It’s a bit surprising that we haven’t seen a wave of “looplikes” since the launch of indie gem Loop Hero back in 2021. Its visuals and gameplay were the cause of lost hours for gamers across the world, trying again for one more run, then another, then another. RootGame’s Kingdom Loop, which just released its playable demo, is the first game I’ve seen that explores where else the tile-laying merry-go-round of battle can take us.

Armies On The March

Kingdom Loop centers on a fantasy realm embroiled in a civil war for control of the Holy Grail, an artifact that grants eternal life at a terrible price. The eight playable characters are divided evenly between the Living, who want to destroy the Grail, and the Undead, who want to continue using its power no matter the cost. The only character available in the demo is Richard Ironhand, a defense-oriented Living warrior who focuses on upgrading units to create an elite army in the long term.

You’re not a lone hero this time around; instead, you’ll command an army, with stacks of units replenishing each day depending on which recruitment buildings you’ve placed on the map. In Richard’s case, passing by training buildings along the road will upgrade existing units for free. The introduction of armies and units means that combat is slightly more hands-on than in Loop Hero; when a unit’s turn comes up, you’ll pick their target, whittling down enemy stacks until you can claim victory and move on.

Kingdom Loop’s combat system also means that your build is supremely important, and there’s a ton of different components that need attention. Rather than distinct classes, each unit has several tags that determine how their abilities scale with your hero’s stats. Mages like Knowledge, Melee troops like Strength, and so forth. It’s best to focus on a few stats and build an army around those so that you can get the most bang for your buck, but there are some clever ways you can break the mold. In my run, for example, I found a weapon that gave all Cavalry troops the Front Line tag; Richard’s unique ability gives all Front Line units a Willpower-based defense buff and the Melee tag, so while that weapon didn’t provide any stat buffs, it gave all my Horsemen and Knights the same benefits that my Spearmen and other infantry were already enjoying.

The opposing army is governed by the same system, and the structures that appear on the map will impact the enemy general’s stats. Clever manipulation of your opponent’s traits will likely be a big part of high-difficulty gameplay when the full release lands.

My Kingdom For Some Stone

As you make your way around the track, you’ll place features on the map to enhance your run. As you might expect, this includes recruiting troops to your army, but much of the map gameplay is focused on finding tile combinations that will give you resources, which you can use to upgrade buildings, remove enemy structures, or even buy new tiles outright.

This resource system is likely to be the thing that most new players get stuck on, because you can’t just build a quarry or a woodcutter and call it a day. Tiles have to be laid in very specific layouts before they’ll provide any resources; for example, a village with mountains on two or more sides will provide stone, while one with forests will provide wood. There’s an in-game codex that shows the combinations, but it’s not readily noticeable; you need to right click on an existing tile or card to find it.

Iron is the trickiest resource to get, so I’ll save you the trouble; you need to build four Meadows in a cross shape, with a blank Grass tile in the center. The center tile will transform to a meteor site once everything else is in place.

But Does It Loop?

Comparisons to Loop Hero are inevitable; Kingdom Loop clearly draws heavy inspiration from Devolver’s pixelated quest. Indeed, it almost seems to expect that you’ve already played Loop Hero and understand the basic mechanics by extension. That’s not a problem – after all, we live in an age where video games are a shared language developing right before our eyes. Soulslikes, roguelikes, and now looplikes are just dialects of that language. The question is, then, how does Kingdom Loop hold up?

Kingdom Loop is a much more complex beast than Loop Hero. There’s more to manage and more to do, to the point where it could be daunting for new players. It doesn’t have the intuitive, learn-as-you-play style that made its predecessor easy to pick up, and you’ll likely spend your first few runs trying to remember what symbols mean and figuring out tile combinations.

That said, once you do have the game figured out, Kingdom Loop suddenly clicks. There will be a run where you finally get it, and suddenly you’re facing the boss fight with no fear. Once I crossed that line, I was ready to see what the full game has to offer. I wouldn’t call Kingdom Loop a roguelike for casual players, but if you’re the kind of gamer who likes to see how one piece of gear can completely change a build, or loves a theorycrafting deep dive, this could be one to watch.