City builder Kingdoms and Castles gets AI factions in free expansion-sized update

It's probably been a minute since you thought about Kingdoms and Castles, a well-liked indie city builder that released in 2017. Well, think again, because Kingdoms and Castles just got a big ol' free update adding a host of new stuff. Perhaps most shockingly, what was previously a lonesome survival game now has AI Kingdoms for you to trade with, engage in diplomacy with, and battle.

There's a whole host of other things added as well: Sea gates for protected harbors, a fog of war system, siege equipment, transport carts for resources, new happiness buildings, a minimap, exploration ships, and masons to upkeep your buildings.

Back around launch our Chris Livingston called Kingdoms and Castles "fun and breezy" which as a genre enthusiast I think is just about perfect. It's the lowest-key, highest fun of the colony builders, made to entertain rather than challenge. Except that's now not so true! There's a new survival mode that's pretty brutally hard.

You can find Kingdoms and Castles on GOG, itch.io, and Steam.

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.