The King Under the Mountain sounds like a scary ruler biding his time before killing everyone on the surface world, or maybe that’s my overactive imagination. I’m most likely overthinking things, because after taking a look into this settlement-building simulator, it’s not so scary after all. Or maybe it is, we’ll have to play and see. Players can choose to start a Dwarven stronghold, a human town, or even an Orcish tribe. This isn’t just a delightful little town civilization builder, and the goal isn’t to simply create a metropolis your ruler can be proud of. After creating a solid society with sturdy defenses, you can upload your town to a central server, where other players can attempt to conquer it or explore it.
As the creator of this fantasy world, you’ll be creating experiences not only for yourself, but for other players to enjoy in whatever way they choose. Players may also receive bonuses for both exploring other players’ worlds and allowing others to explore their own. These extra features have yet to be announced, but at least we know there will be rewards for playing outside the casual method of just building your own world and watching it grow. With an incentive to develop an empire and gift it to the rest of the world, it looks like you’ll be sinking a lot of time into King Under the Mountain so you can impress other players with your Orcish tribe-building skills. Beyond the main gameplay, the game is also being developed with modding taken into consideration. The team aims to make just about everything in the game replaceable with different versions of the prop in question. Customizing the look of your units will be a pretty great way to cater the game to your style as you run turn-based tactical battles and raise a nation of your own.
Download the pre-alpha build on indiedb.
Played it? We’d love to know what you thought about it.
