Kingdoms and Castles is medieval SimCity with tower defense elements

If you're a fan of building cities or townships, but also want those cities or townships to be attacked by invading cretins, then Kingdoms and Castles looks sweet. Released today and funded on Fig, it's a medieval fantasy-themed spin on the likes of SimCity and Cities: Skylines, except you'll also be defending your civilisation.

With a lovely bright voxel aesthetic, you'll be "strategically" laying out your town – making peasants happy and attracting new citizens – while also populating it with castles, churches and taverns. But of course, pesky vikings are always waiting at the fringes to take your city over, so you'll need to make sure that can't happen. When it does, Kingdoms and Castles turns into a tower defense game.

It's out now, but updates are forthcoming. These include the integration of merchants and ports, in order to bolster trade in your settlements. There's also a hero system coming as well as VR support. The full roadmap can be seen over here, while the main Steam page is here.

Here's the trailer:

Shaun Prescott

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.