9 Kings 1.0 is out on PC, leaving Early Access on November 12 with all nine kings, a new Joker Mode and a 50% launch sale. It’s on Steam, GOG, the Epic Games Store, the Microsoft Store and PC Game Pass, and it’s sitting at 92% positive on Steam.
Key takeaways
- 9 Kings left Early Access on November 12, 2026, after a year and a half, with all nine kings, Joker Mode and a daily challenge mode.
- It costs $19.99, and it’s $9.99 on Steam until November 26.
- It’s on PC through Steam, GOG, Epic, the Microsoft Store and PC Game Pass, and it came to iOS and Android in October, but there’s no console version.
What is 9 Kings?
9 Kings is a roguelike kingdom builder from Sad Socket, published by Hooded Horse. You play one of nine kings, each with a starting deck of buildings, troops and spells, and you place those cards on a small grid to grow your city. Every year, rival kings attack your lands, and the fight mostly plays out on its own, with your direct control limited to a few special attacks.
The hook is in the looting. Beat a rival king and you can take cards from their deck, so a run can end up mixing units and buildings from several kings into combos the game calls “insane builds”. A standard game lasts 33 years. There’s also a single-player campaign, Quest Mode, Endless Mode and async multiplayer, where your kingdom fights other players’ builds.
It’s very close to some other games to me. I’m thinking of a card game, though that might just be the art style. But it looks cool, and I can see the appeal of 9 Kings. Building a kingdom out of cards you’ve stolen from the kings who attacked you is an easy idea to get into.
What’s new in 9 Kings 1.0?
The headline addition is Joker Mode. Once you’ve unlocked all the kings, you unlock the Joker, which lets you hand-pick your deck from every king’s cards, turn off events, choose your enemies and set your own starting gold, lives and re-rolls. The developers described it as a “much-requested” mode.
The other new mode is Daily mayhem, a spin-off of Quest Mode with a new random challenge every day. It unlocks once you’ve beaten all 81 quests on any difficulty, so it’s aimed at people who’ve already put real time in.
The rest is content and polish. The 1.0 update takes the game to more than 130 cards (it was meant to launch with 81), over 140 decrees, more than 110 perks, over 80 quests and 99 achievements, 45 of them new. Buildings are animated now, and there’s a new intro and a new record system.
A year ago, the game had six kings. It now has all nine, which is where the name finally adds up. Async multiplayer, the reworked Endless Mode and Quest Mode all arrived during Early Access, so players coming back will know those already.
Is 9 Kings worth it on Steam?
Going by Steam reviews, players think so. On November 14, English reviews on Steam were 92% positive from 10,436, rated Very Positive, and reviews from the last 30 days were 88% positive from 428. Steam counts more than 22,000 recommendations across all languages.
At $9.99 until November 26, it’s half price, and there’s a free demo on Steam if you want to try it first. If you have PC Game Pass, it’s already in the catalogue, so you can play it without buying it at all.
Player numbers on Steam are lower than at the Early Access launch. Steam showed 3,756 people playing on November 14, while the all-time Steam peak was 13,850 in June 2025. That doesn’t count anyone on Game Pass, Epic, GOG or mobile, though, so it’s only part of the picture.
Is 9 Kings on Xbox, PS5 or mobile?
9 Kings is not on any console. On Xbox, it’s PC-only, through the Microsoft Store and PC Game Pass, and there’s no PS5 or Switch version announced.
It is on mobile. The iOS and Android versions came out on October 12, a month before the PC 1.0, published by Playdigious. The mobile game is free to try, with $8.99 to unlock the full version. On Steam, it runs on Windows and macOS.
Is 9 Kings like Slay the Spire or Balatro?
Those are the two games it gets compared to most. It’s a deckbuilder with a roguelike run structure, like Slay the Spire, and the fun is in stacking modifiers until a build breaks the game, which is the comparison people make with Balatro.
The big difference is the battles. Instead of playing cards in turn-based fights, you place them on your grid and then watch your army fight for you. Searchers also pair it with Thronefall, The King is Watching and Super Fantasy Kingdom, which are kingdom builders rather than card games.
FAQ
When did 9 Kings 1.0 come out? November 12, 2026, on PC. It had been in Early Access on Steam since May 23, 2025.
How much is 9 Kings? $19.99, or $9.99 on Steam during the launch sale, which ends November 26. It’s also included with PC Game Pass.
Does 9 Kings have multiplayer? Yes, async multiplayer: you fight other players’ kingdoms and climb a ladder, rather than playing live against them.
