There is a charm for Kingdoms and Castles, especially with its medieval theme and setting. Undoubtedly, the idea of living in a time of kings and knights offers unique gameplay. Whatever the genre is, there is also a guarantee of a good time.
This medieval appeal is also twice as better for strategy games. After all, imagine the thought of commanding vast armies without the crutch of gunpowder weapons. Arrows in the air and the clash of swords and spears also make medieval fights endearing.
Kingdoms and Castles is a medieval single-player city-building game developed by Lion Shield Studios. The game saw development under the Unity engine, with a community that gave it life. Players are given a kingdom that they must grow and expand over time.
Vikings, Dragons, and random crises come around, testing a player’s will to survive. Will you take on the challenge and lead your kingdom into a prosperous future?
The Start of Kingdoms and Castles
This game is purchasable on GOG and Steam. Once you enter the game, you are met with cubic shapes. The art direction of the game is a blocky one and is the game’s main charm. You can also choose the difficulty and even the map you want to play.
There is a sandbox option, but the main game is a survival setting. Another mode they implemented is a survival variation with limited resources at the hardest difficulty.
The game starts on the empty map, and you must decide where to set up. You have a castle that, if placed, starts your Kingdom’s existence on the map. The castle is one of the few structures in-game that can’t be relocated.
Resource collection is the name of the early game and you have wood and stone to worry over. Other resources are a problem for later parts of the game, and thinking ahead is a good idea.
The Main Game
Forests are colored stones scattered throughout the map. Cutting trees and building quarries on white stones for marble are also your next step. Lastly, building houses for your people are your primary objective to expand the kingdom.
The population is the workforce, and without them, you cannot gather resources or make an army. Other things you also gather are food, charcoal, iron, armaments, tools, and gold.
Food for the population, charcoal for their happiness, and gold derived from taxes. You can also mine iron for armaments and tools from rust-colored stones. Acquiring different food types makes your population happier.
Wheat, Fruits, and Meat from Fish and Pork are the different types of food you can get. Tools are essential for some production buildings and make basic production buildings faster.
Kingdoms and Castles Defense
The biggest part of the game is the defense gameplay. After a certain population, dragon attacks and Viking invasions begin arriving. They originate from outside the map and appear from random places.
You can set the game to disable the countdown, to prevent yourself from the crutch of preparing a near-perfect defense. Dragons are remedied by ranged attacks like towers and archers. Vikings are a problem solved by all weapons in the game.
The three towers in the game give different advantages. Archers can take down infantry well, Ballistae are good for tanky units like ships and ogres. Greek Fire towers are good for both types of units, but a slow fire rate hinders them. Using the right combination of towers makes effective defense. Trained units are also good but at the expense of your population.
That is all there is to the game, anything more would delve into the mod territory. Give the game a spin and tell us what you think! You can also check out the articles about city-building games on the website.
