Fans eager for Redemption Road’s shooter-strategy title, Kingmakers, will have to wait a bit longer. The developer recently announced an indefinite delay, explaining that they need “a little bit more time on content polish before we feel good about charging money for it.”
In a statement shared on social media on October 3, the studio confirmed that the original October 8 release date was “no longer possible” and offered an apology to players, stating: “we are sorry for letting you down.”
Kingmakers promises an epic experience, featuring a modern-day soldier who travels back to Medieval England with the goal of altering a brutal war to prevent an impending apocalypse. The game is designed as a “fully real-time simulation” that will showcase “thousands of soldiers fighting simultaneously” powered by “next-gen multi-threaded AI.”
The game’s announcement trailer became a viral sensation, accumulating hundreds of thousands of views across various platforms. Many viewers drew comparisons to the anime series ‘Gate’, which similarly blends modern military tactics with a medieval fantasy setting.
A video of Kingmakers’ official announcement trailer would typically appear here, showcasing its unique blend of modern warfare and medieval fantasy.
While many fans were understanding of the delay, some expressed disappointment, particularly due to the announcement coming less than a week before the game’s initial launch date.
Addressing the reason behind the delay, the company elaborated: “Why is Kingmakers being delayed? In short, it’s an incredibly ambitious, uncompromising game, and we don’t want to cut any planned features, for the sake of getting it out the door earlier. Our goal, from the start, has been to create something that’s nothing like anything else on the market, in terms of gameplay, scale, scope, and interactivity.”
Redemption Road also highlighted their technical achievements: “With Kingmakers, we set out to push the Unreal Engine 4 codebase to its absolute limits, while still providing true 60fps to mid-range PCs, without the need for fake frames. We are an 80% engineering team, who got into this business to push technological barriers.”
The statement further detailed the game’s impressive scope, noting that it will feature “tens of thousands of soldiers, each with AI and pathfinding that rivals what you’d expect from a AAA person shooter.”
Another video, this one showcasing Kingmakers’ early access release date trailer, would also typically be embedded here.
“When you walk away from a battle, it continues to play out,” the developer explained. “Nothing is faked. We have giant six-story castles where every room can be entered and every wall, floor, and ceiling destroyed. When you build a Lumbermill, it’s a real place that can be entered or, in an enemy invasion, turned into a combat area.”
They continued, “Every mission takes place in a giant, massive map that each player on the server is free to explore – with or without their own personal army of thousands. We set out to do all of this, with full drop-in/drop-out four-player multiplayer support, and we have. We just need a little bit more time on content polish before we feel good about charging money for it. So that is what we are doing now. We’re making sure everyone who buys the game is enthralled and feels like their money was well spent. We want this to be the case whether you have a top-of-the-line rig or a PC that’s seen better days.”
Redemption Road has not yet announced a new release date but has promised a half-hour-long “deepdive on Kingmakers gameplay very soon.”
This article was written by Vikki Blake, an experienced gaming reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant.