Kingmakers Game Wiki
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About
Release

Is Kingmakers real?

Yes. Kingmakers is a real game in development at Redemption Road, the studio that made Road Redemption, and published by tinyBuild. It is not out, it cannot be bought, and it has missed a release date, which is where the doubt comes from. The game director has answered the scam accusations on the Steam forum himself. One newer question, whether the cutscenes in the Gameplay Deep Dive used generative AI, has not been answered.

Real, unreleased

A real game with a publisher, a working Steam playtest sign-up and a public playable build behind it. Not a finished product you can buy. What would settle the rest: the playtest opening, and a release.

Third-person view of a soldier running across a field toward timber buildings, with a health bar, minimap, subtitles and an ammo counter on screen.
On foot, with the full on-screen display: health bar, minimap, subtitles and ammo counter. Frame at 5:26 in the Gameplay Deep Dive, tinyBuildGAMES.

What you can check yourself

Yes: A listed publisher stands behind ittinyBuild reported the delay to investors in a regulatory announcement. See tinyBuild, Inc regulatory announcement: Pipeline Update
Yes: The Steam playtest button worksRequesting access adds you to the list. How it works is on the Kingmakers playtest page.
Yes: The public has played itA build was playable at BiliBili World in Shanghai, and a reporter wrote up a session. Details on the BiliBili World demo.
Yes: Nothing to pay for yetNo price and no pre-order on either store page; the studio has said it will not take pre-order money. See Kingmakers price.

What the director said to the scam threads

The Steam forum has several threads calling the game a scam. Paul Fisch, the game director, answered them in person. On whether it will come out at all:

Paul Fisch Game director, replying on the Steam forum

“Yes, the game is 100% going to be released. Lots of people have been working on it for well over 4 years now.”

“There have been tons of playtests and we just had a playable build at a conference open to the public.”

Thread: Paul Fisch on whether the game will release, Steam discussions

On a claim that someone was charging players for tester access:

Paul Fisch Game director, replying on the Steam forum

“This is 100% false. We have not sold access to Kingmakers to anyone. There is no paid access to testing and there never has been.”

Thread: Paul Fisch on paid test access, Steam discussions

On critics pointing to other games from the same publisher:

Paul Fisch Game director, replying on the Steam forum

“We did not make Duckside or Deadside. You are confusing the publisher with the developer. We made Road Redemption.”

Thread: Paul Fisch on the studio's earlier game, Steam discussions

And on whether the publisher knows the real state of the game, he wrote that “Tinybuild plays all the builds. We meet with them multiple times per week to coordinate marketing and development schedules.” Who the studio is, and the engine story behind an old FAQ line, is on the Kingmakers developer page.

Is the footage real gameplay?

The director has answered this for the trailers, twice:

Paul Fisch Game director, replying on the Steam forum

“All the footage is of a live game. 90% of that trailer was just clips of people playing the game.”

Thread: Paul Fisch on trailer footage, Steam discussions
Paul Fisch Game director, replying on the Steam forum

“No trailer we have ever shown has been pre-rendered beyond like 1-2 seconds of the entire video.”

Thread: Paul Fisch on pre-rendered footage, Steam discussions

The still at the top of this page is from the Gameplay Deep Dive, with the health bar, minimap and ammo counter on screen. Every section of that video is listed with its timestamp on Kingmakers gameplay explained.

Did they use AI?

This is the open one. After the Gameplay Deep Dive, players on the Steam forum and on Reddit asked whether its dialogue cutscenes were made with generative AI, and how much AI went into the game. Neither the studio nor tinyBuild has replied in the Steam thread. The question: Steam discussion thread asking about AI in the Deep Dive cutscenes

The director did talk about AI earlier, about the older trailers rather than the Deep Dive:

Paul Fisch Game director, replying on the Steam forum

“AI didn’t even exist back then that could make videos and even today you I don’t believe you could make a trailer like Kingmakers with AI.”

Thread: Paul Fisch on AI and the trailers, Steam discussions
Open: The Deep Dive’s cutscenesAsked about, not answered. The reply above predates the video and does not cover it.

Where the real risk is

Not in the game, but in anything claiming to sell it. There is no public purchase and no unrestricted download; the only documented way to get a build is an invitation through the Steam playtest. Keys, early copies or paid tester slots offered anywhere else have no link to the studio on record. The official store pages are on Kingmakers on Steam and Epic, and the long delay that started the doubt is explained on what happened to Kingmakers.