9 Kings News

[p]Hey, everyone! Quick fun update for you:
[/p][h2]You can now get a King of Nothing plushie![/h2][p]We just partnered up with Makeship to start making a 9 Kings plushie collection! But we'll only actually make it if you're interested: so click this link to get the one and only King of Nothing.
[/p][p]Get your plushie! [/p][p][/p][p]I got mine last week and it's super cool. Also make sure to let us know which king you want to see next :)[/p][h2]
Massive black Friday discount[/h2][p]Makeship is doing a massive Black Friday discount this week and they asked us to tell you guys! If you wanna get a plushie, the time is now 🙂[/p][p]
[/p][p]
New patch coming in the next few days!
[/p][p]Join us on Discord and Reddit. You can also find the 9 Kings wiki page here for information on the game! [/p][p][/p][p]Love,[/p][p]Sad Socket team[/p]

[p]9 Kings is on sale at 50% off during the Hooded Horse November Publisher Sale. 9 Kings is a fast-paced roguelike kingdom builder. Grow your empire and fight massive battles against powerful rival kings. Break the game with thousands of insane builds to become the King of Kings.
[/p][p] Hooded Horse November Publisher Sale[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]
[dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

Hey everyone,

The 2025 Steam Awards have begun! And if you want to support our journey, we’d love it if you’d consider nominating 9 Kings for Game of the Year.

2025 was great for gaming, and the truth is that just being nominated by you means the world to us. Every single nomination helps spread the word about 9 Kings and introduces new players to the game we’re building together.

We’ve been working really hard this year. And thanks to your feedback across the EA journey, we were already able to introduce:

• New kings
  
• Over 100 cards
  
• Dozens of new perks and decrees
  
• A fresh new game mode
  
• Several important revamps and improvements
  

...as we set ourselves up to make 9 Kings the best game we can. We're only getting started, and this is yet another big milestone for us.

Anyway: here are 9 reasons for you to consider nominating 9 Kings (as seen on real 9 Kings reviews):

Make sure to nominate us before we bug fix that final method.

We'll make it our life goal to spare you from ever touching a “+0.5 fire damage resist against zombies” card.

#Neverforget the Rats.

The point is: we’d love to have your nomination. All you have to do is click the “Nominate” button that’s part of this post to submit.

No matter the result, we are grateful for every single vote, and for your ongoing support. We love you.

Best,
Sad Socket team

[p]It is time for a major addition to 9 Kings: Quest Mode is now here!
[/p][p][/p][p](guess which shape 9 Land is)
[/p][h3]Enter the World Map[/h3][p]Quest mode is a full continent to explore with 81 unique challenges. 9 challenges per kingdom. Unique spin offs on the base game that bring you dozens of hours of fresh gameplay with a hint of world building.

Start as the King of Nothing, roam 9 Land in whichever direction you please, unravel all the 9 Kingdoms, and become the biggest crown collector the world has seen.

ːsteamthisː To unlock quest mode, all you have to do is beat any run in the base game.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]81 unique challenges[/h3][p]Quests were built from the core mechanics of the game and turned into different challenges (and sometimes riddling puzzles). We wanted to explore some of the very fun things you learned were possible in the base game, and take them to the next level.[/p][p]
We don't wanna spoil the fun of discovering all the unique challenges. But here are 9 spoilers:[/p]

1. [p]A challenge where your only enemy is the Jack of Rainbows.[/p]
2. [p]A challenge where you'll hunt for Boars (and only get Boar cards).[/p]
3. [p]A challenge where you start with dozens of Tomes.[/p]
4. [p]A challenge where you have to become a Slime rancher.[/p]
5. [p]A challenge where you have to clean up the trashy plots of your kingdom.[/p]
6. [p]A challenge where you have to build a kingdom in a land filled with Forests.[/p]
7. [p]A challenge where you have merchant encounters instead of loot every year.[/p]
8. [p]A challenge where you have to Migrate towards a blessing that could save your run.[/p]
9. [p]A challenge where you have ONE year to beat the final boss.[/p]

[p][/p][p]"Deforestation" quest.[/p][p][/p][h3]A hint of world building[/h3][p]Part of the fun of 9 Kings is how straightforward it is. We like it this way. But quest mode gives us the opportunity to dive a lil bit more into the personality and lore of each king. Each quest is inspired by scenarios we would imagine happening in these kingdoms, and each advisor carries the traits of the king they are vassals to. King of Greed's advisor is the asshole you think he'd be. King of Nomads' aide speaks only in Haikus. And so on.[/p][p][/p][p]Progress Bad >:( - King of Nature Advisor
[/p][h3]Collect all crowns[/h3][p]To unlock quest mode, all you have to do is beat the base game once. After that, the whole world will open up for you. We highly recommend mastering the base game before jumping on board, though. There are also 4 new achievements to discover. We wanted them to be fun, and not incredibly grindy. Hope you like it![/p][p]
"Salvation Day" quest.
[/p][h3]Patch summary:[/h3]

• [p]9 King of Nothing quests[/p]
• [p]9 King of Spells quests[/p]
• [p]9 King of Greed quests[/p]
• [p]9 King of Blood quests[/p]
• [p]9 King of Nature quests[/p]
• [p]9 King of Stone quests[/p]
• [p]9 King of Nomads quests[/p]
• [p]9 King of Progress quests[/p]
• [p]9 King of Time quests[/p]
• [p]4 new achievements[/p]
• [p]QoL features & balancing improvements[/p]
• [p]Steamdeck full compatibility![/p]

[p][/p][h3]QoL & Other Improvements:[/h3][p]Here are other meaningful improvements of this patch: [/p]

• [p]Steamdeck: graphics/resolution were adjusted so the game is 100% compatible![/p]
• [p]Forest now properly works with Demon's Altar and Cemetery.[/p]
• [p]Shields now works with Demon's Altar and Cemetery.[/p]
• [p]Nostalgia blessing is now properly part of the Blessing pool.[/p]
• [p]Holy perk now properly synergizes with all new blessings.[/p]
• [p]Boar HP was buffed.[/p]
• [p]Golem stats were adjusted to make it more of a tanker.[/p]
• [p]Hotkey: you can now press C to automatically open the Compendium screen.[/p]
• [p]Hotkey: you can now press R to Quick Restart.[/p]
• [p]Hotkey: Friendly reminder that 1, 2, 3 already change the game speed, P pauses the game and Q turns auto attack on and off.[/p]
• [p]If you start a run without equipping perks, you will get a warning[/p]
• [p]The perk unlock screen now shows you what the unlocked perk does.[/p]
• [p]Nomad's Champion now properly attack your troops.[/p]
• [p]Enemy exploder now properly shows damage taken.[/p]
• [p]Gacha + Concabulator bugs were fixed.[/p]
• [p]Gacha + Shrine bugs were fixed.[/p]
• [p]Gacha soft lock when used as the last card in year 33 was fixed.[/p]
• [p]Added an extra check to trigger King of Kings achievement: if you beat any difficulty above King, it will trigger as well.[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Updates (November 25th)[/h3][p]We're also working on constant balancing tweaks based on your feedback! We didn't think a new post was necessary, but here are the latest tweaks we posted as of November 25th! [/p][p][/p][p]November 25th:[/p]

• [p]2x and 3x speed now make the game 30% faster![/p]
• [p]Combustion now works properly again.[/p]
• [p]Arboretum quest: your Treant now starts with a damage boost.[/p]
• [p]Goats quest: enemies start off a bit stronger.[/p]
• [p]Oddity no longer gives you other kings' base cards.[/p]
• [p]Oddity no longer gives you two cards in shop years.[/p]
• [p]Enemy archers no longer get a range boost with the Nothing's Archer perk (ops)[/p]
• [p]Sharp Blades now properly works with Paladin's HP bonus.[/p]
• [p]Drone sound is no longer played when the game is muted.[/p]
• [p]Fixed cloud animation glitch in the world map. [/p]
• [p]Intro video is now playing properly on Steamdeck[/p]

[p][/p][p] November 24th:[/p]

• [p]You now start Quest Mode with 3 unlocked quests, giving you more options to start your journey.[/p]
• [p]Fugitive quest: you now start with more gold and we slowed down enemy scaling.[/p]
• [p]Infertility quest: you now start with two extra Converter cards.[/p]
• [p]Salvation day quest: you now start with one fewer Migration & Razing cards.[/p]
• [p]Furnaces quest: mildly slowed down enemy scaling.[/p]
• [p]All Revolt quests: mildly slowed down enemy scaling.[/p]
• [p]Futurists quest: enemies now scale faster.[/p]
• [p]Break even quest: enemies now scale slower. [/p]
• [p]Goats quest: you now start with less gold.[/p]
• [p]Colorfoe quest: mildly slowed down enemy scaling.[/p]
• [p]Deforestation quest: mildly slowed down enemy scaling.[/p]
• [p]Stalemate now takes longer to be triggered.[/p]
• [p]The Ridge quest: decrees are now working properly.[/p]
• [p]Necropolis quest: it will now only spawn enemies you're actually fighting against.[/p]
• [p]Oddity description and art were adjusted.[/p]
• [p]Expansion events when all plots are unlocked now work properly.[/p]
• [p]Improved cloud animation on the world map.[/p]
• [p]9 Kings build is now lighter than ever :)[/p]

[p][/p][p]After downloading the patch, please start a new run, as your previous run won’t have the updates stored and they may cause conflicts. If you experience any issues, please email us at [email protected].[/p][p][/p][h3]What's next?[/h3][p]You can expect a follow-up patch addressing your feedback very soon. Not to mention the new content that's already in the oven. Our next goals are an Endless Mode patch (that will address performance & gameplay issues during Endless mode) and our ultimate game mode that might change everything. Let's call it Ranked mode for now.[/p][p][/p][h3]Steam Reviews: Your Feedback Matters[/h3][p]We've been reading through all your Steam reviews, and we appreciate the feedback we've been receiving. It's really important to us! Please continue sharing your thoughts, so we can know to focus on for each upcoming patch and make 9 Kings the best game it can be.
[/p][h3]Bonus: KING OF NOTHING PLUSHIE!!![/h3][p]We just partnered up with Makeship to start making a 9 Kings plushie collection! But we'll only actually make it if you're interested: so click this link to get the one and only King of Nothing. I got mine last week and it's super cool. Also make sure to let us know which king you want to see next :)

Get your plushie!
[/p][p]Please join us on Discord and Reddit. You can also find the 9 Kings wiki page here for information on the game! Love, Sad Socket team

Love,
Sad Socket team[/p]

[p]Today, we're bringing you a lot of new content and improvements to 9 Kings![/p][p][/p][p]With this patch, we're setting the terrain for the new game mode that is coming later this month. But more than that: we're adding a lot of new content that will hopefully improve your gameplay (a lot). We're super excited about these updates![/p][p][/p][p]Here are the highlights:[/p]

1. [p]New rainbow content (cards, perks, decrees!)[/p]
2. [p]Blessing revamp[/p]
3. [p]King of Spells revamp[/p]
4. [p]Improved calendar events[/p]
5. [p]Balancing & Other minor revamps[/p]
6. [p]Bug fixes[/p][p][/p]

[h3]1. Rainbow content:[/h3][p]A lot of new gamebreaking stuff here. We hope you have some fun with it! [/p][p][/p][p]Decrees:[/p]

• [p]Diversification: You can now pick between 6 loot cards but the loot comes from all enemy kings.[/p]
• [p]Oddity: Gets a completely random card every odd odd year.[/p]
• [p]Multiculturalism: Triggers a Royal Council with decrees from other kings.[/p]

[p]Cards:[/p]

• [p]Gacha (Building): When it gets to level 3, triggers a Rainbow loot event.[/p]
• [p]Golem (Troop): Massive tanker. Any Tome used on it has double effect.[/p]
• [p]Osmosis (Tome): All plots of the same card as target plot get +10% to all stats.[/p]

[p]Perks:[/p]

• [p]Moderate: All your Universal perks are now level 2. No more, no less.[/p]
• [p]Seasoned: Grants you extra XP.[/p]
• [p]Lunatic: If this is your only perk, you'll start the run fighting against the Jack of Rainbows![/p]

[p][/p][p]The Rainbow Army leader is now called the Jack of Rainbows (more on this soon).[/p][p][/p][h3]2. Blessing revamp:[/h3][p]We want to make blessings more useful and fun in a wider range of situations. So we're improving the effect ratio of all blessings and adding some new ones we think will be pretty fun.
[/p][p]New blessings:[/p]

• [p]Hegemony: clones the target plots' cards to your hand.[/p]
• [p]Feudalism: if the target plots are empty in the year of the blessing, gets +1 card from your deck.[/p]
• [p]Nostalgia: all target plots are Regressed by one level.[/p]

[p]Reworks:[/p]

• [p]Prophet event now happens earlier so you have more room to plan.[/p]
• [p]Prosperity is now triggered if you have under 30 gold instead of 20.[/p]
• [p]Baby Boom now affects 2 plots.[/p]
• [p]Zenith now affects 2 plots.[/p]
• [p]Peacetime now affects 2 plots.[/p]
• [p]Tutorial run no longer has a blessing event.[/p]

[p][/p][h3]3. King of Spells revamp:[/h3][p]Same as like what we did with the King of Nothing, we wanted to give some more love to the King of Spells troops! [/p]

• [p]Wizard now gets a damage buff whenever it gets an Enchantment[/p]
• [p]Warlock now gets an HP buff whenever a Tome is used in your kingdom.[/p]
• [p]Athanaeum: a new decree that will give you 9 random Enchantments, allowing you explore more strategies around that type of card.[/p]
• [p]Static was reworked, simplified, and heavily improved. It will now deal a flat 9 damage and each stack will make its effect chain +1 time. This update should make the card more powerful and viable in the early years of a run. It's important to keep in mind this Enchantment was designed to combo with attack speed builds (much like Cauldron, that also has flat damage, it can be very powerful when used right). This rework also makes the card's effect clearer to players (before, there was a damage dilution going on in the backend that was simply impossible to properly explain in-game - and if we're being honest, was not very fun).[/p]
• [p]Enchantment descriptions were updated to improve clarity.[/p]
• [p]Thunders now look cooler.[/p]

[p][/p][h3]4. Calendar improvements:[/h3][p]This improvement is long due. The current order of events in the game has been around since the demo. And we believe some little tweaks can go a long way to make player's choices more intentional and the gameplay more consistent.[/p]

• [p]Earlier blessing event: the prophet will now appear in year 3, giving you the proper room to plan if you want to pursue a blessing. This tweak, alongside the new & revamped blessings should make the mechanic more interesting and viable.[/p]
• [p]Consistent Merchants: merchant events are now properly distributed across a run, every 12 years. The first one will appear earlier (year 7), providing you with another option for that extra boost needed in the early years. If you ask us why the hell in the previous iteration there was a gap of 15 years with no merchants only to have two merchants in a row in the end of a run, I wouldn't have a great reason to give you. We're much happier with this tweak and the run feels much more dynamic and well balanced now.[/p]
• [p]Clearly distributed decrees: decree years remain practically unchanged. But they are now appearing precisely every 8 years, starting on year 5. This changes very little, but if you should know: the second decree will show up one year earlier, while the first will show up one year later. You could wonder if moving the first decree to year 5 could affect high-difficulty runs, and what we learned is that it doesn't - especially after early year buffering update. If anything, it makes a couple of instant effect decrees slightly more viable as a first decree.[/p]
• [p]Two rainbow events: that's right. That's double the fun![/p]

[p][/p][h3]5. Balancing & Revamps: [/h3]

• [p]BONUS: Gardening Decree (Nature): Forests now give +1% HP. [/p]
• [p]BONUS: Futurism Decree (Progress): All Progress troops have no max level.[/p]
• [p]REVAMP: Exploration decree (Universal): you can now pick which plots you want to unlock.[/p]
• [p]All troops gained a 10% to 20% HP buff.[/p]
• [p]Demon's Altar now gets buffs when you destroy troop plots with destruction cards.[/p]
• [p]Bomber base damage was heavily increased.[/p]
• [p]Imp base stats were increased.[/p]
• [p]Trapper base damage was increased.[/p]
• [p]Lab Rat base stats were increased while mildly decreasing upgrade %, for a more balanced and stronger early game.[/p]
• [p]Dragon's Den base damage was increased.[/p]
• [p]Elf base attack speed was mildly increased.[/p]
• [p]All tower buffing decrees now properly work with Stronghold.[/p]
• [p]Increased enemy Mercenary and Thief costs, meaning 10% fewer will appear in battle.[/p]
• [p]Forest now works with Demon's Altar and Cemetery.[/p][p][/p]

[h3]6. Bug fixes[/h3]

• [p]Fixed a rare bug that caused two armies to fight you at once when you re-rolled a king.[/p]
• [p]Swords buff numbers were corrected when used on Demon's Altar.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a Compendium bug that was causing the different decks to not be displayed properly.[/p]
• [p]Compendium screen will now always open on the deck you're currently playing with.[/p]
• [p]VSync options are now saved properly between sessions.[/p]
• [p]Fixed localization typos[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Coming next ːsteamthisː[/h3][p]Our brand new QUEST MODE is coming later this month. We can't wait to share it with you :)[/p][p][/p][p]As always, after downloading the patch, please start a new run, as your previous run won’t have the updates stored and they may cause conflicts. If you experience any issues, please email us at [email protected].[/p][p][/p][h3]Steam Reviews: Your Feedback Matters[/h3][p]We've been reading through all your Steam reviews, and we appreciate the feedback we've been receiving. We'd love to continue seeing more of your thoughts! It helps us know what to focus on for each upcoming patch. [/p][p][/p][p]Please join us on Discord and Reddit. You can also find the 9 Kings wiki page here for information on the game! Love, Sad Socket team Love, Sad Socket team[/p]