The arrival of DLCs and expansions for RPGs always marks a moment of fervor in the players, given by the new content and new quests that are usually added to the game world. Also for Kingdom Come: Deliverance it is time to receive the first DLC, entitled "From the Ashes", where basically we will have to rebuild a village from scratch, an addition that at first seemed very promising and able to guarantee many hours of play, but which later proved to be an almost complete disappointment.
Returning to the Bohemia of 1400 after about five months from the release of the game had already put us in a good mood and we were well prepared to face this new adventure, if we can define it that way. The content of the DLC can be unlocked already in the middle of the main campaign, where after freeing the village of Pribyslavitz from the bandits that occupy it, Lord Divish will go to confer the position of bailiff in the hope of restoring the city to its former glory. Our work will be supported by Marius, who will deal with purely logistical and administrative matters, even if in the end the bulk of the work will be up to us as always.
Full of expectations, we immersed ourselves in this new adventure with a first big problem, that is the large amount of groschen at our disposal. We have in fact faced the DLC in End-Game, discovering with surprise that practically the only resource needed to build the village is money, and with about two hours we were able to complete practically any activity present without major problems. We do not understand the choice of releasing a DLC like that it completely castrates the experience to those who are already in an advanced phase of the game; in fact we have found that the advantages in End-Game are practically non-existent, if not for some rare equipment or some new horses that can be purchased.
Once we arrive in Pribyslavitz we can immediately hold the ledger and flip through the pages to discover the available constructions, which to be made require groschen that will be deposited directly in the trunk before talking to Marius. The big problem behind this whole building system is that we won't be able to build everything: many structures will preclude the possibility of building others, forcing us to choose one building rather than another, despite the large space available to build there is indeed.
To make matters worse, construction will be fully automated through pre-set boxes to construct a specific building effectively preventing the construction of, for example, a stable in a place other than that suggested. We found these choices too limiting, especially because you end up having for example a blacksmith with the sole function of a gunsmith or armorer, making the city devoid of some useful features. Another disappointing feature of this new DLC can also be found from the purely stylistic point of view of the buildings, which are accopy and paste of buildings located in other cities although, fortunately, it will be possible at least to upgrade them to obtain some more income from an economic point of view.
Net of the choice of buildings, the only other task to complete your village will be a continuous one galloping back and forth to make some business deal, useful for bringing new resources into their warehouses. Once this is done, if your wallet allows it, you can easily build the entire village and over time obtain the income from the various activities carried out by citizens. As we have already anticipated, if you are already at an advanced stage of the game this activity will be completely useless, while if you are at the beginning or at about the middle of your adventure you can enjoy some greater benefits from an economic point of view.
Kingdom Come Deliverance's first DLC is far worse than we expected. Although the idea of building a village from scratch at first seemed to us at least interesting, after playing with it for a few hours we can only change our opinion: not being able to choose a place at will to position the building and the impossibility building all the available structures already greatly limits the gaming experience. If we then add the absence of stimulating quests and the uselessness of the DLC for all those people who are already at an advanced point of the adventure, we get a product not up to the standard of a game like Kingdom Come Deliverance.
Verdict: not recommended
