The hit RPG title, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, recently got a new DLC titled Legacy of the Forge. As Henry’s adventure continues, we decided to bring back an element without which the whole story would not be the same – the music. And since we had the opportunity to talk to Jan Valta, the lead composer at Warhorse Studios, during the Digital Dragons Conference in Kraków, we wanted to recall the most interesting parts of our conversation in the form of a short interview.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is a story-driven action RPG, with a rich open world, set in 15th century Medieval Europe. In the new Legacy of the Forge DLC, players return to Kuttenberg and put their blacksmithing skills to the test in order to acquire and repair a legendary burnt-down forge.
Jan Valta is a composer, arranger, orchestrator, conductor and violinist. He is best known for soundtracks to Kingdom Come: Deliverance (2018) and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (2025). These games were made by Warhorse Studios led by creative director Daniel Vávra, and up to this date they sold over 10M copies world-wide. Music from both games have also been performed in numerous concerts. Based on these performances, Jan won two OSA Awards (OSA is Czech Author’s Rights Society) in 2024: for most successful classical work and most successful classical composer.
During our interview, Jan revealed the secrets of composing music for both KCD games, especially regarding the dramaturgical decisions and storytelling devices present in the soundtrack.
What does silence mean to a composer?
Well, it’s the best way to earn money, because you’re getting paid for that as well, and it’s the simplest thing to do.
But seriously, though.
Alright, to make a proper statement, silence plays a big part in creating cinematic feel of a soundtrack. There are moments where no music is needed, so that when the sound comes back, it brings something extra, some added value, something that wasn’t there already. Silence has its proper meaning and sense in the soundtrack for both films, as well as video games.
Including Kingdom Come: Deliverance 1 and 2?
Actually, in Kingdom Come: Deliverance there was no specific music for the forest at first, which I later realized was rather boring. So, it was necessary to add some sounds and play them every few minutes, just so the player doesn’t forget that there is a soundtrack at all. That’s why for the sequel I’ve tried a completely new approach: I wanted to make music out of silence. As if you put silence in the notes and then let it be heard.
And how would you do that?
I took inspiration from the forest itself. I imagined this wonderful forest as a church – a church of nature, with colorful beams of light coming through the trees and glittering on the ground, just like with stained glass. So, the music had to fit that image – it was super silent and super slow, kind of making you forget about everything else and focus on the moment. I’m really proud of it, because there wasn’t such a thing in KCD 1, so I had to come up with a completely new idea.
Since you’re comparing these two games, let’s focus on what else is new in KCD 2 – was it difficult to create a brand new soundtrack after already composing tracks for the first part?
Well, it certainly wasn’t easy. On the one hand, you have to go bigger and better in all aspects – it’s a new project after all. But on the other hand, you can’t forget about mechanics and stories that people have come to love. So, I went in the same direction with the music – I used themes and melodies widely recognized from the first game and then reshaped them into something new.
It’s also crucial to remember that while in game time two or three weeks have passed between the events of KCD 1 and 2, in real life the second part got released 7 years after the first one! By that time our fans have matured, we as a studio have matured, and so had Henry. You could say that KCD 1 told his journey of becoming a man, meanwhile the sequel showed his transformation from a man into a hero. Therefore, I made the music more mature, more complex and more elaborate, so it would align with the narrative.
“More” is quite a fitting word, considering you wrote about 400 tracks.
Precisely, ten and a half hours of pure music.
What part in the whole process of composing was the most memorable for you?
Probably recording with a choir. Imagine you have 60 musicians in the orchestra and 40 vocalists in the choir right in front of you, you give them one sign, and the music starts flowing. And I also started to cry – I know it’s a little embarrassing for a composer to get emotional over his own music, but it was a really powerful moment. Although, it turned out that after the recordings I had a much better reason to cry.
What was it?
Postproduction. It was a total nightmare. Since some tracks contained lyrics, every word had to be audible – and it’s not easy when you’re recording in a concert hall. When we were working on KCD 1, we actually recorded everything in one day and there was no need for mixing. I thought with the choir it’s going to be just the same – we were ready to do one or two additional sessions, just to be sure everything was perfect.
In the end we did over 30 – that’s 20 days of working on this specific little part. It was a really stressful time for us, since we constantly worried about making it on time. On the flip side, I never feared that my music won’t be good enough – I love this project so much that I always knew it’ll be alright.
And what about historical accuracy in music? Was it important for you to give it a feeling of authenticity?
So, here’s a little fun fact: when I spoke with Daniel Vávra, the director of both KCD games, he didn’t say anything about imitating the real, medieval style. Instead, he told me this: “I need to feel starost in this”. Since you’re Polish, you probably have some idea about what he meant.
It reminds me of a word starość in Polish – meaning old age or antiquity.
That’s the original meaning of this term. But in Czech, starost also means “concern”, “worry” or “care”. So, if we say “mam starost pro tebe”, it translates into “I’m worried about you”. I liked the ambiguity of that suggestion – it needed to feel both old-timey and personal.
And how did your personal experience get incorporated into the soundtrack?
I’ll explain by referencing a beautiful American movie “Holiday”, in which Jude Law said: “I’m a major weeper”. And I am a major weeper too. Anything even remotely emotional gets me every time. So, I have come to learn that if you have this “setting” in your heart, you can use it for something good. I believe it’s a great advantage when it comes to composing – I see a scene from a game and the emotions emanating from the screen come to me on their own. Hence, I instantly know what I want to emphasize, what I want to address and what I want to point out. And that could be one of the reasons why I’m happy doing what I do.
