Pigeons Guarding the World
In The King is Watching, you need to protect your kingdom from the raids of the forces of darkness. You can choose the composition of each wave, adjusting the difficulty and the profit received. The level of threat affects the power of opponents, but also increases the flow of resources needed for meta-progression. And activated advisors give useful effects that combine well with individual kings.
All buildings that produce resources and fighters are initially idle. To activate them, you need to direct the king's gaze at them. Rulers differ in the shape of their gaze, unique abilities, passive bonuses, and bonuses for morale (the mood of the kingdom is increased by wine, special fighters, and buildings). Each king is associated with tasks: cutting down trees, killing bosses, increasing the health of their troops. Rewards are given for completing them.
After balancing, it became easier to build attacking structures. With their help, high threat levels no longer seem impassable. The combination of improved peasants and a dovecote made it possible to defeat the Golden Dragon, with which there were many problems in the past — the "bombardment" of pigeons left the reptile no chance.
The game gives time to prepare, after which bosses burst into battle. Each of them has features that make the battle unique: the enemy pours fire from the air, calls for reinforcements, or creates barricades. Increasing the threat level activates additional abilities of the bosses: reducing production, clogging the army limit with useless creatures, weakening damage from spells, influencing the gaze. To counter this, you need to build special buildings.
Completing the game and completing challenges are rewarded with resources. They are used to buy improvements for the kingdom and troops, new fighters, kings, and advisors. The measured pace of meta-progression allows you to better understand the numerous game mechanics.
New Locations and Kings – New Fun
Cemetery
Here you can hire treasure hunters. These are weak temporary fighters who dig up relics. The found artifacts are exchanged with a cute elf for improvements and unique units. If desired, this mechanic allows you to create a powerful army of the dead.
Volcano
A hot location in every sense of the word, where you can mine a new resource. Runes are given for sacrificing fighters and materials or for increasing the difficulty of waves. For this resource, an appetizing demoness will reward you with improvements and the opportunity to assemble a hellish army. However, deals with the demon are fraught with unpleasant consequences in the form of volcanic activity.
Edge of Madness
The most unusual location in terms of mechanics. Here, opponents do not take damage until you activate a special building. This invulnerability is compensated by the fact that most enemies are passive on the battlefield — this allows you to prepare well before clearing.
King Tai-Tsung performs excellently at this level. His specialization in attacking buildings allows him to get rid of most threats without losses.
Kings from the «Crowns of History» Add-on
Queen Cleopatra
Her abilities allow you to transform corpses into canopic jars, summon and resurrect Egyptian warriors. Playing as Cleopatra opens up barracks of unique fighters, who need these very canopic jars to hire. For this ruler, you spend clay more often — a resource that is needed in specific circumstances and useless in most other cases.
Tai-Tsung
Specialist in attacking buildings. The monarch's first ability puts invulnerable archers on the walls and gives a blueprint for a combat building. The features of this hero are so good that you can safely go into a deaf defense and not waste resources on creating an army.
Xerxes
Turns the army into "glass cannons." Xerxes' passive ability increases the power of warriors, but in return critically reduces their health. The ruler's active skill, which gives temporary invulnerability, helps the squads survive.
Diagnosis
The King is Watching remains a complex and interesting strategy to master. You will often have to lose before the accumulated experience and meta-progression allow you to cope with the harsh tests. But these efforts are justified: the depth of mechanics and the space for tactics that has increased after the patches draw you into the game headlong.
I had a hard time tearing myself away from the game to write a review, and I'm going back to the game. New combinations of kings, advisors, and spells perfectly refresh the gameplay. If the developers continue to add high-quality content and polish the balance, the replayability of the project will become truly outstanding.
