Kingmakers gameplay explained
Kingmakers is a third-person shooter laid over a real-time strategy game. On foot you fight with modern weapons; from the strategy view you build a settlement, recruit an army and send it at castles, and you can switch between the two whenever you like. This page follows the developers’ Gameplay Deep Dive in order, with the timestamp for each claim.
The question the game is built on
“What if you brought modern weapons to the Middle Ages in order to rewrite history?”
Redemption Road. Said in the tinyBuildGAMES video: Kingmakers - Gameplay Deep Dive
Two views, one battle
“You’re not just a foot soldier in Kingmakers. You’re responsible for the army itself using an interface similar to games like Age of Empires, Stronghold, or Manor Lords.”
Redemption Road. Said in the tinyBuildGAMES video: Kingmakers - Gameplay Deep Dive
“At any point, you can switch to the strategy view. From here, you can give orders, construct buildings, commission officers, and call up new levies of soldiers.”
Redemption Road. Said in the tinyBuildGAMES video: Kingmakers - Gameplay Deep Dive
The store page describes the same thing in one line, “Seamlessly switch between combat and issuing orders, at any time.” If you are wondering how that works on a controller, nobody has said; see Kingmakers controller support.
The Deep Dive, chapter by chapter
Each time links straight to that moment in the video. Descriptions are this site’s summaries of what is said.
You run the army through an interface the narrator compares to Age of Empires, Stronghold and Manor Lords.
English lords attack your settlements; walls, towers, ballistas and trebuchets help hold them.
Heavily armoured, able to stop small-calibre rounds; can be captured, then ransomed, tortured for information or executed.
Experience permanently upgrades your character class, unlocking weapons and abilities.
Money comes from the past
“It’s on you to send whatever silver, copper, and gold you find back to the present day so your support team can buy you better weapons.”
Redemption Road. Said in the tinyBuildGAMES video: Kingmakers - Gameplay Deep Dive
That is the loop that ties the two halves together. Looting and holding territory funds the shooter side, and the shooter side is what lets a small army beat a much bigger one.
Building and holding a settlement
“When establishing a new settlement in hostile territory, you’re responsible for building farms, lumber mills, and other structures to get your economy up and running.”
Redemption Road. Said in the tinyBuildGAMES video: Kingmakers - Gameplay Deep Dive
“English barons and nobles will throw massive armies at your settlements.”
Redemption Road. Said in the tinyBuildGAMES video: Kingmakers - Gameplay Deep Dive
The pinned developer update before the video added that players can now build walls around a base, and that enemies can break them down. Who you recruit to hold those walls is on Kingmakers units and officers, and the buildings the developers have named, with how sieges work, are on Kingmakers base building.
What the video does not say
- The announcement listed “enemy waves” among the topics, but the narration never uses the word. The only wave talk on record is the director describing an endless horde mode built to speed up balancing, which he said might become part of the game.
- No release date, price or platform, and no Early Access roadmap beyond the launch size.
- Anything that is only visible on screen. This page lists what is spoken; details that appear in the footage without being described are left out rather than guessed at.
For where the game stands on release, start at the Kingmakers release date. The other official videos are collected on Kingmakers trailers.