They really had a bright future with the predecessor...until some ♥♥♥♥♥♥ choose to slopify the combat & story consistency in order to make it more appealing for the masses of normies
Visually & technically they improved but the most important things where KCD1 had focused on (combat, consistency, logic, immersion & writing) are almost thrown out of the window

I played the living ♥♥♥♥ out of the first game, I even did a hardcore run with all negative perks
The best medieval combat experience Ive had, was KCD1 with "nomo slowmo" & "disabled masterstrikes" mods

I'll simpy skip the other mentioned problems since I dont want this review blow out the already oversized proportions my reviews tend to have.

So what are the general combat changes?

- It feels more polished & fluid
- AI is not as aggressive when outnumbering you
- Crossbows & Firearms added
- Polearms usable with skill-tree (you dont drop them anymore)
- Archery is easier but "more unrealistic" (you aim directly with your arrow)
- Master blocks are a bit more complicated
- 2 whole directions of attack removed
- Unarmed combos added
- Clinches have simple quicktime events

So why do I think the combat is inferior to KCD1?
In short: Combat comes off as somehow...more scripted? Streamlined? "Dumbed-down"?

- Fights against multiple opponents isnt nearly as scary as it used to be
- Enemies almost refuse to exploit flanking you
- Riposte animations have almost arcade speed, its painful to look at
- Awkward pause/delay between enemy blocking & initiating a riposte
- Group fights are a complete Mess where far enemies suddenly are teleported into your ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
- Your hits are sometimes not even registered
- The slow-motion effect during a perfect block has been removed, now the game somehow sequentially...pauses?
- Sometimes you get damage during your parry animation
- The loss of 2 directions takes away depth from combat & simplifies masterstrikes
- Polearm fighting & animations are slow & "hollywoodesque"
- Master Blocks have been removed for all weapons except swords
Making the game even more biased towards Longswords compared to KCD1
- Mid-Late game AGAIN degrades to a master-block spamming ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ just like the predecessor

In summary: Combat is more "hollywood" & less gritty than KCD1
"But muh muhsterstrokes are more complicated now, duh" piss-off you reddit-tier midwit