PC Gamer’s Morgan Park treated us to a story last week about the downsides of a life of crime in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2—specifically, a very conspicuous brand that did not improve his standing with the local folk. He was also warned that if he continued behaving like a jerk, he could end up being executed. As it turns out, the threat is serious.
A video shared by Niktek on X (via GamesRadar) reveals what happens to players who insist that it’s good to be bad, and it’s not pretty. Details of his crimes aren’t specified but it’s clearly some heavy stuff: A local gendarme informs Henry that he’s crossed a line, and Henry, perhaps tired of the weight this cruel world has placed upon his shoulders, meekly submits. Cut to a shot of Henry in the slam, where it appears he might be having second thoughts about the whole thing, and then he’s led out through a jeering crowd that seems disturbingly eager to watch him swing.
Up the gallows he goes, and onto the stump as sad music plays. Birds fly overhead; Henry clenches his fists and closes his eyes as the music fades to silence and the local boss tells the executioner to do his duty. And then, ka-yoink! Henry is Bohemia’s newest wind chime. Cut to black, and a split-second later, a game over screen appears: “You have been executed for your crimes.”
Capital punishment isn’t cool, but it is cool that Warhorse Studios has worked in a full-on premature conclusion to the story of Henry—no horsing around with scripted breakouts or text popups telling players he spent six months in prison and now he’s out and feels very badly about the whole thing. Your business is concluded for all time, and sure, a reload will get you back to the world of the living, but whatever you were doing that led into this mess, you’re going to have to think of a different plan.
If you commit multiple crimes in Kingdom Come Deliverance II, you will get a full execution cutscene. This is impressive! pic.twitter.com/m5IX7hUQ1JFebruary 5, 2025
This kind of surprise ending is rare but not unprecedented. You can finish Far Cry 4 in about 15 minutes by just waiting for Pagan Min to come back to the dinner table, and that was such a popular little Easter egg that Ubisoft worked a similar premature conclusion into Far Cry 5. Far Cry 6 has an unexpectedly early ending on offer too, although it takes a few hours to reach rather than a few minutes; you can also wrap things up in Baldur’s Gate 3 earlier than you might expect, and you can forgo a lot of Cyberpunk 2077 by following a certain path in the Phantom Liberty expansion.
Like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, what makes these finishes notable is that developers included a complete process for a proper game-ending scenario that shouldn’t be. You’re not just skipping to the end using a glitch or knowledge you shouldn’t have, you’re getting a full and proper ending. Just one that, y’know, sucks.