The King Is Watching Review – It Always Feels Like Someone Is Watching

When it comes to Roguelike titles, there are always those that get unfairly glossed over, either for not being flashy enough or possibly not seeming as accessible. Last year, while everybody was fawning over Balatro (which is a great game, don’t get me wrong), I was addicted to Shogun Showdown, which I have around 30 or 40 hours in, which for me is a lot, but it was rarely game I could discuss, considering all the conversations about it lead to what it was and then whoever I was talking to about it switch to that… Other game… That everybody is aware of when you mention roguelike. I have already played a few great games in the genre this year; however, The King Is Watching from developer Hypnohead Studio has that addictively simple loop that could easily become a new obsession.

Players assume the role of the king in this title and, like the name implies, must watch over their subjects to make sure they are attending to the tasks the kingdom needs to be done. These tasks would be normal for any kingdom, but yours is seeing the constant assault of demonic forces that come every week or so and attempt to trash the wall defending your kingdom, and then kill all your citizens. Thankfully, once the wall is smashed, you receive a defeat screen, so you don’t need to witness how badly you failed your people. The core of this loop is a management sim of placing tiles in the empty spaces in your kingdom, then moving your gaze, represented by an on-screen glowing space, to make sure these citizens are actively working.

This loop begins deceptively easy, because it is pretty easy to start figuring out spaces you want or need in your village. Resources go into your overall pot that are used to make soldiers in particular, who act independently, standing outside the walls and waiting for the enemy to arrive and try to smash them. Here is where it offers layers of complexity to this look. Placement of buildings can matter significantly, as getting the right combination of elements in your view can help your kingdom flourish much more than it would otherwise. For instance, the market square allows you to sell resources like wheat for gold bars, but obviously you spend a wheat in your possession to do so, a resource that goes into a lot of other crafting options, so I try to keep wheat spaces next to my market so I gain and lose one in the same move. It is also good to keep the location where you get swordsman next to an iron mine, so you can summon some while you craft.

Even in the early hours, I was shocked by just how much this formula can evolve. Resource management areas have a finite amount of uses, and while you will get more of pretty much everything after each battle you survive, you can absolutely mismanage everything you have and wind up against a boss with no way to craft more troops. Trust me, I did that twice. There are minor events that will occur throughout the game as well, all of which just let you set your reward rather than having any form of true risk and reward you might find in a normal management sim game. This, coupled with the fact that the happiness gauge, a staple of the management genre, acts more as a buff rather than something that can actively hurt you, with easy paths to increase it, showcases the clever ways the team at Hypnohead blended these two traditionally opposite styles into one. Weirdly enough, this is the second game this year to do so, though done with much greater effect here.

Combat in The King Is Watching is played out much more independently of the player, with the gaze of the king only needed when you are lacking in troops and need to respawn some. There is a massive amount of variety here, from giant mushroom people and skeletons to archers and swordsmen. These characters do have some pros and cons versus the various enemies, so planning ahead is a must. To do this, the player actually gets to set the waves of enemies they will have to fight over the next block of time. This, like everything in the game, gives a significant amount of control for the player to decide how much they are willing to risk for the chance of great gain. There are inevitable fights you can take, just to progress, or risk your kingdom on harder rounds that could pay off in the long run, since very challenging boss fights cap off each period.

In here lies one of the issues I had with the game, as despite having an easy-to-follow tutorial, some aspects still took me a while to figure out. The cost to make certain tiles function wasn’t always as clear as I would have liked, with me having thought I had checked the boxes based on the information I saw on the info screens, only to learn I was not reading it the right away. Similarly, each building has an upgrade information part with a resource list needed that took me far longer than I would care to admit to figure out exactly what this meant and how it played into the overall game.

The King is Watching can also take a long time to complete a round if you are doing well. This might not seem horrible, but since the loop mostly expands itself rather than evolves, it becomes noticeable. A few of my better loops took upwards of 30 minutes, which feels like a little much for a game of this type, or at least an amount of time that should only start being sunk into it once you are further in. This was something that started almost instantaneously. It is a fun loop to be sure, hence why I stuck this out and had many a round reach this time. In a few boss fights, this time felt like 5 or 6 minutes was spent just on desperately trying to prolong the inevitable, as the boss clearly had my number; I just didn’t want to accept it.

As stated above, The King Is Watching is a roguelike, so you should probably expect to lose… A Lot… This isn’t a bad thing, though, as there is a lot to unlock once you lose. You are sent to a small village screen with all the parts of your domain in ruin. Each round, you earn a set amount of coins based on how you survived, which will let you upgrade your realm for some beneficial abilities that are useful across the board. This includes an upgrade screen that can affect every aspect of your kingdom, or advisors that all add buffs during a round. You can even change your king if you want to, as you get a selection of them to pick from, all with their skills. These are sure to keep you going back behind your castle walls again and again utill your rule is absolute.

Verdict

The King Is Watching is easy to pick up and start playing, with a short tutorial that is easy to understand to get you started. From there, though, you realize there is a depth of strategy that you will pick up each and every run as you start to manage every tile with efficiency under your watchful gaze. You will unlock and discover more tiles that diversify your playstyle and continue to offer you more to experience as you go toe to toe with more powerful enemies that seek to destroy your kingdom. Despite all this, each time you fail is another chance to up the ante and aim for success, and victory, when you finally achieve it, will taste all the sweeter.

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