Dead Monarchy

I bought this game back in 2018 or 2019 when it first hit Steam early access. Back then it had a completely different engine and was little more than an advanced tech demo for what it has evolved into. As others have mentioned, Kevin is a great guy and will actively engage with you on a personal level if you have questions or suggestions about the game - which is a rare and invaluable trait. Although Dead Monarchy has been a full release for two years it is still constantly worked on and improved. It is the big brother of his new release Arena Monarchy which he uses to explore and refine new concepts for Dead Monarchy. So what is it? Think Battle Brothers before the dlcs, lacking in a few very minor areas and superior in others, after nearly 150hrs play I can tell you that the price is a joke and that if you enjoy Turn Based Strategy games you'd be a fool not to pick this one up. 9.5/10

Well, I've just finished my 1st run-through on easy! I did have 1 restart and I wanted to do it without losing any of my little men. I'm sure that most /all other players will be a lot quicker, as I did a lot of faffing around. Onto the next level next after I've finished the review! Given the low price of this game, I have already had more than my money's worth...... I supect that Kevin plays chess as the combats resemble that game in a way, but with different opponents and terrain each time. As I can only type with 1.5 fingers, here are the main points for me 1 You have up to 18 soldiers max at an time. All troops and weaponry are based on medieval examples 2 You recruit them in any of the 5 towns with some basicskills and aptitude - check those charcteristics carefully to avoid recruting someone who is old and weak like me 3 Each can gain up to 21 level upgrades and 9 weapon types and 1 type of shield (all with 6 grades) and you can have more than one. There are recommended builds for 29 types of warrior but all the variations enable almost limitless options. If you have Aspergers like me, you can spend your life analysing the combo's........... 4 There are a lot of things to do but what you do and when is entirely up to you. To win, you have to kill the arena champion in each of the 5 towns, at some point, but otherwise you can do what you want and go aywhere you want from the start, but at your own peril until you get tougher. 4 The graphics of the land are basic but fine, and better in the battle screens. Excellent combat visual, and impressive squishy noises when you kill a baddie. 5. No significant glitches and little things are ironed out with minor patches 6. Print out the manual . Kevin (the dev) was incredibly kind and produced a PDF version for me so you can get it from him at deadmonarchystudios@gmail.com if it's not around somewhere else 7 If this is what Kevin can do in his first game, he is a dev to follow and support 8 Probably not a good game if you want just to mod it as everthing is already so flexible. 9. Whatever you do, do get a Longsword (light) Swordmaster Duelist. I use 2! As Kevin wrote, he should probably nerf it for being too powerful, but it's too much fun to change. The most effective backstabbers ever designed. Now for some lunch before starting on a more difficult setting - though I think there's an almost infinite no. of options for this too. Addendun: I've now finished a runthrough on the hardest level, though I'm not going to try the ironman challenge. Amazing value to be able to play for so long for such a modest price.

Кривенько, топорно, страшненько, с кучей фризов и экранов загрузок. Вкратце, видно, что делалось одним человеком. Хотел некий 3D-аналог моей любимой Battle Brothers, но, видимо, лучшим пока так и останется Wartales с иным бюджетом. Мне не хочется оставлять негативный отзыв (всё же человек 6 лет работал над этим), а нейтрального Стим так и не заввозит. Потому таки ставлю палец вверх, как рекомендацию попробовать и самому сделать выводы. 2 часа на рефанд и 2 бакса по скидке благоволят сему действу :)

This is a great game for those who value gameplay over graphics. The progression of this Battle Brothers type game is solid, the combat is quite complex and satisfyingly squishy. Only one developer so the rest is quite bare bones, but adequate. Definitely worth getting.

Needs a lot of work. Very much unfinished. Has potential. May change review with more development.

OK .............................. Battle Brothers is better ....................... there i said it ....................................... Better polish and overall better game-play ..................... NOW ....................... this is a GREAT game. It follows the same layout as battle brothers. Its difficult, VERY difficult, my main gripe (and its a small one) is it doesn't scale in the way battle brothers did. This is difficult from the get go. Not necessarily a problem but it can certainly be overwhelming. I personally will not be refunding as I believe this game has great promise. Here is why. 1. If you liked battle brothers (who didn't) you'll love this. 2. This game is made by one guy, ONE !!!!!! You can feel the love and effort hes put into this ! 3. It looks SO much better than battle brothers (yes I know they chose their aesthetic but still the graphics are good) 4. It has a deep feel beyond 'sellswording' (is that a word ?) that i hope will be explored. 5. Honestly the detail is unreal concerning weapons and armour ! Its an RPG fans dream. SO A DEFINITE THUMBS UP ..................................................... with a clause ............................................... This game has made me angry, not because i lost, that is what makes a game fun to play and is literally stated within it that you WILL lose, but because there isn't an introduction to mechanics etc. Its a game where every decision matters (amazing) both on the world map and in battle (double amazing) but I find myself not really understanding what every perk does and level up accomplishes without reading pages of google tips as the UI is so frustratingly lacking. This means A LOT OF READING, HOWEVER ................. when you consider one dedicated person has put this together the detail rivals Total War games. I genuinely believe with a 'tutorial introduction' this game, made by one person remember, could rival multiple triple A games out there. It has an unforgiving nature that is perfect for the hardcore RTS fans, a development structure that will entice the most in depth RPG fans and the most strategic battles I have seen in a long time. Yes this game is a difficult entry level beast, but if you can get over that or even better get onboard with that then buy. Its awesome !!! Just don't break your keyboard the 10th time you lose the same battle. It isn't your computers fault, just the dice gods laughing down on you. (or the fact you haven't learned from your previous mistakes) In short .............. Buy it, its great, just hope at some point a small introduction to skills etc will appear to help clear up SOME of the eternal reading. Honestly, just buy it ....................................... I love it !!!!!!!!!!! Updated 6th April So ...................... I stated Battle Brothers was better .................... I MAY have been wrong. This game is incredible. The developer actually read and replied to my initial review. Now his response did lead me to more reading its true, however I chose to experiment more in game trying out new perks etc and learning by doing. What an absolute treasure trove. Yes you will lose a lot, yes that is frustrating BUT it is so worth it. Every defeat has taught me more about abilities, every loss has taught me about rushing to get to the end game. Honestly you could read the steam guide (I glanced through it) the detail is 100% there and is usable. Honestly I would recommend playing and experimenting, mess around, accept you'll lose and restart, try something new, remember your level up points to spend (something not hugely clear but if you have a little play in the characters level up screen it is actually very intuitive when you spot it). Detail alone makes this game worth it. I have had so much fun with it this way. Every single play through I have improved. Yes i do still believe a small introduction to how levelling up works with regards to point spending etc, would be useful, but honestly its not needed if you put the time in and don't mind losing a few times. I'm having more fun getting my a*&e handed to me knowing I am learning from it and coming back to behead the same bandits that took me down next game. If I could give a second thumbs up I would. This LONE developer has created what could quickly become my new favourite game of the genre.

So, to put it short: + Great tactical depth. There are many ways to make a unit invincible, damaging, mobile and sometimes even all 3 at once. It is extremely satisfying to theorycraft for 5 hours and then see your build work well in practise. + Warcries have a 100% chance to hit. Bullying enemies with Demoralising Warcry stuns them and allows all your troops to hit and crit with a 95% chance. The main frustration of X-COM and such in the form of misses is almost gone. You can plan and calculate everything instead of gambling and you are rewarded for it. + The developer recommends a super-hardcore and long playthrough, but he also put experience multipliers, fast travel and other things to make the game less grindy if it’s not your cup of tea. So massive props for letting the player decide how to experience the game. + Atmosphere. So I’m yet to see if there’s anything mind blowing about the story, but it has a nice atmosphere of mystery. The lords that give you jobs also seem to have some supernatural assassins at their service. No idea if this will get expanded upon, but most of the texts I’ve read were well written imo. - Grindy. So I started with mostly the default options. Except I went for 4 starting companions instead of 2. And man. You can fairly quickly get to a point where some enemies become trivial. But enemies in the arena will wipe the floor with you without proper gear. And to get said gear, you have to either hope it will appear in a settlement’s store or raid mines for iron ore and get other materials to craft it at the smith. The sense of progression is there, but I’m 23 hours in and it starts to become same-y. - Slow. So… the end game is meant to be 18vs18. And the first couple turns you just move your troops forward and watch the enemy do the same. Fights start to take a while at 6vs12 as is and the end game fights can probably take up to an hour. Though my longest one (7vs18) has been roughly 30 minutes so far. - 5% misses. Those still can screw you over, but they are fairly rare. I just wish you could get that hit chance to 100%. Compared to, say, X-COM, however, it’s not frustrating at all. All in all, I managed to defeat 18 raiders (with a champion) in some graveyard with just 7 dudes in crappy gear thanks to careful planning. And being able to do that brought me so much joy that I can’t help but recommend this game to any turn-based strategy enthusiasts. P.S. I checked if there are ways to put money on Steam in Russia specifically for this game. And turns out, now it’s possible. And this game helped me discover that. So yeah. Great in many ways, I’d say.

Even if it's something made by a single dev, it's a great game! Please continue to improve it!

a ton of fun! can really tell its a labor of love! def not the graphics of a AAA game but more than makes up for it mechanically

Поначалу игра понравилась, пока не напал на отряд лутеров. В итоге у меня 13 бойцов у врага 2, которые настакали себе 100+ защиты и шанс попадания по ним 5%. Причем они полностью окружены, а я не могу по ним попасть ни арбалетчиками, ни в ближнем бою. Герои 12 уровня. Я играл в Battle Brother на легенде и даже там было проще. Что делать тут непонятно. На ответные атаки и блокировние стамина оказывается не тратится. Разочаровние.