Kingmakers was Delayed a Year Ago

After much excitement and anticipation in 2025, Kingmakers was set to release in Early Access on October 8th, 2025. However, on October 3rd of 2025, an announcement surfaced on the game’s Steam page titled “A Message From the Developers”. Instead of releasing that week, the delay detailed lofty ambitions, what they wanted to improve on, and a promise that everyone who plays should feel proud of their purchase. A fair enough assessment, until nine months of radio silence ensued, and one of the most talked-about upcoming video games became something that quite a few people might have forgotten about.

So, a year now removed from that statement, what has developer Redemption Road been up to? Well, in July, Kingmakers was shown at the BiliBili World 2026 convention, with an elaborate setup and the game playable for attendees. Then, in September, the team partnered with IGN for a comprehensive gameplay deep-dive. The in-engine sights to see are promising, as the game looks fully realized with several systems to learn and utilize. More than that, the game looks polished. The team’s dedication to Unreal Engine 4, as opposed to the controversial 5, was a bold choice, but one that earned my respect as I know the game will run better this way, even with the demanding nature of the gameplay.

At present, the Steam page for Kingmakers doesn’t indicate an immediate release. The release date still reads “Coming soon”, and there are no system requirements to read other than Windows 10. When the deep dive released on September 14th, a playtest was made available to sign up for, which I’ve done at that moment in time. The playtest hasn’t gone live, and there’s no timeline available at this juncture. Be that as it may, it’s evident that significant progress has been made on Kingmakers, and it looks like a fully fleshed-out experience. The state of the game last October may have been dire, but here’s hoping Kingmakers is on its way to being a revolutionary title in the near future.