Kingmakers: 12 minutes of gameplay, still no release date

A helmeted soldier shoulders an assault rifle and shoots down a charging knight: that is Kingmakers in a single scene. The 12-minute gameplay video, shown on September 14, 2026 during tinyBuild Connect, reveals a third-person shooter where you also command an army in 1403, alongside Owain Glyndŵr.

Machine guns, tanks and helicopters take on swords and plate armor. Yet Kingmakers still has no release date, a year after its early access, planned for October 2025, was delayed.

1403, a Welsh rebellion and assault rifles

The question posed by studio Redemption Road fits in one line: what happens if you bring modern weapons to the Middle Ages to rewrite history? The official video, titled « Gameplay Overview Deep Dive », answers with a trip to 1403. The player helps Owain Glyndŵr (Owen Glendower in English-language sources) turn his rebellion into an empire against the English of the future Henry V.

English scientists from the present send the hero back in time. Their plan is simple: put Owain on the throne, for lack of any other option. The story rests on a corrupted timeline. In the history we know, the Welsh revolt ended up crushed. In the « real » history, Owain won. A mysterious force called the Precept disrupted everything, and that victory is the one that has to be restored.

The stakes are extreme. If Wales does not conquer England, the entire Earth is destroyed. Enemies come from the past as well as the future, all determined to preserve the current timeline. The campaign spans England and Scotland.

The tone, for its part, does not take itself seriously. When Owain’s daughter suggests diplomacy, the hero retorts that her father did not conquer England over a cup of tea with the king.

This view draws on Age of Empires, Stronghold and Manor Lords. Fans of real-time strategy games like Warcraft III will recognize the reflexes: giving orders, building, appointing officers, raising new troops.

The idea is to found colonies in hostile territory. Farms need fertile soil, sawmills need nearby forests, and peasants need a roof over their heads. Silver or iron deposits may be hiding in the area. As the colony grows, its walls and fortifications have to grow with it. Every building respects real-world scale, is furnished, and can be entered.

The barracks first trains poorly trained peasants. As the colony expands, it supplies cavalry, archers, berserkers and men-at-arms. Each unit type has its own advantages on the battlefield.

Between construction projects, you have to go out and raid English villages and forts, on foot or on wheels. Missions set specific objectives: besieging a castle, escorting a Welsh noble across the territory.

Trees and buildings are fully destructible. A single grenade is enough to blow open a wall, and the video shows it several times.

Each soldier decides for themselves whether to attack, fall back or flee. These choices depend on a morale system and on loyalties. A single act can push neighbors to run away in fear, or to counterattack. Taking down a high-ranking officer sometimes triggers a domino effect: his men give up one after another and the retreat becomes general.

Holding the colony also means knowing how to look at the battle from higher up. English barons and nobles do not let themselves be plundered without reacting: they come back with huge armies and launch sieges. Walls, archer towers, ballistas and trebuchets can then tip the fight.

The team that stayed in the present lends a hand with air support and turrets. In Kingmakers, the player must therefore gauge what their troops can handle alone, then decide when to step in personally, rifle in hand.

Gold goes to the present, tanks come back

Progression rests on an exchange between two eras. Silver, copper and gold collected in the Middle Ages are sent back to the present, where the support team converts them into equipment. At first, it is submachine guns and automatic rifles. Next come miniguns and grenade launchers, then turrets, airstrikes, tanks and helicopters. This modern arsenal arrives in tiers, and each tier is paid for in precious metal.

Travel follows the same curve. A motorcycle first lets you cross territories at full speed. Cars and trucks arrive later in the campaign, followed by armored vehicles and tanks.

The enemy adapts. The more victories pile up, the more the enemy promotes officers clad in thick iron and protected by shields. Small calibers barely scratch them, hence the value of weapon upgrades. A knight of this rank does not hesitate to charge through his own men, or to smash through a wall to reach you.

These officers are worth more alive than dead. The demo immobilizes one with a taser. Once captured, he can be returned for a gold ransom, tortured for information, or executed to boost the troops’ morale. That morale then unlocks permanent class upgrades, new weapons and new abilities, for the character as well as for his soldiers.

The game can be played solo or with four players. The whole campaign is playable in drop-in, drop-out co-op, and each player commands their own army. Redemption Road plans 30 to 40 hours of content at Kingmakers’ launch.

A year after the delay, Kingmakers still has no date

The game was unveiled in a trailer in February 2024. On May 27, 2025, a Steam post set its early access for October 8, 2025. On October 3, five days before the deadline, the delay was announced, with no new date.

PCGamesN covered the story on October 4, 2025 in a piece by Ken Allsop: the studio refused to cut features to hit the schedule. The game was then among the most wishlisted on Steam.

The Steam page has not changed since. The release is still listed as « Coming soon », for Windows PC only. Playtest sign-ups go through the « Request access » button. No wave has a date.

The gameplay presentation at tinyBuild Connect changed nothing there. PixelKin covered it as early as September 14, written by Eric Watson. Two days later, GameWave and Corentin Rimbert noted that the date remained a mystery.

A successful early access can change the trajectory of a war game: WARDOGS sold a million copies during its own. Kingmakers’ early access, as of October 13, 2026, still has no date.