Little Kitty, Big City
Little Kitty, Big City
Game
Game2025
The King is Watching
Developer Hypnohead
The King Is Watching is a 2025 video game, where the player manages a castle, placing buildings to generate resources, produce units, and ultimately fight off enemy invaders. The game combines elements of real-time strategy and city builder games, with the run-based pseudorandom structure of a roguelike. The game was developed by Serbian indie studio Hypnohead. First created for the October 2023 game jam Ludum Dare… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
349 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Oct 7, 2026 · last updated Oct 7, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
84
LovedLoved
205 positive · 38 negative
95% range 79–88%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 205 | 38 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
106 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
9,480 of 10,693 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 349 · most liked firstMy Top 10 games of 2025: 1. HK: Silksong 2. Dispatch 3. Expedition 33 4. Citizen Sleeper 2 5. Consume Me 6. The King Is Watching 7. Death Stranding 2 8. South of Midnight 9. Blue Prince 10. Sword of the Sea Game of another Year: Pikmin Finished 35 games.
unlabelledView post →IMAGINE YOU AND YOUR WIFE ARE SLEEPING AND SUDDENLY AN EYE APPEARS ABOVE YOU AND YOU HAVE TO START MAKING BABIES UNTIL THAT EYE GOES AWAY...
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →the gameplay loop idea is alright but the passive upgrades take to long to grind with little reward being felt between runs. you unlock more buildings and ability to banish selection choices but not as many banishes as new buildings resulting in an end game state that relies heavily on rng. it is easier to get a build you want before getting certain upgrades making them feel more like a punishment than an option increase. adding 5 new possible buildings to draw pool while only giving 2 ban…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Trying to post some positive vibes: I am trying out The King is Watching, a game with an adorable talking duck!
unlabelledView post →Resource management, strategy, timing, careful preparation, clash and RNG. This game is held together by magic and chaos. 10/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has a lot of potential, but it has a serious issue with the wave scaling. I am up to around 10 hours here and runs just consistently end on the final boss fight with unbalanced mechanics. Wave after wave of triple stacked enemies to get all the rewards, and no issues whatsoever. There are no indications that my troop or build is weak. The wall never gets touched and i get ALL the rewards and then have the run come crashing down because the final boss is able to just wipe my entire…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Easy to learn but tough to master management game. Lots of fun and replayability. Could use more maps though - 2 are not enough
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is cool, mechanics are nice, but after a few hours it starts to be boring. Every runs look and feel the same, and to go beyond the stage you are currently locked at, you have to get quite a handle of upgrades (meaning you have to fail a few times) to hope winning. not my kind of game, but can completely be yours.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Would be a fun game if it had maybe 3x the number of relics/ builds. Every unit feels similar to every other unit, theyre all just blocks of hp and dps with very little to differentiate them or provide novelty between runs. It feels like the game is more about producing as many high tier units as fast as possible, regardless of what those units are. This means there is very little room for synergies or desicionmaking, it doesnt matter that I make a good unit composition, it matters that I make…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A rather simple, yet immensely satisfying and super fun game. First of all, I really appreciate the somewhat obscured timer limit challenges in game as they force you to adapt rather than overcome with grind, in turn avoiding stretching out gaming sessions into a situation that ultimately feels like wasted time. In terms of gameplay there's also a great deal of RNG involved, on top of all the gimmicks, and to me, nothing really spices up even the most basic of premises the same way RNG does…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The King is Watching is a clever strategy-puzzle hybrid with charming art and satisfying bite-sized gameplay loops, offering a fun variety of options each run.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is not easy. This game is not for people looking to chill while watching a show or to relax. Its frustrating. It will make you mad. I have put almost 25 hours in and am still no better then when I started it. Once you invest so much time into it, you feel you must keep doing it to try and show it who is boss. It is...it is the boss. You will die a lot. That being said, it is a fun game and well made. I play a round or 2 a day as each round takes about an hour. Its fun leveling up and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Playing for two weeks now, absolutely hooked. I give it an over 9000 out of 10. +++ yes +++ + satisfying gameplay loop + easy to pick up + difficulty spikes are well paced + content updates ongoing + incredible pixel graphics + memes and silliness + numbers go up + cute winter theme for the holidays + hot demon lady + detailed ui + lots of things to manage --- hmm ---- - 100% requires level 10 on each king, fml - store page shows 8 advisors in screenshot, which is out of date and made me sad…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A fun RTS TD game. I've glanced through a lot of negative reviews and most of the points they brought up have since been fixed. They added mid-run saving, (limited) rerolls for buildings and artifacts, options to banish certain rewards from being offered, they rebalanced some of the units & advisors etc.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In one life, I was a ruthless leader, leading a civilization of drunk madmen whipped into submission — my assassins hiding amongst them. Then I was a powerful necromancer, turning the corpses of my enemies into loyal allies. I've been a merry peaceful king, with a magical army of unicorns, bees, and geese. I have so much respect for The King is Watching, being a bite-sized game that took a very simple idea and elaborated on it with interesting mechanics and emergent storytelling. What I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unfortunately, the meta progression demands that I play this at least 40 million times. And I only want to play it 3 and a half times.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I want to like this game, and I do for a lot of reasons, but I would not recommend it. The big problems are a lack of balance to make thing interesting, and a lack of variety in the early-game (I consider myself still early in the meta progression at about 11 hours). When you start this game, you are locked in to only one set of all the variables that look like they will eventually become available. You can only fight in the village. You can only pick from one king (different abilities…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have 100% Completion on this game including the DLC. If that isn't enough of a recommendation then let me say this: This game has a fun and unique spin on tower defense. No one strategy is the key, but there are extremely strong strategies. I will say Meta-Progression really lends itself to more success. All the various Kings and their powers are neat and make them all fun in their own right (I am a Saladin and Xerxes enjoyer) Thanks so much for a true delight Hypnohead!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game. Any negative reviews are people looking for a game that is triple the price-point. This is a fun game where you can play 1 or 2 runs in an hour and log off for the night. . Big plus that we have DLC to look forward to and keep the game fresh.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It’s a fine game, but lacks longevity. After 7–10 runs it becomes too repetitive, and prices for the upgrades become too large to feel progress from run to run. Also, the endless mode is completely useless and not interesting, so you’re just repeating the same runs again and again, grinding money for the upgrades. So, interesting for the first 15–20 hours, then really boring.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a defense roguelike game, where you build up an economy that also produces units to defend your town from waves of enemies. The gimmick is that despite having a 5x5 grid to build structures on, only the ones in your "gaze" actually function. Since most resource producing buildings are temporary, you'll be constantly changing the layout of your town, changing with what you need and unlock and use up. Individual runs can take up to an hour. The game does a great job of constantly having…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is one of those games you play for 4 hours and it feels like an hour. One of those "Just one more turn games" at 3am (Except it's not a turn, but a enemy wave in The King is Watching) This game has surprising depth and replayability. Numerous rogue like elements like new Kings, advisors and updgrades to unlock. I really love the small details like buildings changing when they upgrade, the battlefield being littered with the dead from both sides, and the little villages out side your…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Recently I have been playing this roguelite tower defense game called “The King Is Watching” and it’s genuinely been the most fun that I’ve had with a tower defense game since plants vs zombies it’s so good Play it if you haven’t already
unlabelledView post →The King is Watching is OUT NOW! 👑 Rule with your royal gaze in this roguelite kingdom builder! Game Available Now here: tblink.co/TheKingIsWat... #IndieGame #RTS #Roguelite #TheKingIsWatching
unlabelledView post →The King is Watching is a roguelike masterpiece. Its unique approach to the genre is mind boggling, and utterly blew me away with how creative the gameplay is. How do you describe a city building, resource managing, deck building, roguelike that incorporates real-time strategy? I'll give it a shot, but know that I'm a little stumped for words. Building a settlement is fun. Gathering resources is fun. Producing fighting units is also fun. Being forced to carefully choose which one to do at…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It is an ok game but devs treat finished product like it's still EA and don't give a f about players. They have recently completely changed the ui and despite overwhelming negative feedback refuse to improve it, while disregarding any feedback as "you just don't like it because it is new"
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Picture this: you’re peacefully asleep with your partner, when a giant all-seeing eye spawns over your bed like a cursed alarm clock and won’t leave until you start a full baby production line.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →PERFECTION! Please keep updating and giving us more content. I NEED MORE!!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What am I doing when my boss isn't gazing at me in the office? Gazing at my kingdom. This game is fantastic!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is an interesting resource management game that kind of reminds of board games by Uwe Rosenberg (Agricola, Le Havre, Caverna etc). Unlike those games where you're just trying to score points, here you're trying to produce an army to survive the enemy waves. I do prefer those board games a bit because there's a lot less micromanagement to them. This is also one of those games where you constantly switch from 'paused' to 'fast forward' as you make your decisions and then execute them…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have to admit, it's a great concept and I did have fun with it, but eventually it becomes a slog and I can't recommend it. There are so many units that interact with each other in a way that seems impossible to take advantage of. "This ranged unit gives health bonus to melee units, and this melee units helps fliers... okay, but I don't think I have access to any flying units?". I would have understood if it was a "all ranged units buff melee units" or a "tribe" (undead, fae, etc) system, but…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't even know how to describe this gameplay, but it's unique and I've found myself coming back for far more playtime than I initially thought I'd get from it. No regrets.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Strange one for me this game, its one of those things where you need to balance your own experience which for me rarely leads to fun challenges. You have the roguelike meta progression, in combination with a challenge/quest system which are not balanced together at all. You can do the challenges with an easy map and a king you have played with a lot and fully "unlocked" and then the challenges are doable/easy. Or you can choose a higher difficulty map (that you havent played before) and a new…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The King is Watching has become my favorite real-time strategy game this year, and it's a joy to play on the #SteamDeck, even without controller support. A copy was provided by tinyBuild for review. steamdeckhq.com/game-reviews...
unlabelledView post →I'm new to steam, and I was nervous about what game to pick. But this game has been a blast so far.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A mouse and keyboard game that is extremely addicting but difficult too for myself. A fan of roguelikes but unable figure out the meta or if I'm just constantly getting screwed with RNG. Either way I keep unlocking things and SLOWLY progressing. There are tons of options I haven't even tried so this should occupy some free time for a while yet. I don't know what to compare this game to though... a tiny city builder space management puzzle with tower defense? It seems unique and weird enough…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My favorite game of this year. SO UNIQUE. I love the afk/chill aspect to it but at the same time there is a lot of strategy. The diff buildings and kings lead to so many unique strategies and play styles I see myself having 200+h after more maps are out tbh. Tried the demo as well and can see how much work the devs have put in.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Excellent little game. It brings some genuinely creative ideas to the table and ends up feeling like a blend of autobattler, RTS, tower defense, roguelite, and even a touch of turn-based strategy. It's an unusual mix that works surprisingly well. Rather than trying to explain every mechanic, the easiest description I can give is this: imagine an RTS where only a limited number of buildings and workers can be "active" at once. Anything you've selected automatically produces its output over…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In The King is Watching, developed by Hypnohead and published by @tinybuildgames.bsky.social, translators are NOT in the credits. The game is available in 10 languages including English. #TranslatorsInTheCredits
unlabelledView post →Excited to see The King is Watching is out. I played the demo some time ago and have been following it ever since. It's a tile-based strategy game, where tiles only produce when within the King's gaze. Very "just one more turn". store.steampowered.com/app/2753900/...
unlabelledView post →The King is Watching kinda simple base defence game that requires some more intricate combinations in order to proceed past initial levels. Gameplay is 99% combat phase - you have castle consisting of a bunch of empty tiles that could be built on and one road leading to your keep, that enemies will come from. Defence is mostly done by units that are recruited from structures you build or sometimes from king summoning abilities, “towers” that could attack enemies are much less effective in…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →★★★★★ I absolutely love this game. The gameplay is simple, easy to understand, and yet incredibly fun. It reminds me a lot of the old Flash games I used to play on Kongregate back in the day, and I mean that as a huge compliment. One of my favorite things about The King is Watching is how many different ways there are to play. Not every king is necessarily my cup of tea, but I think there is something here for pretty much every playstyle. The amount of possible combinations, synergies, units,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I didn't find this fun at all. It obviously had a lot of work put into it and looks very deep and I respect that. But the basic gameplay doesn't work for me. You randomly get 1 of 3 buildings you can buiild, which give you resources/random soldiers, throw in auto-combat that plays itself, and then only a few of your buildings can be active at once.. but it's weirdly unfun to micro manage it and redesign your kingdom around it. The game itself feels slow and grindy, combining different genres…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I find the RNG to be way to massive, making progress through the game difficult and so my 20 hours have been extremely samey (i feel like 20 hours is enough time to give a game a chance.)
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TL:DR - This game is one of the most addictive rogue-likes that I have played in a long time. It is a lot of fun, and it's worth your money. The King is Watching is a combination of several different genres. It plays a little like a tower defense game, a little like a base-building game, a little like a card game, and a little like a resource management game. At its core, your goal is to defend your castle walls against waves of monsters who attack you. You have a little bit of control…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →2 new episodes of Indie Game Arcade out this week discussing: 👑The King is Watching 🔫Rusty Rangers 📸Heartworm 🦉Atomic Owl 🚢Static Dread: The Lighthouse 🥷Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound 🤖Sands of Hope 🐥Paper Animal Adventure 🐑Shepherd Knight And tons more! #indiegames #newgames #gaming bit.ly/IGApodcast
unlabelledView post →Weirdly Addicting Semi-Idling Tower Defense When it comes to video games, I am mostly an action-oriented guy instead of a strategic-oriented one. I have more fun controlling the full movement of a character than pointing and clicking things. Yet, somehow, The King Is Watching gets me hooked. This semi-idling, resource-gathering, army-generating, and mostly clicking roguelite manages to create such an addicting gameplay loop. The unique "gaze-based" mechanic constantly demands strategic…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Super addictive and weirdly relaxing at the same time. You sit there calmly placing workers, but I wouldn't call it an easy game, you actually have to think about how to set things up so you don't get wiped by the next wave. Nice visuals, great music, and enough variety for dozens of hours. And I haven't even touched the paid DLC yet, which will probably make it even better. Downsides: the progression is a bit tedious and the settings/controls on Steam deck aren't perfect. But even with the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TL;DR There are a lot of interesting ideas here, and I think it's a good game. The game would benefit from better explanations, and progression feels too slow for my liking. Tags Speaking of: Fair warning that this is not a 'roguelike` or even `roguelite`. That tag is doing users a disservice. Progress is so heavily tied to meta progression that it feels more akin to a campaign with small autobattler battles than it does a roguelike/roguelite. It is impossible to actually access large…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I find cool new concepts in every run of The King is Watching, a mix of city-builder and tower defence game that revels in magic, menace and distraction. www.eurogamer.net/the-king-is-...
unlabelledView post →I just beat the game on Threat lvl 10, the highest difficulty. It's not easy but it's not impossible. I'm not saying I'm brilliant at the game- there's no way I'm trying for 100% achievements as I can't see how I'd ever beat the game at that level with some of the kings. But it's just to say it is possible to do and wasn't incredibly difficult. I think I did it on my 5th or 6th try, having bailed on a couple runs and getting jaw-droppingly owned by the bosses on the others. But I tweaked my…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →im in love with this game, just buy it man its super fun and deep i have some suggestions for the developers: 1. most important: i'd love to see more games from you but plz dont leave this game yet, it does have a lot of content but still there is a lot that can be added, and a with more polishing will help it a lot, i seriously be leave it can be balatro-level indie game 2.the biggest problem with this game, or lets say missed opportunity is the UI, i really wanna know what stacks with what,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →More of a grindy slog than anything else, feels like it's deliberately designed to chew up a lot of your time, to cover for the fact that once you complete a run, there's truly not much reason to continue playing. For instance, the runs could easily be half as long, and you wouldn't miss out on one bit of content, or the overall experience. There's potential for fun synergies here, but you'll rarely get the buildings you need to fully explore them. Most of the runs rely upon getting synergies…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a very solid game with lot of attention to details. The gameplay is rewarding and exemplary of its genre. There are some very minor flaws in the beginning of the learning curve but the game opens up really quickly and its complexity makes it strategic and addictive at the same time. Positives: - Base building The base building aspect is satisfying, intuitive, and at the same time, simple and creative. Trade-offs are fair and logical. There is substantial depth hidden beneath the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →with a few hours in, I kind of like this game, Imma check back after the 10 hour mark, I keep coming back to this game, so that must be a good thing I guess... on my 25 hour mark I am still enough engaged to try some more difficult combinations. I have yet to find some broken system to be exploited, and the 3 scenarios provide enough variety. On the less positive side, there are way too many unit types and with RNG sometimes you get into impossible "tech tree" path situations. I wish the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The unforgiving difficulty spikes of a roguelike do NOT pair well with a game where runs can easily last multiple hours. When you micromanage (and this game requires a LOT of pausing and micromanaging) a 3+ hour run, only to get curb stomped by the last boss because he has four times the health you were expecting, and all your units that served admirably all game long just melt, and then all your barracks units melt too, and the boss STILL has more than half his health bar, well that's the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →great quality of life. lots of content and really nice in-game modifiers. I highly recommend it Note, while to get your buildings working, you need to have your "king vision" on them, the game is more than beatable whilst keeping the vision in roughly the same spot and only move buildings in and out. I know cuz that's how I play mostly I played this game many months ago, and some stuff was kind of imbalanced like the whippers upgrade for +400% hp made them effective tanks, but surprisingly,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game gets repetitive quickly despite having a lot of replayability. Cannot recommend.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I forgot The King is Watching came out on Console today. Great Game. If people are looking for a very interesting twist on a roguelike, I definitely recommend it. You can check my PC review out too.
unlabelledView post →A good small project with a tabletop vibe in the style of "Cartographers" (or other Economic_Strategy_euro-type). It has a good variety of mechanics, decent balance, adequate meta-leveling, and a set of power-ups based on completed challenges. The game's core idea is to create your own engine through the construction of your castle. Blueprints -> Constructions -> Resources/Units/Buffs --> Cycle I can also note the unique humorous gags. On the downside - a certain monotony in each run…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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