Reign of Kings will bring Medieval survival to Early Access soon

The survival genre is violent. Zombies, wolves, strange island folk... they're all out to kill you. More often than not they will succeed, but if they don't, you'll probably starve to death anyway. Worse still, another 'survivor' will tie your hands and feed you batteries until you die. It's bleak.

Studio CodeHatch is taking a slightly different approach to the genre with Reign of Kings, which is hitting Early Access soon. Drawing inspiration from both Rust and Chivalry, Reign of Kings is a Medieval survival sandbox which tasks you to "hunt wildlife, mine resources, build structures, and craft weapons and armor in order to protect yourself". It's also very violent, as the video below will demonstrate.

That's not where the concept ends though, because you'll also be able to form guilds, wage war on other guilds, and even become king, somehow. Building a fortress, protecting it, and destroying the work of your foes looks like lots of fun, wielding an array of authentic melee weapons as well as trebuchets and other cumbersome ranged weaponry.

"The world itself is designed to inspire competition and struggles for power," the studio writes on the game's official website. "Resource locations strategically spread throughout the game will create inequity and envy. Players will have the ability to make war, or even capture and hold other players in order to get what they want. Each player will have the power to decide the fate of the kingdom, or choose to entirely forego the responsibility of ruling the kingdom and roam the land as a freeman."

No word on a specific date for the Early Access roll out, but the website promises "soon".

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.