While this means that the beginning is fairly difficult, you'll pick up the basic levels of every skill quickly – harvesting a few herbs early on will boost the related skill, for example. But it also means you won't instantly go raiding dungeons and killing bandits. This isn't a fantasy game. Not only are there almost no areas in the game that would function as a traditional dungeon but, as a lowly peasant, getting weapons and armor is not as simple as just picking a direction right out of the tutorial and going where you like. You could do that, but then you would need to steal those items – skills that you need to develop first.

The game is very lenient to those following through the main quest, however. Henry might often be insolent to his noble betters – calling the young heir a spoiled brat – but the game's NPCs will simply tell you what the regular consequences of such actions are, not visiting said consequences upon you. That doesn't mean you can get away with everything, and you will still spend time in prison for committing crimes.

Once you begin the game proper, the world fully opens up and you can start to level up your skills and do quests. But, again, this is not a fantasy RPG. The game's quests focus on authenticity, feeling almost alien after decades playing through tropey and samey quests. These are some of the most memorable and interesting quests available in RPGs, often requiring detective work from the player and offering multiple solutions and outcomes based on your performance.

A personal favorite was a quest to find heretics – instantly conjuring up the idea of demon-worshiping, human-sacrificing monsters, something enforced by the alarmist priest seeking your help. Instead, you'll find that “heretic” means the same as it does in real life – someone who believes in something different from the established religious dogma.