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King of the Castle

Moby ID: 200058
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Official Description (Ad Blurb)

Become the Monarch in this medieval party game and navigate a hilarious world of politics, treachery, and all-out rebellion, as your decisions see an empire flourish or come crashing to your feet.

King of the Castle is a multiplayer game of shifting power dynamics and intrigue. Host games of 3 to 24 other players who join as the 'loyal' Nobles of your Council, voting on your decisions - and twisting the story to their own sinister ends.

The perfect addition to your game night, tabletop group, or friends who just love to scheme against one another.

Plot regicide (and worse) in video call or couch co-op, with each game featuring them as central characters in this Game of Phones.

  • With over 900,000 words across 950 possible Events and 80 unique Endings, no two reigns will be alike!
  • Balance the competing demands of your Kingdom's Regions, each with 18 possible Schemes to overthrow you.
  • Five unique Regions with their own Events - the brash Barons, ruthless Counts, wealthy Patricians, honourable Grandees and pagan Chiefs.

  • Forge a unique history of your realm. King of the Castle remembers your every deed or misdeed and knits them into the story of your game.
  • Build a narrative across over 17,000 choices, with each player a central character in their own emergent tale of ambition and betrayal.
  • Play on after your victory (or usurpation) in Dynasty Games, with special Events and choices based on your previous game.

  • Bribe, persuade or beg to get the votes you need, or just alter the Laws of Land to twist democracy in your favour...
  • Tax to watch the gold (and salt) pile up.
  • Watch your back! If Defiance gets too high, Regions can revolt in a Rebellion that'll tear your Kingdom apart.

  • Personalize your Monarch or Noble with over 10 Quadrillion customisation combinations, including premium only options.
  • By owning the game, take the starring role and appear in both Twitch and Party Games more often.
  • Will you be the one to overthrow your favourite streamer?

King of the Castle is fully Twitch-integrated and makes for the ultimate community game!

Streamers play as the Monarch and - with a simple “!join” command in chat - their Council can be joined by an unlimited amount of players, who use chat commands and our Twitch Extension to try and bump them off the throne.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1839880/King_Of_The_Castle

Source: Steam Store Description

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Reviews

Critics

Average score: 76% (based on 5 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.0 out of 5 (based on 1 ratings)

Delightful visuals and dialogue, but weak gameplay in smaller settings

The Good
King of the Castle features humourous, occasionally clever, and interesting writing – mostly in the form of dialogue. It's fun to see the various interactions between the nobles, and what they result in.

The visual style is delightful. I enjoy the character options, the colour palette, the user interface and the fonts, as they all come together in a very palpable cohesion. The various styles of medieval-inspired outfits are also impeccable.

I think the button-pressing gameplay was fine, though not too engaging, which might be suitable for significantly larger groups or livestreamed sessions (where stream chat members might join). As a non-hosting player, there is very little to do, whereas the hosting player appears to have a lot of options and control over dialogue, and even votes.

The Bad
If your goal is for your faction to win, it's incredibly difficult unless you're already ahead. Your faction's goals are very highlighted, meaning that with the odd chance an option that would sway in your favour is presented, there are rarely any reasons for the other two factions to vote for it.

The gold-spending phase, where players may spend their gold to increase or decrease a random assortment of values, is a bit ... silly? In my experience, there were options that would benefit my faction, but then another option that would directly negate that purchase – this led the other factions to ensure that if the beneficial options was purchased, the negating option would also be bought. Thus, money on all accounts were wasted for no results.

When playing with few people (e.g. friends), we liked to voice "our" parts of the dialogue. However, there was a great imbalance in whose characters would be shown – whereas my noble appeared quite often in my faction's scenes, my comrade's was only shown twice.

With the group size I played in, there was little faction-based overlap during votes. I wish there were more incentives for this, though I'm not able to concretely name any solutions – perhaps making sure options that might benefit multiple factions and/or the monarch occur is something.

The Bottom Line
This game seems definitely suited for a larger group or a livestreamed audience – where chat members may join in. I played it in a group ranging from 5 to 7 players (including the host).

If not taken too seriously, it's a charming storytime with friends. If you're looking for a strategy game, however, I would look elsewhere. The visual style and dialogue is very enjoyable, but the gameplay left something to be desired in my books.

I am likely going to play it again, but I might have to force myself to be less strategic about it, and simply enjoy the interactions.

Windows · by Edo Aug (227) · 2024

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Game added by Plok.

Game added June 3, 2023. Last modified December 4, 2023.