expecting, though, was to hear that the next Kingdom Come game could be released as early as 2027, just two years after its predecessor. That’s a pretty significant turnaround for a developer that took almost seven years to release Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and I’ve been wondering how Warhorse intends to make that happen while also developing its newly announced Lord of the Rings RPG.
However, a recent rumor suggests that the next Kingdom Come game could actually be a spin-off rather than another full-fledged sequel, which would make a lot of sense given the time frame. Not only could a smaller adventure allow the studio to give us another Kingdom Come game without spending another several years building it, but I also think a spin-off would be the perfect opportunity to continue the overarching narrative without necessarily bringing Henry back as the protagonist—as much as I would love to play as Henry again. And with Warhorse currently working on an open-world RPG set in The Lord of the Rings‘ Middle-earth, I can think of another pretty good reason why a spin-off might be exactly what the developer needs right now.
A Kingdom Come Spin-Off Could Explain Why the Next Game Is Coming So Soon
In its August 2026 financial report, Embracer Group confirmed that it expects the next Kingdom Come game to launch during its 2027/2028 fiscal year, which runs from April 2027 through March 2028. Then, in an October 20 Reddit post, user bertik11 claimed that the game is actually a spin-off that has already entered testing, with a release initially being targeted for the first half of 2027. The same user has since walked back that timeline after a recent cyberattack on Warhorse, suggesting the game could instead be shown at a major European gaming event during summer 2027 before releasing sometime afterward. Of course, none of the spin-off details have been confirmed by Warhorse, but the publisher’s official release window does suggest that another Kingdom Come game isn’t nearly as far away as I originally expected.
Guess the games from the emojis.
Now, while Warhorse has confirmed that its next Kingdom Come game will still be an open-world RPG, that doesn’t necessarily mean it needs to be another enormous adventure on the scale of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. In fact, if the studio is planning to reuse some of the environments, assets, and systems it spent years developing for the second game, I can see how it could manage to release another one so quickly. After all, the foundation is already there, and I don’t think Warhorse would need to reinvent the series just to give players another excuse to play it. Personally, I’d be more than happy with a smaller adventure set within the same world, especially if it meant getting another Kingdom Come game in 2027 rather than waiting another five or six years for a sequel.
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Image via Deep Silver -
Credit: Larian Studios -
Image via Deep Silver
But I actually think a spin-off would be a pretty good direction for the series beyond just getting another game out sooner. By the end of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Henry’s personal story had reached what I considered to be a satisfying conclusion, especially after he finally recovered the sword that was stolen from his family and came to terms with much of what happened to him in the original game. That’s not to say I wouldn’t want to see Henry again, because I absolutely would, but I also don’t know that he needs another massive adventure when his story has already wrapped up so nicely. And considering how much Warhorse has put into developing the world around him, I think there’s plenty of room for another character to take his place.
In an October 20 Reddit post, user bertik11 claimed that the game is actually a spin-off that has already entered testing, with a release initially being targeted for the first half of 2027.
The thing is, while Henry’s story might have reached a satisfying conclusion, the overarching narrative from the first two Kingdom Come games hasn’t necessarily done the same. The conflict between King Wenceslaus IV and his half-brother Sigismund was still far from over by the end of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and there’s plenty more of that history for Warhorse to explore. I actually think it would be interesting to see another side of that conflict, perhaps through the eyes of someone who wasn’t directly involved in Henry’s journey. A spin-off could do exactly that, allowing the series to continue without feeling like Warhorse is unnecessarily dragging Henry back into a story that he’s already finished telling.
A Kingdom Come Spin-Off Could Be Exactly What Warhorse’s Lord of the Rings RPG Needs
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Image via Warhorse Studios -
Image via Warhorse Studios
Of course, there’s another reason I’m hoping this rumor turns out to be true, and that’s Warhorse’s upcoming Lord of the Rings RPG. The studio has already confirmed that it’s developing both projects simultaneously, with Prokop Jirsa leading the new Kingdom Come game and Viktor Bocan overseeing the Middle-earth RPG. But even with separate teams working on them, I can’t imagine how much time and effort it would take to develop two enormous open-world games at once. That’s why I think a smaller Kingdom Come spin-off, particularly one that could reuse much of what Warhorse developed for Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, would make so much sense. It could allow the studio to finish that project sooner and potentially devote more of its resources to its Lord of the Rings RPG, perhaps even helping the latter arrive a little sooner than it otherwise would. Obviously, that would depend on how Warhorse has organized development, but I certainly wouldn’t complain if that were the case.
And honestly, as much as I love Kingdom Come: Deliverance, I think Warhorse’s Lord of the Rings RPG is the game I’m looking forward to most from the studio right now. Having seen what it accomplished with medieval Bohemia, the thought of that same level of immersion being brought to Middle-earth is incredibly exciting, and I would love to get my hands on it sooner rather than later. But I also don’t want Warhorse to rush something with that much potential, especially when it’s working with an IP as beloved as The Lord of the Rings. If making the next Kingdom Come game a smaller spin-off means we get to return to Bohemia sooner, continue the story beyond Henry, and potentially give Warhorse more time to focus on Middle-earth, then I think that’s a pretty good arrangement. I certainly wouldn’t mind another massive Kingdom Come sequel someday, but right now, I think a spin-off might be the better choice.
- Released
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February 4, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Use of Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity
- Developer(s)
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Warhorse Studios
