It turns out I’ve been sleeping on 9 Kings. I received the code in the post a couple of weeks ago, but things get in the way, you know!? But this last few days, after finally getting my shit back on track, I was able to sit down and get to grips with the game. Here’s how I got on…
What is 9 Kings, then, milord?
Developed by Sad Socket, 9 Kings is a hybrid roguelike deckbuilder that infuses auto-battles and theorycrafting to create a truly memorable indie strategy experience about defending your castle from tiny, angry armies.
9 Kings annoints you as the ruler of a fantasy kingdom, and over the course of many years/turns, you must assemble a fighting force that can destroy all who come before it. This is done by blending your available units with those from your neighbouring kingdoms, in the process creating unique armies that react to your enemies over time.
It’s pixelated, low-fi and a bit squeaky, technically speaking, it’s a little rough around the edges, yet, it’s already shaping up to be one of my favourite games of the year, and it’s still only in Early Access.
Not my king!
The thing I like most about 9 Kings is the variety already present in the various decks included in the game, despite the EA tag. Each of the eponymous rulers has their own deck of cards, and you’re able to mix and match those decks to create a pool of cards from which to build a unique army.
We all know that in real life, the royals are terrible parasites on society who leech off the masses, but putting that aside for one minute, it’s quite fun being an all-powerful ruler! Your kingdom starts off as a small 3×3 grid, and initially you can slap your castle down as you see fit, but as the years advance, you have the chance to open up new territories.
Each of the tiles can house a unit. These might be troops or defensive towers, or maybe a building that adds interesting benefits to other tiles, but once you’ve filled your grid you need to upgrade and enhance your build. You do this by drawing cards from a small pool before each new round, before deploying these cards as you see fit until there are only two left in hand. At this point, it’s time to let slip the dogs of war.
Bringing the fight to you
One of my favourite strategy series over the years has been Total War. I love the idea of smashing giant armies together and watching things unfold, and Creative Assembly’s series has always been able to provide that thrill on a grand scale. 9 Kings somehow manages to deliver a vaguely comparable experience to that of Total War, but at a tiny scale and with battles taking mere seconds. And yet, despite the simplicity of the combat and the player’s limited capacity to affect the course of a battle once it has begun, I really love it.
While you can directly control one part of your attack, combat can also be fully automated and sped up. It didn’t take long before I’d gone auto so I could focus on my build instead, which meant trying to find the right balance between turrets back at the back, buildings to generate synergies, and a cocktail of units that work well together in the field.
The different decks don’t just contain cards that let you level up your units, you can also give them special abilities on top of the basic stat upgrades. There is so much potential in this part of the game, and I’m having a great time working out how all the various parts come together, as each character’s deck has a different focus. One example might be a build based around a strong economy, while another uses nature to power its attack, and there’s another that has powerful magic units. Things then get even more interesting when all three decks are combined…
Lands still yet to conquer
At the time of writing, 9 Kings should really only be called 7 Kings, as there are still two more in the works. Knowing this, and knowing that there is plenty more waiting for me to discover in the current build as it stands, makes me very excited to see how the game ends up once we hit 1.0 (and even beyond).
For now, I’ll have to content myself with the royal party as it currently stands. Yet, there’s already tons to do, with multiple difficulty settings, a bunch of different decks to experiment with, and an endless mode where you can keep playing until you finally meet your match.
My only criticisms at this stage are minor and technical – a bit of screen tearing, lack of controller support, that sort of thing- and I expect that to be sorted as a matter of course. Otherwise, I don’t mind admitting that 9 Kings is one of my favourite surprises of the year so far, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting lost in it over the past few evenings.
9 Kings is out now in Early Access on PC (Mac, Win) and I played the game via access kindly provided by the game’s publisher, Hooded Horse.
