King's Orders
- October 25, 2024
- AFTERLIFE
- 1h median play time
Get on SteamIn King's Orders, become a medieval ruler managing armies and cities across Europe, communicating through letters and making strategic decisions. Re-enact historical events in various scenarios, such as the Hundred Years' War and the Reconquista, testing your strategic prowess. The game offers a immersive experience for players seeking a deeper strategy game set in the Middle Ages.
Reviews
- The game offers a unique concept of relying on messengers for orders, providing a realistic medieval strategy experience.
- Despite some issues, the core gameplay mechanics are solid and engaging, allowing for hours of playtime.
- The developers are responsive to feedback, showing potential for future improvements and updates.
- The user interface is clunky and requires excessive clicking for simple actions, making gameplay tedious.
- There are significant bugs, including save file issues and AI diplomacy problems that can make the game unplayable.
- The game lacks depth in content and mechanics, leading to repetitive gameplay and a lack of incentive for multiple playthroughs.
- gameplay13 mentions
- 23 % positive mentions
- 54 % neutral mentions
- 23 % negative mentions
The gameplay features a large campaign map with multiple factions, but lacks distinct mechanics or flavor, leading to limited replayability. While some players find the core mechanics solid and enjoyable, others criticize the UI for being repetitive and the overall approachability as punishing. The unique mechanic of using messengers for orders adds an interesting layer, but the game could benefit from more complexity and variety akin to titles like Crusader Kings.
“At first, I was a bit sketchy about the mechanics, but after the tutorial, it was pretty easy to understand.”
“I'm in the midst of a grand campaign right now, and I am pleased by the gameplay.”
“The core gameplay mechanics are luckily very solid.”
“Big campaign map and plenty of factions to play, but there is no mechanic or flavor difference between any of them; therefore, once a playthrough is done, there is little reason to try another.”
“The gameplay is punishingly unapproachable.”
“This same developer makes Radio Commander, which works 100% for the setting, and so these mechanics given a medieval patina don't hold under the same scrutiny.”
- graphics4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The graphics have received mixed feedback, with many users noting their simplicity and suggesting that a more stylized approach, such as pixel art or low-poly designs, would have better suited the game's minimalist aesthetic. Despite the graphics being described as lacking, players appreciate the game's depth and engagement, indicating that the overall experience compensates for the visual shortcomings.
“The graphics are not good.”
“This is a map painter, but even so... they should've gone with pixel graphics or stylistically low-poly -- something to better embrace minimalism.”
“The graphics are pretty simple.”
- grinding4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious, particularly criticizing the user interface for managing mail and giving orders, which feels unintuitive and chore-like. There is hope that future updates will improve these elements to enhance the overall experience.
“Handling information in the mail is also extremely tedious, and there isn't any sort of overview of mail by hovering over it, or a summary, or anything.”
“The UI design behind giving orders is incredibly tedious, and as players get more playtime, they will realize that it doesn't feel good; it feels like an unintuitive chore.”
“I've got high hopes for the devs that they've got a gem if they make it a wee less tedious.”
- story2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Reviewers express frustration with the story aspect due to the lack of clear statistics and guidance on decision-making, which undermines the realism of rulers' choices. Additionally, the simplistic representation of messengers as mere dots on a map detracts from the perceived importance of their missions, leaving the narrative feeling incomplete.
“Chances of success and other statistics are not available, such as the success of spy missions and the odds of winning a battle or the success of diplomatic choices. This makes it rather unclear what choice to make; rulers never made choices without an informed decision. Statistics or an advisor narrating the action would fix this issue.”
“The messengers are basically just a red dot moving quickly across the map, so something feels lacking to appreciate the criticality of their mission.”
- stability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Users report significant stability issues, often requiring extensive troubleshooting before they can successfully run the game.
“After a lot of troubleshooting, I finally got the game to work.”
“The game crashes frequently, making it nearly unplayable.”
“I experienced constant lag and disconnections during gameplay.”
