What Kingmakers Early Access includes

Kingmakers will release first as a Steam Early Access game. The Deep Dive puts the game’s launch size at 30 to 40 hours of content, with the whole campaign playable alone or with friends; neither it nor the director says whether that figure is for Early Access or for 1.0. How long the game stays in Early Access has not been decided, and several features the studio talks about are explicitly for later.

The one number given for launch

Near the end of the Gameplay Deep Dive, the developers give the size of the launch. The captions for that line read “launch Kingmakers with 30 to 40 hours of content”.

“We’ve designed Kingmakers to be a great single-player experience. But the entire campaign is playable in drop-in, drop-out four-player co-op.”

Redemption Road. Said in the tinyBuildGAMES video: Kingmakers - Gameplay Deep Dive

Whether that means a solo player gets the whole campaign is answered on is Kingmakers single-player. That is the size of the launch plan, not a promise that all of the story is in it. Asked about the story, the game director said he was “not sure how much of the story will be in the initial EA release” and that “by 1.0 there will be a complete story campaign”. Asked whether the release would be Early Access or 1.0, he answered “It will be EA.” The story side is on Kingmakers story and setting.

In, later, and undecided

Some of these plans were written before the delay and may have moved since; each item says where it was said, rather than assuming it still holds.

How long Early Access lasts

“Yes. Kingmakers will initially be in early access on Steam. The duration of how long it will be in EA is currently to be determined.”

Official FAQ. From the Kingmakers Official FAQ (Steam discussions)

That answer dates from the FAQ’s last edit, shortly after the reveal. The FAQ is also where the studio said consoles would follow the full release on PC, which the game director has since put differently; both versions are on Kingmakers on consoles.

Mods moved earlier

The FAQ once said mod support would not be part of Early Access. Asked about Steam Workshop more recently, the game director gave a different answer:

“Yes that is in the roadmap. It was planned for at EA launch, but now we are targeting during EA.”

Paul Fisch, game director. From Paul Fisch on mod support, Steam discussions

Wanted for after Early Access

“Post-Early Access, we want to add new factions such as the Scottish or French, have epic castle sieges, deeper troop officer systems, and maybe even a PvP mode.”

Redemption Road. From Steam announcement: Dev Blog #1, Meet the Troops You'll Command in Kingmakers

PvP is not planned for the Early Access release, though the studio has said it could be considered if players ask for it. Nothing more concrete has been published. On factions, a developer account has since said Early Access focuses on the Welsh campaign with more factions added later; what that does and does not promise is on Kingmakers factions.

Systems that changed after the blogs

The developer blogs describe the game as it stood before the delay. Since then the director has said the in-game store and the strategy interface were rebuilt after playtests:

“So we redesigned the rts ui to be more like red alert 2, where you don’t really have to click on your buildings and can manage it all from tabs on the rts tray.”

Paul Fisch, game director. From Paul Fisch on the store and RTS interface redesign, Steam discussions

So treat any single system as provisional until the Early Access build is out. The most recent full look is broken down on Kingmakers gameplay explained, and when the release itself might come is on the Kingmakers release date page.