"Ambitious" and "reckless" 9 Kings update adds its ninth and final royal

It's update time once again for 9 Kings, and this one is not only packed with exciting content and changes, but it's a poignant one. Sure, some welcome changes to difficulty have been made, loads of achievements have been added, and your deckbuilding possibilities have been expanded with new cards. But the most important aspect of all is that, thanks to a regal time traveler, 9 Kings finally lives up to its name.

Yes, 9 Kings now has… nine kings. A new character, the King of Time, has arrived with today's update, which developer Sad Socket describes as its "most ambitious (dare I say reckless) update yet." As his name suggests, this final new character is a "multidimensional gentleman" who's not satisfied with simply conquering kingdoms in his own timeline. He's also got a clock for a face - I can't imagine the ticking is much fun.

Introducing a bunch of new time-based cards to one of the best strategy games to arrive in 2025, you'll need to focus on acting at the right moments rather than brute forcing or power-stacking your way through a run. The King of Time also brings more perks and decrees to 9 Kings - including the totally new Broken Decrees, which are exclusively tied to his dimension-hopping.

Aside from the new royal and all the cards he brings, some other big changes are hitting the game. For those that have beaten the game at King difficulty, a new rainbow perk called Banisher will be at your disposal. This lets you ban a king before you go into a match, narrowing down the potential enemy kingdoms you'll face, thus giving you more predictability and letting you build a deck knowing you won't need to counter that specific faction.

Sad Socket has also slightly increased the overall level of challenge across every difficulty, however the first couple of in-game years will feel easier than before. This is to give players a bit more breathing room and opportunity to take their builds in different directions during a match and experiment more. So, a bit less stress at the start of a run, but more challenging fights towards the end.

The update also includes 19 new achievements, for those of you that want something additional to chase other than crushing, dominant victories over the other kingdoms.

With the King of Time now in the game, Sad Socket's vision of a nonet of nobles has finally been realized. But its early access journey continues, and there's plenty more on the way.

"We're only getting started," the developer says. "With a solid foundation, we'll finally be able to really expand the game beyond its core. A lot more content will come soon and you can expect a patch with new decrees & cards in the coming weeks. But our main goal right now is introducing you to the new game modes. As we keep balancing out the current kings, we'll finally be able to bring new experiences to you that are bigger than any deck. Challenge and Ranked modes will hopefully take 9 Kings to a new level."

The new 9 Kings update is out right now. If you want to check out every single change that's just landed in the game, here are the full patch notes.

For more addictive, unpredictable gameplay loops, check out our expert list of the best roguelikes - a lot of them are card-based, too. If the idea of forging and vanquishing kingdoms gets you tingling with excitement, our best 4X games guide will have something right up your alley.

Have you played 9 Kings already? Let us know what you think about it over in the PCGamesN Discord, or drop by to rave about any other strategy games you love.