Ever since before The King is Watching was released on PC I have been receiving emails about this game. I didn’t really know anything about the gameplay, but I just loved the Monty Python-esque look of the key art. That’s what got me interested in the first place.

Photos and gameplay clips started to catch my attention, but I also wasn’t exactly sure what The King is Watching was. After playing the game on Switch (and Switch 2) for the past few weeks I now understand a little better, but it did take some time to get it all down — and I still may be missing a few key elements.

The King is Watching is a roguelite kingdom builder and strategy game from Hypnohead and TinyBuild. TinyBuild has been on my radar for the past few years after checking out many games they’ve published. What I like is that each game has been so different from the next.

I am happy that The King is Watching has finally made its way to consoles, although I’m now thinking it may be best on PC — with a mouse. It also works great on the original Nintendo Switch because you are able to use touch controls in handheld mode. When I moved my save over to the Switch 2 I wasn’t able to use my touch controls any longer.

I’m hoping that a “Nintendo Switch 2 Edition” of The King is Watching is currently in the works, because this would be a great game to implement the Joy-Con 2 Mouse Controls. I have yet to really try out the Mouse Controls, other than a few quick moments in Animal Crossing: New Horizons and in the Nintendo Switch 2 menu — I also keep forgetting that Mouse Controls exist with the Joy-Con 2.

EARLY KINGDOMS

I began my King’s journey with the tutorial mode, before playing as King Baldwin (our first King). The tutorial mode didn’t help me understand much of what was going on. It has taken many runs for me to start to figure out what I’m doing. With every new run I learn something new and helpful.

A couple of runs in I learned about my special King Abilities that refresh over time. I had been wasting my ability to summon three peasant troops to help me in battle. The more I played the more abilities I started to gain.

There was also a point where I learned about timed upgrades. They would pop up on the side of the screen and by pressing ZR + ZL I could choose which one to activate. For my initial runs I didn’t even notice this was a thing.

These small abilities and upgrades were a big help once I started to use them. The more I played the more my army continued to grow, and I started defeating tougher enemies.

THE KING’S LOOP

The look of this game and auto-battling takes me back to playing Loop Hero a few years ago. Things would just happen on their own and I could add to the map to make it better (or worse). I also had the power to pause or speed up time in Loop Hero, like in The King is Watching.

The town management and kingdom building gave me Drop Duchy vibes. A game I played earlier this year. It’s also another game that took some playing to really figure out just how brilliant that game was. Also, the Tetris-style fortress building in Drop Duchy was very fun.

Another recent auto-battler game, Ball X Pit, has multiple gameplay loops within the game itself. There’s the ball-shootin’ auto-battling portion and the city management (or not as fun part). The King is Watching merges a couple of gameplay styles together into one interconnected gameplay loop — town building, resource management, and auto-battling.

Outside of the intertwined gameplay loop there are upgrades, but they are quick and simple. Playing the game earns currency and resources that can be used to upgrade menu items and grant you certain in-game abilities.

The King is Watching is a game of choices and sacrifice. For every choice you make, you are sacrificing some other option. For instance, if you choose to lay down a forest and start chopping wood, you may have given up the chance to farm for wheat or some other resource — at least until you gain enough to fill your next plot of land.

You can choose to create an army with a variety of troopers or farm for resources that may help you upgrade and build more buildings. Whenever the shop comes around, you can use your hard earned coins to purchase new buildings, spells, good, and more.

It’s also important to pay attention to which buildings you can actually build. You may not be farming the right resources for a specific location you are looking to build — which has happened to me all too often.

Anytime enemy creatures start coming down the lane I start to panic. 

Did I make the right choices?

Will my small army be able to stop them?

Is it time to use some spells or abilities to help?

Should I speed up time and let them demolish my Kingdom faster?

These are just some of the questions that go through my head while playing The King is Watching.

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*myVGBC.com was given a review code for The King is Watching by the publisher.