Kingmakers deep dive trailer showcases destruction mechanics
Kingmakers looks like a chaotic sandbox, but there's more going on under the hood. Every soldier is simulated in real-time and everything is destructible.
One of the highlights from today’s Future Games Showcase was a closer look at the upcoming chaotic medieval sandbox, Kingmakers. The showcase put a special emphasis on this game, giving it a three-minute deep-dive during the over two-hour livestream. There was a total of fifty-five games showcased today, so that’s a lot to get through. You can read about some of the highlights on Gamepressure, including the Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord DLC trailer, a look at gameplay from FBC: Firebreak, and the trailer for the Painkiller remake. But let’s talk about Kingmakers.
Conquer England with modern technology in Kingmakers, an impressive strategy game
“Would you be able to defeat a medieval army with an AK-47?” This is one of the many questions that inspired Kingmakers, an action-packed strategy game where yes, you can drive a pick-up truck through an army of medieval English knights. The game centers around a real historical event, a failed Welsh uprising in 1401. But, as the player, you can travel back in time to change history, to help the Welsh conquer England using guns, trucks, grenades, tanks, and most importantly, strategy. It’s not clear yet why exactly the player will be doing this, but it doesn’t stop it from looking like a grand old time.
Kingmakers looks like chaotic fun, but there’s a lot more going on under the hood than you might think. The massive armies you see in these trailers aren’t just enemies that spawn in because you’re close by. The thousands of soldiers are active throughout the map in real time, no matter if the player is close by or not. As the player you will need to not only take on armies of enemies but also fortify your strongholds by building up castles and defenses.
If that doesn’t sound wild enough, Kingmakers will also include four-player co-op. Players can team up close together, or venture off and take on their own battles, all in the same massive game world. There’s also no distinction between the game’s story mode and its co-op mode. You can progress through the story on your own or with several friends. It won’t change the story or the gameplay.
Today’s trailer focused on the game’s destruction mechanics. Drive a car through a wooden cottage or fire an RPG at a castle fortification. They’ll both crumble before the might of your modern technology. Take out the foundations of a building to send it crashing down upon an enemy battalion. Take out the stone roof of a castle to send debris down onto the unsuspecting infantry. This chaotic sandbox is not pulling out any of the stops. It could have easily caught attention just for the fun action of using modern weaponry in a medieval setting, but the developers at Redemption Road did not want to stop there.
Kingmakers doesn’t have an exact release date yet, but it is planned to launch in Early Access on PC later this year and “hopefully to all major consoles” at some point. The developers promised they would have more to share later this year. I am personally very excited to jump into this game’s action, especially with a few friends, but I might also just need to see if it all works as promised. If so, this could be a jaw-dropping technical experience.
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