TinyBuild and Redemption Road Games have released a new 12-minute gameplay deep dive for Kingmakers, offering the most substantial look at the medieval shooter-strategy hybrid since its Early Access launch was delayed. The footage breaks down the game’s modern weapons, medieval armies, battlefield command systems, progression and environmental destruction while showing how its third-person action connects with large-scale strategy. Kingmakers still does not have a new release date.
The presentation was shown during tinyBuild Connect 2026, where the publisher had promised an extended return for the project. Kingmakers places players roughly 500 years in the past as a modern mercenary attempting to alter history and prevent a disastrous future. That setup allows Redemption Road to combine huge medieval battles with assault rifles, explosives, vehicles and other technology that would normally have no place in the period.
One of the central ideas is that players are not limited to controlling their own character. Kingmakers allows them to move between third-person combat and a wider tactical command view, where armies can be repositioned and given orders in real time. Medieval forces include swordsmen, spearmen, cavalry, archers, berserkers and heavily armored men-at-arms, with different units intended to counter or support one another rather than functioning as interchangeable groups of soldiers.
The battlefield simulation is designed around large numbers of independently controlled troops. Redemption Road says battles can involve thousands of soldiers, with individual AI handling movement, decision-making and morale while players direct larger formations. Officers also affect unit behavior, and eliminating key enemies can weaken morale enough to cause nearby troops to retreat, while particularly destructive attacks can trigger localized fear.
Modern weapons provide the other half of the game’s unusual combat system. Players can use handguns, rifles, shotguns, grenade launchers and heavier weapons against medieval armor, with different weapons carrying their own penetration characteristics. High-caliber firearms can punch through tougher armor and certain environmental materials, while explosives, heavy weapons and melee tools can damage buildings and battlefield structures.
Progression also ties the modern arsenal directly to the time-travel premise. Players begin missions with more limited equipment and gather resources such as copper, gold and valuable objects from the past, which can then be used to unlock and improve future weaponry. Upgrades can affect characteristics including magazine capacity, accuracy and armor penetration, allowing weaker equipment to become more effective against increasingly durable enemies.
The strategy layer extends beyond selecting troops. Players can place siege weapons and fortifications while also deploying modern equipment such as automated gun emplacements onto the battlefield. Troop upgrades are handled through a broader skill tree rather than being restricted to individual soldiers, allowing entire unit types to gain stronger abilities as a campaign progresses.
Vehicles remain another major part of the game’s sandbox approach. Redemption Road has previously shown motorcycles and cars that can be driven directly through battlefields, while the wider arsenal has included plans for tanks and eventually aircraft such as helicopters. Vehicles are not simply transportation, with players able to fire weapons while driving and use their momentum against soldiers and structures.
Environmental destruction is equally important to how those systems interact. Different materials respond differently to gunfire and explosives, with sufficiently powerful weapons capable of penetrating walls or destroying structures outright. The deep dive reinforces that Kingmakers is aiming for a battlefield where medieval formations, modern weaponry, physics and destructible environments all operate simultaneously rather than as separate scripted systems.
Kingmakers was originally scheduled to enter Early Access on October 8, 2025 before Redemption Road delayed the launch indefinitely only days beforehand. The studio said at the time that it needed additional development time rather than releasing the game without several planned features or at a level below its intended technical standard. Since then, public updates have been comparatively limited, making the new gameplay presentation the clearest indication yet of the project’s current state.
The game is still planned to launch first on PC through Steam and the Epic Games Store, with support for solo play and online cooperative multiplayer for up to four players. tinyBuild and Redemption Road have not announced a replacement Early Access date, so the 12-minute gameplay deep dive serves primarily as a development update rather than a release announcement. For now, Kingmakers remains in production with its mix of large-scale medieval strategy and modern third-person combat intact.
