Controls

The *Kingdom* games are notable for their minimalist gameplay that has a handful of controls.

Starting a new game the Monarch will be guided by a sparkling trail in *Kingdom: Classic* and by the Ghost in *New Lands* and *Two Crowns* through a simple tutorial in which the basic controls will be taught. This tutorial is adapted to each platform and its controls.

## Game controls

The following control scheme concerns:

* *Kingdom: Classic* on PC
* *New Lands* and *Two Crowns* on PC, mobile, Switch, Xbox and PS4.

* PC (keyboard)
* Mobile
* N. Switch
* Xbox
* PS4

 Hold `⇧ L-Shift`, or double tap it
 Mount special

 Move right
 Sprint
 Unseat hermit
 Mount special
 Monarch special

 Move right
 Sprint
 Mount special
 Buttons diagram

 Move right
 Sprint
 Mount special
 Monarch special
 Buttons diagram

 Move right
 Sprint
 Mount special

Some mobile versions of *New Lands* feature touch controls with a virtual game pad. Other devices will accept physical extra controllers as seen in this case.

## Character customization

Players choose their monarch's appearance when first starting the game. By pressing the `S` or `↓` button (or by tapping the screen in the mobile version) during the loading screen, sex, skin colour, and the colour of the cape or dress will be randomised, letting the player decide on their preference. Once selected, players cannot change their character unless they start a new game.

**PC** & **console** – The pause screen allows the player to alter the banner manually. For details, see Coat of arms.

 *Two Crowns* co-op – By default you can't customize the appearance of the second player. In order to be able to do this you must first enter a game then activate second player and then choose the restart option from the main menu, this will show the second player during the loading screen and allowing customization for both players.

 Dead Lands – It's not possible to customize the appearance of Miriam, the starter Monarch. This cosmetic customization has been replaced with the possibility of changing Monarchs.

## Difficulty mode

*This section is about Kingdom Two Crowns.*

When starting a new campaign, players have the opportunity to select between five different difficulty levels:

* Peaceful
* Easy
* Normal
* Hard
* Cursed.

To cicle between them, players should:

* press `W` or `↑` on PC
* tap on the top of the screen on mobile.

The default difficulty mode (if the players do not change it) is Normal.
Once a campaign has been created, its difficulty cannot be changed.

All game mechanics remain the same between the different modes.
Only the spawn rate of enemies on waves are adjusted accordingly.

When starting a campaign on Peaceful mode, three important tips are displayed within a confimation box:

The difficulty level of the current campaign can be seen on the bottom left corner of the main menu.
And the difficulty level of all saved campaigns are shown on their respective save slots.

This feature was added on May 2022, with patch 1.1.16.
Campaigns started before the update were assigned to a difficulty level equivalent to the current Normal mode.

## Traveling

 *Kingdom: New Lands* – Once on board:

2. use `← left` and `→ right` to choose the wanted island(or directly click with the mouse to select the wanted land)
3. when the big arrow is over the wanted island, press `↓ down`, or click the “Continue” button to confirm

 *Kingdom Two Crowns* – Once on board:

1. press `← left`, or `→ right`, or `↓ down` to open the map
2. use the `← left` and `→ right` keys, or the  and  buttons, to choose the wanted island
3. when the chart of the wanted island appears, press `↓ down`, or `↵ ENTER`, or click the  button to confirm

As long as the player doesn't skip it, the boat travel scene appears to be indefinite. At some point even the music will end, leaving just the sounds of the sea.

## Challenge Islands

*This section is about Kingdom Two Crowns.*

To access one of the challenges:

1. Press `Esc` to open the menu
2. Click "*Challenge Islands*"
3. Select the game mode by clicking:
 the single pawn tab for single player
 the double pawn tab for cooperative
4. Select the challenge by clicking:
	* the crowned skull for the Skull Island
	* the greed-citizen for the Plague Island
	* the wolf teeth for the Dire Island
	* the direction road signs for Trade Routes
	* the golden compass for Lost Islands.
5. On the briefing menu of the challenge, press:
	* "New Game" to play that challenge for the first time
	* "Play" to continue an already started run
	* "Restart" to start that challenge again
	* "Back" to choose a different challenge.

## Cancel order

Trees cannot be unmarked and walls cannot be removed.
Once the Monarch gives an order, it cannot be cancelled.
There is no cancel command, cancel task, cancel job, cancel work, or cancel build.
For further details, see: Cancel.

Players can however exploit the autosave as if it was a "check point".

## Beta

When there is public test beta branch available, this is how to access it:

1. Open your *Steam* library
2. Right click the name of the *Kingdom* game
3. On the context menu, select “Properties…”
4. Go to the “BETAS” tab
5. On the drop down menu, select the option that has the beta name 【  】“None” means that you'll play on the last regular version.
When there's no public beta, this is the only option you'll see.

6. Restart *Steam*
7. Start the game.

In order to experience all the balance changes you will need to start a new campaign.

### Classic legacy

 *Kingdom: Classic* – The method above can be used to play *Kingdom* on its legacy version 1.1.0.
For that, more specifically you should:

1. Right-click *Kingdom: Classic* on the library
2. Select “v1.1.0 - Legacy version” in the dropdown list of the “BETAS” tab.

To go back to the last build (v1.2.0), repeat the steps, and select “None” from the same drop down list on the “BETAS” tab. All saves will remain for the previous version (v1.1.0) and for the final version (v1.2.0). No code is required to switch between these versions.

## Alt-tab without pausing

*This section is about Kingdom: New Lands on Windows.*
If the player alt-tab to a different application, minimizes the game window, or click on any thing outside the game environment (for example, while using a second monitor), the game will stop running.
The game creator Noio explains this behavior:

>
>
>
> | “
>  | It's simply a choice we made. The game pauses in the background to prevent the player from accidentally changing window and losing the game. I could easily change it but I'm not sure how many people rely on the current behaviour.—Noio on *Reddit*, 7 September 2016.  | „
>
>

It's simply a choice we made. The game pauses in the background to prevent the player from accidentally changing window and losing the game. I could easily change it but I'm not sure how many people rely on the current behaviour.Noio on *Reddit*, 7 September 2016.
Waiting for the boat to reach the dock can take several in-game days and this generally happens when Monarchs have done every task they had to do on that island. In moments like these, even if players spend some time appreciating the music and the pixel-art, they may end-up considering being away from keyboard (AFK) a suitable method to deal with the lack of in-game tasks.

On all platforms, players are limited to stop playing while letting the game open. On Windows though players can alt-tab to other applications without pausing the game. Follow the steps below to keep the game running even when it's unfocused:

1. Have the game on windowed mode rather than full screen 【  】
	1. Press `Esc`
	2. Click "Options"
	3. Uncheck "Full Screen"

2. Click the game's icon in the Windows taskbar
*(if the music keeps playing, you know that the in-game time is passing)*

You can now alt-tab from the game—and to whatever application you want—during the boat pushing or while going for the Day C achievement without pausing the game.

## Steam controler for single player

*This section is about Kingdom Two Crowns.*
    ×
The Steam controller shouldn't cause any trouble in *Classic* or *New Lands*.
In *Two Crowns* however, it is set by default to give access to a second player, and will pop up a message requiring a confirmation for the split-screen.
If the player wants to play solo with a Steam controller, this default behavior might be a bit frustrating.
But there is a way to use Steam configurations to change that. Follow the steps below:

1. On your Steam Library
2. Right-click on the game “*Kingdom Two Crowns*”
3. Click on “Properties”
4. Down on the “general” tab,
On the box under “Steam Input Per-Game Setting”
5. Select the option “Forced On”
6. Restart the game.

## Sticky keys on Windows

Sticky keys is a feature in Windows that can help users with physical impairments.
By default, it can be turned on by pressing `Shift` five times in a row.
But this shortcut can be easily triggered by mistake by users who do not need the sticky keys, especially while playing games with the keyboard.
Here's how to turn off Windows 10's sticky keys feature for good, and disable that shortcut:

1. Press the ⊞ Windows logo on your keyboard
2. Search for "Ease of Access"
3. Select "Ease of Access keyboard settings"
4. Toggle the switch under "Sticky Keys" to "Off"
5. Turn off also the shortcut.

## Ultrawide

*This section is about Kingdom Two Crowns.*

The original file of this image, shared by developer Alan on *Reddit*, is a single screenshot taken on 6880x1440 resolution (equivalent to 2 UWQHD).

Since version 1.1.13, the game can be played on ultrawide monitors, or on two or more monitors placed side-by-side, without displaying vertical black bars.

## Multiplayer

*For instructions on how to access local co-op (split screen) and online co-op (full screen), see: Co-op.*
## Options

The game options *(image at the right)* are self-explanatory, with the exception of blazon setting, explained here.

The player is able to choose zoom, sound and music levels.

The language options are English, Finnish, French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Chinese, and Danish.

## Exporting save files

* In *Two Crowns* version 1.1.15, developers "added a keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+F12 on Windows/Linux, Cmd+F12 on Mac) that immediately exports your save file and logs to a zipped file on your desktop. This should prove helpful if you ever need to report an issue to our support portal."