Kingdom Two Crowns

## Game rating

 *****Kingdom Two Crowns***** is the third installment in the *Kingdom* series, promised to be the definitive title.
It was released in 2018 along with Shogun as an alternative setting for the campaign, as a free downloadable content.
A second free DLC, Dead Lands, came out in 2020, and the first premium downloadable content, Norse Lands, was introduced in 2021.

In 2022, when *Kingdom Eighties* was announced, developers made it clear that it's not meant to be a replacement to *Two Crowns*, and that *Two Crowns* is still being worked on with new content planned in parallel with the *Eighties* project.

## Plot evolution

Nothing lasts...until now

This new tagline—firstly used in a pre-release update and then featuring at the title page in *Steam Store*—is about the most relevant content addition to the series: not only the Kingdom can be expanded towards several new lands, but these lands are hence persistent allowing the existence of a campaign mode with beginning, middle, and end.

In fact, although the original title had no campaign (as it only featured one level/land), the "beginning, middle, and end" was present in *Kingdom: Classic*. That title could be completed by surviving the final counterattack wave after destroying all small portals, at which occasion monarchs were greeted with the glorious message **“***The Crown is Safe***”**. This message was kept in *New Lands*, where it would show up each time the Monarch escaped an island by boarding the boat. That feeling of accomplishment though remained dissolved through the six islands and a big finale was missing.

That feeling and the big finale is partially restored in *Kingdom Two Crowns*, where the Monarch can kill the Greed in all islands, making them secured for good. The classic message however has been replaced with a new one: **“***The monarch has secured the kingdom***”**. This message also appears on each island, but only when the Greed there has been exterminated, and not each time the Monarch travels away. The message is then followed by a couple of stats boards showing the numbers related to that island (subjects hired, Greed killed, &c). Unlike the big finale in *Classic*, the campaign is not interrupted: monarchs can keep doing all actions unrelated to the Greed.

As for a storywise summary:

1. *Classic:* monarchs try to survive on the land where they appear.
2. *New Lands:* trying to expand the Kingdom, they end up being forced to flee from each new expansion.
3. *Two Crowns:* monarchs can finally establish their domain over a set of lands.
They are no longer seeking the safety of the Crown as an end in itself.
They can no longer break the covenant with their people; even new heirs can't do it.
They either stay and protect the Kingdom or they'll perish all together.

The persistent islands concept required reworking many of the pre-existing features (the seasons, the overall day count, the power of Greed waves and Blood Moons, the way unlockables were distributed, accessed and kept between islands, &c), and even introducing new mechanics like the decay process of the Kingdom and the cliff portal final assault. A complete list of these features is displayed below.

## New features

**Note:** The list below shows only the features introduced in *Kingdom Two Crowns* base game and its free DLCs. All *Classic* and *New Lands* features that continue to be available in *Two Crowns* are not listed here.

Links in *italic*
 *gray*
(and in gray color on desktop view)
are previously existing concepts that have been overhauled.

Links followed with a small letter **N** are exclusive for the premium DLC Norse Lands.

 Game modes
 User interface

## Removed feature

 Events

## History

*For the full update log, see: Patch notes § Two Crowns.*
*Kingdom Two Crowns* was released on 11 December 2018 for
PC,
*Nintendo Switch*,
*Xbox One*, and
*PlayStation 4* (links go to the respective stores).

The project was originally intended to be an expansion of *Kingdom: New Lands* and had been announced to be released in 2017, but it has grown into a full standalone game and the release date was postponed to 2018.

>
>
>
> | “
>  | ...It won’t be coming out this year like we had originally intended. (...) The vision grew larger than our original scope, to the point that this is no longer just an expansion that adds new content but rather a full-fledged new title.—Raw Fury on Steam news. 30 August 2017.  | „
>
>

...It won’t be coming out this year like we had originally intended. (...) The vision grew larger than our original scope, to the point that this is no longer just an expansion that adds new content but rather a full-fledged new title.Raw Fury on Steam news. 30 August 2017.

## References

1. ↑ Game director Gordon answering a player on *Steam*. 25 May 2022.
2. ↑ Gordon answering a player on *Steam* 10 May 2022.
3. ↑ This is a reference to the original tagline used on *Kingdom: Classic*: **“***Nothing lasts...***”**
4. ↑ It's Time for an Update on Kingdom Two Crowns. 28 May 2018.