Kings and Heroes
Kings and Heroes is a first-person action RPG built around repeatable, procedurally generated dungeon runs that can be tackled solo or with groups of up to eight players. Adventurers begin in the hub town of Everdale, then head out to test their builds in increasingly dangerous instanced dives and open-world regions.
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Publisher: Industry Games Playerbase: Shut Down Type: Action RPG Release Date: May 31, 2016 Pros: +A steady supply of procedural dungeons with multiple difficulty tiers. +Deep loot hunting supported by crafting and trade skills. +Immersive first-person dungeon crawling that feels tense up close. Cons: -Unpolished, with frequent bugs. -Network latency could disrupt runs. -Very saturated, overly vivid color palette. |
Kings and Heroes Overview
Kings and Heroes is a first-person action RPG developed and published by Industry Games. You start by creating a character from 6 playable races and 5 distinct classes, then step into Everdale, a central town that works as the game’s social and logistical hub. From there, the core loop is clear, queue up for dungeon runs, push deeper into procedurally generated layouts, and bring back whatever you can carry before things go wrong.
The dungeon-crawling is the main draw, with endless randomized dungeons offered at varying difficulty levels. Runs are high-stakes because death inside a dungeon means losing everything you picked up during that attempt, which turns even routine fights into tense decisions about whether to retreat, regroup, or gamble on one more room. Dungeons can be completed alone, but the game supports co-op parties of up to 8 players for tougher challenges and boss encounters.
Combat and progression revolve around gearing up. Enemies drop equipment that you can claim for yourself, and the loot chase feeds into a broader crafting and trade-skill system. Players can also customize the look of their gear by dyeing armor and weapons in different colors, helping characters stand out even when chasing similar item tiers. Beyond instanced dungeons, the game features a wider world with varied regions, including swamps, lava-heavy zones, shadowy crypts, and dense forests, plus PvP options, skill and stat growth, and even a level editor for additional experimentation.
Kings and Heroes Key Features:
- Classic dungeon diving at its core – the game’s centerpiece is an effectively unlimited supply of procedurally generated dungeons designed to be harsh, replayable, and rewarding.
- Loot and crafting depth – defeating foes feeds a large gear pool, and crafting lets you turn materials and drops into stronger weapons and armor.
- Flexible character creation – choose from 6 races and 5 classes, then refine your look with additional customization options for a more personal avatar.
- Co-op focused options – run content alone or party up with as many as 8 players, which is especially useful for higher difficulties and bosses.
- First-person perspective – the viewpoint keeps encounters close and personal, emphasizing the pressure of navigating tight corridors with enemies closing in.
Kings and Heroes Screenshots
Kings and Heroes Featured Video
Kings and Heroes Review
Kings and Heroes aimed to blend an old-school loot hunt with the immediacy of first-person action, and at its best it delivered a uniquely tense style of dungeon crawling. The game’s defining strength is the run-based structure, you enter a dungeon, fight through unpredictable layouts, and try to extract with valuable drops before a mistake wipes the haul. That risk-reward rhythm gives the game a memorable identity, especially when played with a coordinated group that can manage pulls, cover revives, and decide when to cut losses.
The first-person presentation changes the feel of the genre in a meaningful way. Instead of watching a character from above, you are right in the middle of the chaos, which makes narrow hallways and sudden ambushes more stressful than they would be in a traditional ARPG camera. It is also a perspective that highlights both strengths and weaknesses, when animations, hit feedback, or responsiveness feel off, you notice immediately because everything happens at arm’s length.
Character building starts with the game’s 6 races and 5 classes, then continues through gear, skills, and stat progression. The loot loop is the primary motivator, with enemies acting as the main source of equipment upgrades. Crafting and trade skills add an additional layer for players who enjoy turning raw materials into incremental power, and the dye system is a small but welcome cosmetic feature that helps equipment feel less generic as you climb difficulties.
Where Kings and Heroes struggled was reliability. Bugs were a recurring problem, and in a game where a single death can erase a run’s rewards, technical issues carry extra weight. Latency problems were also reported, which can undermine combat timing and make co-op feel inconsistent. Visually, the bright, highly saturated color choices gave the world a distinctive look, but the palette could come across as too intense, particularly in areas where players might expect a darker, moodier dungeon aesthetic.
For players who enjoy high-stakes dungeon runs, co-op dungeon crawling, and the satisfaction of extracting with hard-earned loot, Kings and Heroes had an appealing foundation. However, its rough edges and technical instability made it difficult to recommend broadly, and with the game now shut down it remains more of an interesting genre experiment than a currently viable destination.
Kings and Heroes Links
Kings and Heroes Official Site
Kings and Heroes Steam Page
Kings and Heroes Facebook Page
Kings and Heroes Subreddit
Kings and Heroes System Requirements
Minimum Requirements (Windows):
Operating System: 64-Bit Windows 7 Service Pack 1, or Windows 8
CPU: 2 GHz Dual-Core 64-bit CPU
RAM: 6 GB RAM
Video Card: Nvidia GTX 660 with 2 GB Video RAM
Hard Disk Space: 15 GB available space
Recommended Requirements (Windows):
Operating System: Windows 10
CPU: 2.5 GHz Quad-Core 64-bit CPU
RAM: 8 GB RAM
Video Card: Nvidia GTX 770 with 2+ GB Video RAM
Hard Disk Space: 15 GB available space
A Mac version is currently in development.
Kings and Heroes Music & Soundtrack
Coming Soon!
Kings and Heroes Additional Information
Developer(s): Industry Games
Publisher(s): Industry Games
Game Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Platform(s): PC, Xbox One, PS4
Early Access Release Date: May 31, 2016
Release Date: Q3 2016
Shut Down: June 30, 2019
Development History / Background:
Kings and Heroes was an action RPG created by the Phoenix-based studio Industry Games, which handled both development and publishing. Drawing inspiration from Diablo-style loot progression, the project began development in late 2014 and later launched into Steam Early Access in May 2016 through Valve’s platform. A full release was expected in Q3 2016. Ultimately, the game’s servers were shut down on June 30, 2019.