What's up with overly-personal guards in Kingdom Come: Deliverance? Some say it is corruption, others say it is just a lack of personal space. Either way, guards coming up and frisking you for stolen stuff is an incredibly frequent issue for the historically-based open world RPG. That is... it was, until Kingdom Come: Deliverance's latest update rolled out a couple days ago.

Now, don't think it is just me noticing the overly-touchy guards. It is a recurring topic mentioned in the game's Steam community, leading many to wonder if this is a choice that they incorrectly made along the way. According to one player:

my reputation with guards dropped from 50 to 49 despite never being caught doing ill, now they keep search me randomly, have no idea how to increase my reputation with them and stop their stupid search

As funny as that situation sounds in the third-person, it is a constant annoyance for players leading a push for developer Warhorse Studios to make a change. And make a change they did.

Innocuously inserted into the game's latest patch notes for version 1.3.1, Warhorse revealed that "Guards won't frisk you so often." In other words, expect people to start resecting your personal space in Rattay.

Of course, this is far from the headline change in the patch notes -- most of which focus on general stability. Saving is improved, with a new feature for players to "Save and Exit" -- a seemingly commonplace feature for most open-world games. On top of that, save files will be corrupted much less frequently following a crash.

Outside of quality of life improvements, players can expect some improvements in the more sneak-based features: lockpicking and pickpocketing. Lockpicking gets the heaviest change, with a brand new interface design to focus on the "sweet spot." On top of that, Easy and Very Easy locks are now easier for controllers. Meanwhile, pickpocketing will show off the risk more accurately and you won't get caught by stopping the action mid-minigame.

Aside from all of this, there are all around fixes to tiny issues and more than 300 quests to offer a more stable experience -- something that Warhorse Studio is very clearly targeting, according to a misread statement to media. These fixes are a boon -- especially to console players -- given that they burden the incredibly ambitious experience, one of the reasons we awarded Kingdom Come: Deliverance a 6.0 out of 10.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Check out the full patch notes, below:

  • The game now has Save and Exit feature.
  • Saving is much more robust and saves won't get corrupted even if the game crashes while saving.
  • Performance improved
    • LoD switching tweaked, reducing pop-in and improving texture streaming.
    • Stuttering in some areas reduced.
    • Slightly smoother framerate on Vsync 30. (Consoles and some PCs)
  • Improved lockpicking
    • New interface design makes it much easier to hold the sweet spot while turning the lock.
    • Easy and Very Easy trunks are now easier to lockpick when playing with controller. (Mouse difficulty unchanged)
  • Improved pickpocketing
    • You will no longer get caught if you stop at the beginning of the minigame. (Unless someone sees you)
    • The risk indicator is now much more precise. When green, you are sure not to get caught.
  • Alchemy bench will no longer shoot you into the air.
  • The last quest with Lord Capon is now visible on the map when he is ready to assign it to you.
  • Guards won't frisk you so often.
  • Your horse shouldn't get stuck when jumping fences.
  • Horse items are cleaned along with player items in bathhouses.
  • You can see when looking at a bed whether it will save your game.
  • You can sleep on beds without having to sit down first.
  • Levelling up stealth by sneaking past enemies is more consistent.
  • Sneaking past sleeping NPCs is now easier.
  • Some easily accessible trunks with extremely good loot have been removed.
  • Cave mushrooms can now be found in many other damp places.
  • You can no longer autocook potions that you haven't brewed by hand at least once before.
  • German voiceovers will no longer cut off in mid-sentence in cutscenes.
  • Late game player strength tweaked
    • Some combat perks that were unintentionally overpowered were tuned down.
    • Weapons scale less with high-level stats.
    • It should now be much harder to kill high-level enemies with one hit. (Unless they're helmetless. Stupid Runt...)
  • Other combat system tweaks
    • "Untargeted attack" exploit fixed.
    • Enemy combat archery AI improved.
    • Guards now react to combat more aggressively.
    • And many other minor tweaks.
  • (PC only) It is now possible to select different types of anti-aliasing.
  • (PC only) It is now possible to set VSync to 30 or 60, or disable it completely.
  • (PC only) Steam Cloud saving enabled.
  • And over 300 other fixes in various quests.
  • Improved CPU load balancing - better performance.
  • Turkish subtitles added.