one more vote for “spherical” map: if you ride in one direction to the end of the map, you find yourself at the beginning of the map, riding in the same direction… but the map design would be tricky in order for the transition to be smooth.
A similar idea that would be much easier to code - the map continuation behind the map border would be exact mirror image of the original map and you would not be able to tell where it starts unless you are looking for mirror symmetry.
joking aside, with the setting and the targeted realism artificial “non-artificial” boundaries might actually be worse than an invisible boundary. Making the borders and what happens there fit the impression that this isn’t an artificial border, would create dependencies story and world-wise that might be more problematic in itself.
an invisible boundary is recognized as such and doesn’t raise more questions. Unbeatable Bandits for example would have to be explained within the story - have to be mentioned/noticed by NPCs etc, therefore you would make a game limit an active part of your world/story telling - might work, but not necessarily.
yeah, but it’s not hard to make bandits unbeatable considering how absurdly difficult the combat system seems to be. again, though, i’d rather see army patrols or something of the sort… or a mix of those.
especially the feral cats
+1 to patrols/animals/etc
many areas could be cut off by sheer cliffs, larger rivers/rapids, super dense forest where you move really slowly at first then eventually you just can’t progress further without getting caught stuck and Henry says “damn, i’ll have to turn back and find another way”
the only problem i see with these is that there should be a little warning to the player. i like the idea someone else mentioned of Henry saying to himself “careful, bandits have been seen in these parts” or “i have to keep watch for army patrols”. getting randomly hit by an arrow and that’s it… would be just as frustrating to me as an invisible wall. and as much as i know the team is going for realism here (and they’re doing a great job) it is still a game, and certain things will need to be tweaked and end up not being realistic. much of the map can be cut off naturally or with clever methods but some of these methods will be known by the player
and i will also go on record to say that a fence will only make me want to jump over it and discover what’s out there. “God’s lightning” is a better method of world cutoff than fences.
also more suggestions on what can keep you out:
traps for bears or animals (pits in ground with spikes), nets where you starve to death or murdered by hunters who put them there, swinging spike trap from Apocalypto
falling down a hill snapping your neck.
having a tree fall on you (random but could have tree creaking sounds just before so player could
back up and avoid it)
signs of druids/pagans and Henry wants to stay away from them (and if player keeps going, then it spawns a cinematic where he gets captured and killed by them; would be similar to patrols.)
Not sure if time period is right, but could the plague be a viable candidate; he starts losing his mind and what not (ala that terrifying scene in The Seventh Seal, the guy basically claws himself to death)
Henry says “ahh, those berries look delicious” as a warning, then he gets closer, cinematic, he picks & eats a berry, then starts choking and dies.
as more come to mind i’ll update post
Please no druids/pagans in 1403. I would argue there is bigger probability to meet pagans in France in that period (well I should rather say cathars) than in central Europe.
But I really like the “berries idea”. 
After the Czech Reformation was defeated in the 30 years’ war, there was a very strong recatholization process that involved especially the Jesuits. Their main aim was to turn the population that was 95% Protestant (incl. various Czech reformed nominations such as Bretheren) into full catholicism. Basically, the people could be either converted, leave the country, or would be killed. This led to population decline of up to 60%.
One of the most shocking discoveries that the Jesuits made in the 17th century was that they had to fight no only the underground protestant churches, but also very widespread pagan beliefs (although to large extent combined with christian religion). If paganism was - according to Spanish and French Jesuits - surprisingly widespread in 17th century Czech lands, I think that it is safe to assume it was even more so in the 15th century.
There is a historian/religionist based at the Brno university who studied similar theme - the Albigensis heresy and the viewpoint of inquisition on the inspirational sources of the heresy.
http://www.argo.cz/knihy/138105/nejvetsi-hereze/
He argues that the written sources are not unbiased and you must deconstruct / critically question them. Inquisitors simply thought the cathars of Albi are successors of bogomils and other dualist doctrines /gnosis because they knew those dualist sects and they found the cathars to believe in quite similar / but not the same at all / doctrine. You can not blindly trust 17th century jesuits because they were not unbiased - on the contrary they were gravely biased.
I have used the french example because there actually were strong motives of paganism alive in european countryside / even cities / from Scotland to Crete and from Muscovy to Marrakesh. (They are actually still alive in Morocco as the cult of Marabouts clearly shows - and they are of course alive in our customs like christmas traditions or halloween etc.) I won’t question that.
But I doubt there were active pagan sects who would pose threat to a wayfarer and I would object any mention of druids for obvious reasons.
OT: this book could be quite useful for Dan/Warhorse:
http://www.argo.cz/knihy/161855/cechy-na-konci-veku/
@tunak excellent points. i was merely throwing out ideas rapid fire without fully thinking about them. i guess if anything i was thinking something like necromancers (cue evil sounding music) but what i meant was basically just more variety to the idea of a war platoon or brigands killing Henry. also I’ve been watching way too much Sleepy Hollow lately and Once Upon a Time lately so my mind has a lot of magic on it. and i’m glad you liked the berries idea, i feel like that also has a few variations that can be spun off it. moving through bushes, pushes aside some branches and SNAKE BITE! death cinematic ensues. i do really hope they can come up with some good original ways to put boundaries in without having invisible walls. my least favorite part about Skyrim was seeing a path on the eastern edge of the map, walking toward it, and then just smacking into a wall and going no further, when i could SEE it went further. it’s not an easy problem to solve by any means. oh, just thought of something, roadblocks are obvious but since Act’s II and III could potentially open up more portions of the area those could easily be blocked off by soldiers, or even villagers wanting all outsiders to stay out to prevent their village from being sucked into war. i feel like mysticism could still be used in certain ways without being magic per se, but that’s a fine line to walk when making a serious medieval game.
