The indie game 9 Kings is coming soon to Steam. MeinMMO author Johanna got to preview the game thanks to a free key.
What kind of game is it? It is the indie game 9 Kings (on Steam) developed by Sad Socket. The company INSTINCT3, known for YouTuber and Twitch streamer Max “HandOfBlood” Knabe, is the publisher behind the project. 9 Kings is one of the games HandOfBlood presented at his own gaming convention.
Admittedly, 9 Kings did not convince me at first with its early trailers. However, the developers at Sad Socket provided me with a key, allowing me to check out the game a bit earlier.
After just a few rounds, it became clear to me: 9 Kings is incredibly addictive.
With the trailer, you get a first impression of the game:
Protecting the kingdom using cards
What is 9 Kings about? The indie game 9 Kings is a roguelike in royal form. At the beginning of each run, you can choose which king you want to play as. Three other randomly selected kings will automatically become your enemies.
You need to fight them again every year, which corresponds to one round. Of course, you and your opponents become stronger each time.
Each king can be leveled individually, unlocking new abilities for the respective throne holder. Additionally, each king has different card sets.
Per round, you can play one card. You can either improve your existing troops with it or build new units. The game gives you many options to combine different units and abilities.
After each victorious battle, another random card can be chosen. Depending on which king the battle was won against, you can choose from that king’s card repertoire.
A run represents one year, which can be played through at any difficulty. After that, you can continue playing, but the difficulty increases significantly.
What makes 9 Kings so special? The different abilities and unique card sets of the kings make the runs interesting. Even at the choice of the king, you have to consider which direction you want to take.
For example, the Blood King gives a lot of focus on sacrificing cards. With the King of Greed, you can accumulate a lot of money to buy more and more cards from the dealer.
The best part: The cards of the kings can also be combined with each other. For instance, you can couple a Thief card from the King of Greed with the Vampirism card from the Blood King. The combination possibilities are thus enormous.
The only flaw: I would have liked a better way to differentiate the troops from one another. The pixel graphics of the troops are so simple that I can’t recognize any particular features at first glance that would help me quickly distinguish the units.
9 Kings may initially seem inconspicuous, but beneath its simple appearance lie complex combination possibilities that make it extremely fun to find the best one for yourself.
Overall, I can understand why HandOfBlood is so keen on roguelikes: Done right, these games offer a high potential for addiction. After every failed run, the question arose for me: “Can I do better if I position and combine differently?”
And each time I wanted to find the answer to that question.
Will you play the game or have you already tried it? Let us know in the comments! HandOfBlood seems to be very excited about the game as well. The game was presented at Caggtus, although the YouTuber himself was not present, he still managed to advocate for it: HandOfBlood misses his new game at Caggtus, only calling for good reviews
