When I clicked on the trailer for Kingmakers, a new "action/strategy sandbox" game from Redemption Road Games, I was mildly interested by the thousands of simulated soldiers duking it out in an open field Mount and Blade-style. There really aren't enough medieval combat games out there, and Kingmakers looked like a promising one.
Then at around the 24-second mark, Kingmakers shows its real hand. You don't play as any typical 14th century knight. You're in fact a, well…you really should just watch it for yourself. Meet back here in 113 seconds.
Yep, you're a time traveler from the future taking on hordes of medieval knights with modern firearms and vehicles. It's like watching my high school lunch debates play out in real time. It's juvenile in a way that makes me a little self-conscious for laughing so hard, but I can't deny it's a strong trailer—I had to take a minute to compose myself after the pickup truck plowed through an entire platoon like they were bowling pins.
As a lone future dweller taking up arms in medieval England to change the future, you'll bring along "assault rifles, shotguns, grenade launchers, armored SUVs, bikes, attack helos, air strikes and more" against thousands of swordsmen at once with up to four player co-op.
While there appears to be some melee combat, Kingmakers sounds primarily like a third-person shooter. The studio even says it's inspired by the likes of Deep Rock Galactic and World War Z. That makes sense, because when you pit one guy armed to the teeth with guns against a bunch of dudes with swords, the results look remarkably similar to kiting hordes of zombies or bugs around in Deep Rock, Left 4 Dead, and even Helldivers 2.
There's also a strategy element to Kingmakers. During battles, you can switch to an overhead view to issue orders to platoons and build fortifications. All four players can command their own armies and coordinate to topple castles and defend strongholds.
Kingmakers is coming to early access sometime in 2024, but you'll be able to try it out sooner. Redemption Road plans to hold playtests and demos leading up to release, and encourages those interested to follow the game on Steam to keep up to date.
