How are Video Game Cutscenes Made? The Creators of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Revealed the Secrets Behind the Cinematic Experience

The expansive role-playing game Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, set just before the Hussite Wars, became a global success. Now, the team behind the game has turned the story of a humble blacksmith forced to grow up amid bloody battles and sweeping historical events into a feature-length film, which had its world premiere at KVIFF. 

The video game’s script is reportedly one of the longest ever written for an audiovisual project. “We basically had to condense the equivalent of a hundred-episode series into a two-hour movie. It was an interesting challenge to see if we could keep the story intact,” explained Daniel Vávra, creative director at Warhorse Studios and lead screenwriter of the project, during a KVIFF Talk.

A major motivation behind adapting the game into a film was the remarkable player engagement with the game’s cutscenes – the short, narrative-driven cinematic sequences that appear between gameplay segments. According to Vávra, in the past, players wanted to get to the cutscenes as fast as possible, but today things have changed and in some games people skip cutscenes altogether. The fact that players do not skip cutscenes in KCD:II suggests to him that they are well made. 

Creating compelling cutscenes requires the same ingredients as any good film: strong dialogue, vivid characters, and – above all – conflict. “Modern games often look like animated films from ten years ago. Cutscenes today really aren’t that different from animated movies,” Vávra said.

The production process begins with meticulous pre-production and complex storyboards. According to the creators, nearly everything mapped out on paper ends up in the final game. Once the planning phase is complete, actors are suited up in motion-capture gear, complete with facial cameras. On set, three directors guide the performance: one handles facial expressions and speech, another focuses on blocking and physical movement, and the third helps bridge language gaps and ensure cohesion across all elements. After 80 days of filming, the animators step in. The process involves multiple rounds of editing, fine-tuning camera angles, adding realistic lighting and cinematic effects, and polishing each detail until it meets the team’s high standards. The creators noted that the Warhorse team is full of perfectionists, and that those tiny final touches took the most time.