Kingdoms and Castles
Released Jul 2017
Kingdoms and Castles is a city-building simulation game about growing a kingdom from a tiny hamlet to a sprawling city and imposing castle. Make trade agreements, alliance, and war with neighboring AI controlled kingdoms. Each villager and resource is individually simulated.
93% positive · 31K reviews
Not yet
Released, but still in active development
High confidence
Active Development
Not yet
Released, but still in active development
High confidence
Active Development
Where to buy
Steam $19.99
Can't confirm — worth a look
We couldn't confirm these stores carry this game.
Green Man Gaming Steam key Search IndieGala Steam key Search Prices in USD, as listed by each store.
Buying through an affiliate store helps support the site
Evaluation
Kingdoms and Castles launched in July 2017 and has received a steady stream of major free content updates over the years. Looking at the history: Merchants and Ports (March 2018), Grand Buildings (June 2018), Cemeteries/Witches/Wolves (October 2018), Warfare (June 2019), AI Kingdoms (May 2022), War & Diplomacy (September 2022), VR Support (November 2022), Infrastructure & Industry (June 2023), and Dragon Taming (May 2025). This is 13 major content releases across roughly eight years, establishing a clear and sustained pattern of developer-driven content additions delivered as free updates.
The most recent major update — Dragon Taming — launched on May 11, 2025, introducing a full dragon husbandry system with new buildings and mechanics. Even more telling, on April 21, 2026, the developer released a beta for an upcoming "Larger Maps Update" featuring extra-large map sizes and performance improvements, indicating that another major update is actively in the works and nearing release. Both DLC items on the store (the soundtrack and a decorations pack) are fully released, but the ongoing free update pattern far outweighs this as an indicator of content status.
Lion Shield has maintained consistent communication and a regular update cadence throughout the game's lifetime, with no signals of development winding down. The Larger Maps beta announced in April 2026 is a strong, concrete indicator that the developer remains actively engaged and another meaningful update is imminent.
Evidence
Beta released for a Larger Maps Update featuring an 'Extra Large' map size and performance improvements, indicating an upcoming major update is in active development.
Dragon Taming update launched as a free major content update, adding Dragon Husbandry research, a Dragon Nest building, and new dragon-related gameplay systems.
Content
2 of 2 released · no outstanding content
Media
Details
Developer
Publisher
Lion Shield, LLC
Achievements
12
Platform
Windows, macOS, Linux
Controller
full support
Steam Deck
Verified
Players
Single-player
About this game
Kingdoms and Castles is a city-building simulation game about growing a kingdom from a tiny hamlet to a sprawling city and imposing castle.
Your kingdom must survive a living and dangerous world. Do the viking raiders make off with your villagers? Or are they stopped, full of arrows, at the castle gates? Does a dragon torch your granary, your people dying of starvation in the winter, or are you able to turn the beast back? The success of your kingdom depends solely on your skill as a city and castle planner.
Strategically layout your town to improve your peasants' happiness and to attract new residents. Tax them just enough to fund your castle. Make sure your peasants are fed in the winter and healed of plagues. Build churches to keep them from despair and taverns to keep them happy. You can even throw festivals if you've built a town square! Send out wood cutters to collect wood, set up stone quarries to build your castles, and farm the land efficiently so your town can grow and thrive.
The new land you're settling is at risk of viking invasion. These raiders seek to kidnap and kill your peasants, steal your resources, and burn your town to the ground. Use a powerful castle building system where castles are constructed using blocks which can be placed anywhere. Towers and walls are dynamically created based on how you stack and arrange them. Archer towers and other weapon emplacements have longer range the higher their tower. Try different layouts to best protect your kingdom and express your glory as a king or queen.
And it all takes place in a beautiful dynamic world with a stylized procedural cloud system and season cycle from summer to winter. A realistic tree growth algorithm simulates the forests. Depending on your needs, wood cutters can clear cut or responsibly manage your forests.
Kingdoms and Castles is the first Fig funded game to be released. Its crowd funding campaign succeeded with 725% of its goal and was supported by 1,400 backers. Supporters of the game could both pledge and invest during the Fig campaign.
Your kingdom must survive a living and dangerous world. Do the viking raiders make off with your villagers? Or are they stopped, full of arrows, at the castle gates? Does a dragon torch your granary, your people dying of starvation in the winter, or are you able to turn the beast back? The success of your kingdom depends solely on your skill as a city and castle planner.
Strategically layout your town to improve your peasants' happiness and to attract new residents. Tax them just enough to fund your castle. Make sure your peasants are fed in the winter and healed of plagues. Build churches to keep them from despair and taverns to keep them happy. You can even throw festivals if you've built a town square! Send out wood cutters to collect wood, set up stone quarries to build your castles, and farm the land efficiently so your town can grow and thrive.
The new land you're settling is at risk of viking invasion. These raiders seek to kidnap and kill your peasants, steal your resources, and burn your town to the ground. Use a powerful castle building system where castles are constructed using blocks which can be placed anywhere. Towers and walls are dynamically created based on how you stack and arrange them. Archer towers and other weapon emplacements have longer range the higher their tower. Try different layouts to best protect your kingdom and express your glory as a king or queen.
And it all takes place in a beautiful dynamic world with a stylized procedural cloud system and season cycle from summer to winter. A realistic tree growth algorithm simulates the forests. Depending on your needs, wood cutters can clear cut or responsibly manage your forests.
Kingdoms and Castles is the first Fig funded game to be released. Its crowd funding campaign succeeded with 725% of its goal and was supported by 1,400 backers. Supporters of the game could both pledge and invest during the Fig campaign.
Are these done yet?
Last evaluated Jun 19, 2026
Something about this evaluation looks wrong Report illegal or harmful content