Kingmakers Beginner Guide: How to Get Started in Early Access (2026)

I dropped into medieval England with an assault rifle and still got my ass kicked in the first 20 minutes. That's Kingmakers for you.

The game throws you into these massive battles with literally thousands of soldiers on screen, and it doesn't hold your hand. You've got modern firepower sure, but the medieval army you're facing has numbers, cavalry charges, and officers who actually know how to rally their troops. It's chaos. Good chaos, but chaos.

I've put about 40 hours into the Early Access build (launched October 8, 2025 on Steam and Epic), and here's what I wish someone had told me before I started.

First thing: learn to switch modes without thinking about it

Kingmakers has two completely different control schemes and you're expected to use both. In third-person mode you're running around shooting knights with a shotgun like it's a regular shooter. In top-down RTS mode you're commanding six different unit types, positioning archers on hills, and telling cavalry when to flank.

The default key to switch is Tab. I rebound mine to a mouse button because fumbling for Tab mid-battle got me killed more times than I can count.

Spend your first hour just getting comfortable with the switch. Run a few skirmish battles against the AI. Doesn't matter if you lose. What matters is that your fingers know where to go when you hear a cavalry horn and need to reposition your spearmen right now.

Your starting units aren't great but that's okay

When you first unlock the command tent you get access to Swordsmen and Archers. That's it. And honestly, these two unit types can carry you through the first several missions if you use them right.

Swordsmen are your front line. They're not flashy but they hold. Put them in shield wall formation when cavalry is incoming and they'll stop a charge cold. I didn't know about shield wall for my first three hours and just kept losing units to cavalry. Don't be me.

Archers behind your swordsmen, elevated if possible. The elevation bonus is real in this game. Archers on a hill do noticeably more damage than archers on flat ground. The game doesn't tell you this anywhere. I only figured it out when I noticed my archers melting enemy units from a ridge they happened to be on.

Don't sleep on the base upgrades

Between missions you're in your camp, and there's a blacksmith, stables, and fortifications you can build up. I ignored the blacksmith for way too long. Upgraded weapons for your units make a huge difference. A tier-2 sword on a Swordsman unit versus a tier-1 is the difference between them routing at 50% casualties versus holding the line.

The stables unlock Cavalry which changes everything. Cavalry in Kingmakers isn't some cosmetic unit. A timed cavalry charge against enemy archers will delete them. But the timing matters. Charge too early, the enemy infantry intercepts. Charge too late, your frontline is already gone.

Fortification upgrades are boring but they're how you survive defensive missions. Reinforced walls, arrow towers, boiling oil. Standard castle defense stuff but it works.

Modern weapons: the assault rifle isn't always the answer

You start with an assault rifle and a pistol. Feels powerful. Against unarmored peasants, it is. Against plate-armored knights, you're going to burn through ammo fast.

The shotgun is the real medieval-killer. At close range it ignores armor and sends knights flying. Problem is ammo. Shotgun shells are rare in the early game. I save my shotgun for enemy officers specifically.

The grenade launcher you unlock later is absurd against dense formations. One well-placed grenade into a cluster of Men-at-Arms can break an entire push. But I've also killed my own units with splash damage so. Be careful with that thing.

Co-op changes everything

Kingmakers supports up to 4-player online co-op and it fundamentally changes how battles work. With two players you can split responsibilities: one person handles the RTS layer while the other plays the third-person shooter role. Or you can both bring your own armies and coordinate attacks from different angles.

I played through the first five missions solo and then replayed them with a friend. Night and day experience. Having someone else handle cavalry micro while you focus on the infantry clash is. It just works better.

The morale system: this is the real key

Every enemy formation has an officer. When that officer goes down, that formation's morale tanks and they start retreating. You can see the officer because they have a banner and usually better armor.

Kill the officer first. Always. It doesn't matter if you have to burn shotgun shells or risk your position. A formation without an officer is a formation that runs away.

And when you capture an officer? You get a choice: ransom them for resources or execute them to permanently remove them from the enemy's roster. Early game I'd say ransom. Those resources help you upgrade faster. Late game, executing key officers makes future missions easier.

Couple more things I learned the hard way: don't group all your units into one blob. The AI will flank you and unit pathfinding gets weird when they're all stacked. Spread your formation. Keep archers behind swordsmen, cavalry on the wings, and yourself somewhere you can see the whole battlefield.

This isn't Pathfinder: Kingmaker by the way. Different game entirely. Kingmakers is the time-travel shooter from Redemption Road Games published by tinyBuild. Just clearing that up because I've seen people mix them up in forums.

Early Access means the game's still evolving. But the core loop, massive battles with guns versus swords, is already there and it works. Get your unit positioning down, learn the mode switch, and go murder some medieval officers with a shotgun.