We Love It's Guide to…
Choose a king, arrange cards into a synergistic 3×3 kingdom, and withstand rival armies in escalating auto-battles.
Released 23 May 2025
Arrange a 3×3 Kingdom
Combine Rival Kings’ Cards
Build Powerful Synergies
A fast-paced roguelike kingdom builder. Grow your empire and fight massive battles against powerful rival kings. Break the game with thousands of insane builds to become the King of Kings.
Developed by Sad Socket · Published by Hooded Horse, Sidekick Publishing
Choose one of nine kings, each with a distinct starting deck of buildings, troops, and spells. Your goal is to grow a kingdom that can defend itself against rival kings and their increasingly powerful attacks.
Each year, play cards to place or improve structures and units on a grid. Position them to make their effects work together, then watch the forces battle automatically. Victories can give you cards from rival kings, while events let you shop, issue decrees, expand your land, or change which kings you face.
Runs can continue into Endless Mode, while Quest Mode offers challenges with special rules. You also earn experience for your chosen king across runs, unlocking perks to bring into future games. Async multiplayer pits your kingdom against eight rivals.
Players who enjoy 9 Kings often praise experimenting with card combinations and watching different kings’ strategies develop into powerful builds. Reviews also describe the game as easy to pick up and compelling to return to, with Quest Mode and ongoing additions giving some players more challenges to tackle. Other reviewers find the balance and randomness frustrating, especially in quests, and some report crashes or slowdowns during large battles.
Build your city into the most powerful of all kingdoms through endless combinations of buildings, units, spells, and positioning. Take advantage of chaotic combos and powerful perks to break the game and become overpowered. Grow your kingdom in strategic ways, prepare for dozens of unique events, and show the world your kingdom can outlast all others in both single and async multiplayer.
From humble village to massive citadel, your capital recruits your units and grows their power. Expand your kingdom strategically over time and build it to survive decades of war and strife.
From sturdy knights and warlocks, to glass cannon wizards and bombers, to hordes of fiendish imps and sentient mushrooms, there are dozens of units to lead and fight. Stockpile gold to hire thousands of mercenaries to your cause, use dark magic to raise the dead, and harness nature itself to bring down your enemies!
Each of the kings has a different starting deck of buildings, troops, and spells, but you can loot the rival kings who attack your lands to access cards from their unique decks. Make peace with those whose units don’t fit your playstyle, and declare war against kings with the powers and units you covet, deploying the tools acquired from your enemy to unlock countless combinations of stacking buffs and modifiers to build an invincible army.
Async multiplayer mode pits you against eight rival kings to see whose kingdom survives the longest. Climb the ranks and prove yourself to truly be the king of kings, complete with cosmetic customization using rewards you’ve unlocked through daily challenges and medals earned along the way.
Quest Mode introduces unique mechanics-bending challenges as you travel the known world and face off against its kings to collect their crowns for yourself.
Endless Mode has you choose a king and face endless attacks from enemy kings and their most powerful warriors – how long can you survive the onslaught?
Combine your cards in endless ways – try out insane builds and watch massive armies fight for your crown, survive as long as you can against increasingly powerful enemies, or break the game and watch all challengers crumble before you.
| Platforms | Windows, macOS |
|---|---|
| Achievements | 54 |
| Age ratings |
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| Controller support | PlayStation, Xbox |
| Controller required | No |
| Demo | View demo on Steam |
| Website | Official website |
