Before he made Super Fantasy Kingdom, Feryaz Beer worked on software for hotels. His boring-but-useful tool gave proprietors the ability to accept bookings through their own websites. “It was very motivating to see it grow,” Beer says. “I just always loved making complex systems out of very simple elements. And I guess that is very visible in the game as well.”

It certainly is. Super Fantasy Kingdom is a roguelike city builder (published by the strategy genre’s most forward-thinking publisher, Hooded Horse) in which you rebuild your ruined realm and fend off the swarms of monsters who charge your gates every night. Starting with a little pixelated keep and a handful of paths to homes and graveyards, your domain expands ever outwards, grasping toward mines where you’ll acquire the stone to build strong walls and mills where you’ll make the food that keeps your fighters fit. 

An early focus on resource-gathering gives way to the high-wire management of a production chain, and soon enough you’re deciding whether to hoard gold for combat upgrades or push into the forests to find enough timber for a steady stream of trebuchets. “The Settlers and Stronghold were very important in my childhood,” Beer says. “I’ve always loved the beginning in both of those games the most, when you still struggle and are finding out the best way to build your city.” 

That’s why Super Fantasy Kingdom is a roguelike. As your defenses succumb to the nightly hordes, you play through the beginning again and again. “But always from a different position as you unlock new things,” Beer says. “So you need to keep learning and improving throughout the whole game.”

In part, this in-built failure is inspired by the progress blockers Beer has come up against in more recent management games like Cities: Skylines. “Growing your city and optimizing the flow of traffic simultaneously is very motivating,” he says. “But it still results in me playing and perfecting until I hit a problem I just can’t fix anymore—and then I stop playing.”

In a roguelike, by contrast, planning your way into a corner is a necessary and encouraged part of the experience. “You can master games like Super Fantasy Kingdom because you can try, fail, and learn from the process a lot faster, as well as unlock things to give you a jump-start in future runs.”

By exploring the lands around your castle and earning glory in battle, you’ll gain access to new strategic tools. The longer you survive, the more toys you’ll have to play with on your next run. “You need to build roads to uncover the world, meet new characters, and unlock new game systems,” Beer says. “The game gets more complex, but always at your own pace. It is one of the key motivators.”

There’s a mystery that unfolds over the course of multiple runs, too—a secondary reward for persistence. “The story is a very personal one,” Beer says. “You view the world through the eyes of the leader, but the real protagonists are the characters you meet in the world. They can help you, but also have their own problems, relationships, and perhaps even secrets. All of that is told in bite-sized dialogue spread throughout your runs.”

If you’re detecting the sulphurous whiff of Hades, you may be onto something. Supergiant’s masterpiece was a key reference point for Super Fantasy Kingdom, alongside fellow roguelike Loop Hero. The screen-filling waves of enemies, meanwhile, were inspired by They Are Billions and Dwarf Fortress—though not Vampire Survivors, surprisingly. 

“Funnily enough, it came out a few months after I started development,” Beer says. “I’ve only played it recently, so it was more of a confirmation that the direction could have potential even outside of the hardcore strategy fanbase.”

You’ll recruit from over 100 different units in Super Fantasy Kingdom, discovering powerful combos—like dinosaur vanguards with genie spellcasters bringing up the rear. “But at the same time, it’s not a game about wacky builds,” Beer says. “I’d rather compare it to a card game, where you have your deck and then try adding different cards to see what synergizes.”

When designing any strategy game in which death is inevitable, there’s a sweet spot where the player learns from each loss but doesn’t feel helpless. “It needs to be difficult enough so your choices matter, but should never be unfair,” Beer says. “We tried making the game very easy, but then every single element lost meaning. When one tool can solve many problems, all other tools become more irrelevant.”

Beer appears to have struck the balance. Super Fantasy Kingdom’s demo has already become incredibly popular ahead of the game’s full launch later this year. The public support has given Beer extra confidence in the project he first threw himself into when the COVID pandemic halted tourism. 

“Uncertainty never fades away and you always need new feedback again,” he says. “But with time and so much confirmation, you learn to trust your abilities.” 

Knowing that so many players are enthusiastically waiting for his debut game has encouraged Beer to keep pushing forward. “I know every second I spend on making the game better now can potentially affect hours of playtime later,” he says. “I often envision some player being happy about that small thing I just changed. That is very motivating.”

Wishlist Super Fantasy Kingdom now on Epic Games Store.