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Introduction
Kingdom Come: Deliverance’s main story is one of our favourite in recent memory. But we think we'd be remiss if we didn't point out that many of its side quests are equally rich, offering multiple possible solutions, objectives that shift over time and real consequences for failure. There are many side quests in this game but we've rounded up ten of the best to sink your teeth into and where to get started with them.
The Sport of Kings
It’s an open-world horse race. What’s not to like? Your task is to convince the lord of Talmberg to buy his horses from Neuhof, a village starved of coin after it was devastated by a bandit raid. He’s reluctant, but is willing to change his mind if you can win a cross-country race on the back of a Neuhof mare.
The race has no set route, and instead points you towards a series of flags that you can get between in any way you like. We wish it were more challenging – if you study your map then you shouldn’t have any trouble winning. But it’s still a good demonstration of how diverse Deliverance’s quests can be. Trotting towards the finish line while the competition canters in the opposite direction, still to reach the penultimate marker, will put on a smile on your face.
To start the quest: Talk to Zora, the horse trader at Neuhof, after the ‘Ginger in a Pickle’ main quest.
Playing with the Devil
This gets off to a slow start but the conclusion is worth hanging around for. A herbalist has sold Witch Potion to three women in Uzhitz, and every night they sneak off into the woods to rub it on themselves, inducing strange religious visions. The local priest suspects witchcraft, so after a little investigation – and a bit of sneaking through the bushes – you must catch the women in the act.
In the end, you end up getting a little too close. We won’t spoil what happens next, but expect to tell a talking horse that you “only wear horns on special occasions”. Yep.
Waldensians
You can solve a lot of Deliverance’s quests in multiple ways, and Waldensians – a tale of a nosy vicar sniffing around a ground of heretics – is a good example. You’re meant to help the vicar weed out the family, but after eavesdropping on them from their loft you might find yourself sympathizing with their cause.
So, do you get it over with and turn them into the vicar, which will get him out of your hair for good? Do you warn the family and convince them to flee? Or do you stab the vicar in the back? All options are open to you, and it’s a great chance to role-play the type of hero you’ve created.
To start the quest: Speak to Sir Hanush in Rattay. You’ll find him in the Upper Castle just inside the town’s Eastern gate, one floor up.
In God's Hands
Henry wasn’t the only person scarred by the early-game massacre in Skalitz, his home town. Refugees pop up all over the map, and a large group of particularly bruised survivors has settled in Sasau. In God’s Hands is a chance to help them out.
You’ll do that in a variety of ways, from gritting your teeth and straightening out one man’s broken leg (ouch!) to convincing the local Custodian to provide more supplies for the group. Alchemy features heavily, and it might just be the quest that gets you into herbs and plants.
Healing your former kin is strangely therapeutic, and among all of Kingdom Come’s killing, stealing and debauchery, this quest is a pleasant aside.
Ruin
Technically an activity rather than a side quest, but it’s still a worthy distraction. Bohemia’s countryside is full of bandits, and it’s your job to kill them all – and chop their ears off as trophies.
The camps are fun to clear out and there’s more than a few ways to approach them. You can scare a bandit’s horse so it stampedes through the camp. You can poison a wine skin or food pot and come back later to finish off the dying men. You can scout from high ground and snipe enemies with a bow. Or you can do what we did and run straight down the middle and swing your mace.
Whatever you choose, the feedback loop of clearing out the camp, looting the bodies and returning to Captain Bernard in Rattay for your reward is addictive, and we couldn’t stop until we’d banished every bandit in the land. Completing Ruin opens up ‘Raiders’, which is the same deal but you’re fighting Cumans instead. It’s equally fun.
To start the quest: Talk to Captain Bernard at the combat arena to the North of Rattay after completing ‘The Prey’ main quest
Miracles While You Wait
One of the game’s most colourful NPCs – a quick-witted charlatan – sets you a series bizarre tasks, each far more interesting than your average fetch quest. The highlight is obtaining a tooth from a local townsman: do you knock him over and prise it out yourself, or sweet talk him into the local Blacksmith for a more…ahem…professional job?
The charlatan himself is the star, and he has some of the best dialogue in the game. He greets you by recalling a dream in which you came to him in a boat made of bones wearing a crown of thorns, and it just gets weirder from there. At the end of the quest he hurries off and tells you he’ll see you in Ledetchko, but sadly – despite searching – we’re yet to come across him again.
Money for Old Rope
Rattay’s executioner is angry. He’s been overlooked for the upcoming execution of three major criminals and, seeing as you’re a pal, he asks you to help him out by sabotaging the event.
A simple premise, but far from a simple task. It requires a bit of detective work, careful reading (make sure you check out all the execution methods listed, they’re gruesome), sneaking past a night watchman and dulling a sword on a grindstone so that the replacement executioner will botch the job. The final cutscene is a grotesque payoff.
Next to Godliness/Robber Baron
The arrogant Lord Capon has grown on us throughout the game, and these two quests are a major reason why. Next to Godliness is our favourite because it’s just so over the top: you play strip Farkle (a dice game), sneak into some well-guarded cellars while drunk to steal some vintage wine, drink some more, and then pick flowers for Lord Capon’s favourite bathmaid.
Robber Baron is a more serious and complex quest in which you and your golden tongue have to resolve a potentially deadly conflict without any bloodshed (have your sword handy in case it goes south). It’s difficult, but you’ll receive a handsome reward at the end. We like the contrast in tone between the two quests, and they’re both worth playing.
To start the quest: Talk to Hans Capon in Rattay. He’s usually lazing about in Pirkstein, the castle near the western entrance to the town. Finishing Next to Godliness should open up Robber Baron.
Pestilence
A multi-part adventure that intertwines with the main quest. You investigate a plague in Merhojed by asking around at the houses with white crosses on the door – just don’t linger too long inside. Listen to the sufferers’ symptoms, ride to Sasau, look up the illness in a book and brew the cure. To get it right requires some brain power.
The best thing about this quest is how high the stakes are. If you take too long, people will die. If you can’t read and have to ask someone to brew the potion for you, people will die. If you get the cure wrong, everyone will die. It’s a reminder of just how harsh Deliverance can be.
To start the quest: It’ll automatically begin when you reach the ‘Questions and Answers’ quest in the main story.
Thick as Thieves
Deliverance’s stealth mechanics are simple but really satisfying to play around with. The houses of nobles are built for a night-time sneak around, with locked chests containing goodies in every room. Playing through Thick as Thieves involves three millers telling you which objects to steal, and it’s a good way to learn about this aspect of the game while lining your pockets.
The best bit is not the rewards (which are admittedly substantial), but that it forces you to explore parts of the world you might not otherwise have come across. If you poke around the areas you’re robbing, you’ll find a wealth of jewellery, clothes and armor that you can keep to yourself – or sell back to the millers for more gold.
To start the quest: Complete ‘The Good Thief’ for Miller Peshek (it’s one of the first side quests you’ll stumble upon).