Super Fantasy Kingdom

This game exposes a small flaw in the Steam review system in that I really like the game, but struggle to recommend it to anyone but the right person. I don't generally recommend it, but it scratches a certain itch.
Other reviews are not wrong about glacial incremental progress. The dev has asked in a comment on a negative review what's grindy exactly and I'd like to directly address them while keeping this a review: you are numerically and strictly gated on progress. While this game absolutely has skill involved, a large, large portion of it involves you not being able to progress past a certain point. Worse, most major progression is built around how far you get. The thing is, this game isn't some more story-heavy roguelite where winning on the first run would skip a bunch of scripted story. It's a game where player progression is gated around it.
The central progression mechanic in this game is "glory". Glory is directly how many enemies you kill. Glory is score, but also doubles as building new "roads". The thing is: roads are how you find new heroes, new meta-progression quests, new abilities to purchase upgrades for future runs, and, most importantly, new building slots.
That last one is the thing that feels grindy, and the reason you're mathematically unable to win early on. You start off with only a couple building slots, which means you can't make full production chains, which gates your progression. Both factions have two complex progression paths - food and some sort of upgrade material; there's also a few standalone advanced buildings like the siege weapon facilities. The problem is early midgame one of these ends up being a trap because the production chain, while it snowballs your heroes, takes up too many slots and leaves you too far behind on everything else.
This leads to a weird scenario where the game almost becomes a puzzle game more than an RTS: at this level of strength, what's the one way I can eke out the most progression? This isn't bad, but it is grindy in the sense that you have to do a full run knowing you have basically one (maybe one and a half) limited choice in your base setup. Once you have a lot of building slots, it opens up more, but at the cost that the glory goals become more stringent and you have to do a lot to manipulate the number of enemies you get through various means. I think this is where the game shines, and it's a shame it takes probably 6-7 hours on a single faction to get there. The rate you unlock building slots should probably speed up.
Other than that, this game does have some interesting micro-decisions! Do I prioritize a little food so my heroes level faster? I'm struggling, do I shore up my economy to try and rush progression, or do I upgrade this hero right now knowing that'll take a couple days of resource investment? Do I go for glory, or some upgrades that increase the drop rate of another meta-progression currency? The quests are something I've largely ignored but are also interesting. A lot of them ask you to basically ruin your run and basically try to survive with a jank build just long enough to meet the criteria. Once you have the building slots (and passive early game income from some unlocks), it's fun to try and go for some of them.
I think if I could ask the developer to do anything, it'd be to add alternative means of base expansion - perhaps the ability to temporarily build roads with a production resource, but glory permanently unlocks them from the start? I don't think the game needs to be balanced to let you win on the first run, but I think it does need to give the player a sense of agency and the feeling that they're not losing because they're hard capped.
Overall, this game is pretty good, but also I think appeals to a highly specific type of person. This is a game that has the progression rate of an idle game but requires active attention at all times. In a way, this game reminds me of a pay-to-progress mobile game, but without the cash shop.

Let's be clear this game's progression moves at the speed of a tectonic plate. You don't "level up" so much as you "incrementally ooze" toward the next stat point. It's 3 AM. My eyes feel like two dry grapes. But my brain, that traitorous lump of dopamine-starved jelly, is chanting: "One More Run" because every tiny, incremental win feels amazing.
But here’s the real kicker. I was 17 hours in. I had my builds figured out. I was a seasoned, hardened veteran of the grind. I leaned back, satisfied, thinking, "I've finally beaten it."And that's when I clicked a menu icon I'd somehow ignored. It wasn't a new skill tree. It wasn't a challenge mode. It was an entire, new separate campaign.

This is not a city builder! It's a tower defence game with resource management. It has an interesting angle on the genre and a motivating progression. But if you want a rogue-lite settlement builder go play Against the Storm which is a masterpiece in that area.

This game is as good as it was during the demo. Albeit a LONG wait between demo and now, it was worth it. Priced right, easy to play...can't wait until after work so that I can play more. A very chillaxing game, with minor strategy that won't break your brain...but still challenge you. If you're looking for that game you always feel progression, this is it.

I won't give a negative review simply because there is a lot of heart and soul put into this game and I don't believe it deserves a negative review. And many people clearly like it. That being said, the game is not for me. Because of having to repeat the first 20 minutes over and over, it becomes incredibly tedious and boring. I could barely get to an hour before I knew I never wanted to play this again. I tried the demo and had hopes that a future release would speed up the mind numbing tedium of the early game. It did not. You are essentially forced to lose repeatedly in order to unlock things.
Again many people seem to like it but I must be honest here. If repeating the first 20 minutes over and over and over due to forced losses seems like a negative to you, then steer clear of this game.

So first off, let me say the dev for this game is super dedicated.
During the first few weeks, they were taking in all feedback! Adjusting, learning, and improving.
You can’t please everyone, but they sure as hell seems like they are going to try.
First, let’s start with the good:
The game is pretty straightforward and easy to learn. The interface was a little iffy at launch, but now everything has a proper way of showing what it’s for, what it does, hotkeys, and so on.
It also works great on Steam Deck—honestly, it feels kind of perfect for on-the-go play.
The runs can feel a bit slow when you’re just starting out, and it’s easy to feel stuck early on. I get that for some people, if progression slows down too much or they feel like they can’t “adjust,” it loses its appeal—and that’s fair.
But if you’re willing and want to figure out what’s not working and what is, it’s great.
While there’s probably plenty of room for tweaking progression, the game is in early access for a reason. I’ve already put in 35 hours (as of this review) and still enjoy doing a few runs every week in my downtime.
My biggest pet peeve? I really want a better way to look at stat output for my units. I love trying different combinations of equipment and relics, but without being able to see what they did each day, it can be hard to tell what’s actually working.
The game also recently added a “hint” system for unlocks, which answered a few questions about some of the more obscure ones. I would never have figured out the “be funny” unlock by accident in a million years without the hint.
I do still feel there’s room for improvement on the progression front, though. While it feels good to do better and win runs, it eventually hits a wall for most people.
That said, for me, the good outweighs the bad, especially with such a dedicated developer constantly working on the game.

Really fun city builder and horde defense game. Wish you could go until death instead of being forced to restart every 30 days.