Turn-based 4X strategy with a board game soul.
Place buildings, chain adjacency bonuses, optimize your resources and outsmart rival monarchs through trade or war. A full match takes an hour.
What is Monarchs at Play?
Classic 4X depth, one hour matches
Explore, expand, exploit and exterminate, all in one sitting. Simple rules, deep tactics.
Build
Place over 50 unique buildings and combine their adjacency bonuses into powerful production chains. Plan well and the same patch of land pays out several times over.
Explore the map, push your borders outward and unlock new buildings through the science system, which opens up new strategies as you go.
Conquer
War without units. No shuffling armies across the map turn after turn. Military buildings apply the pressure instead.
Take your rivals' buildings, steal their glory and turn their territory into yours.
Outsmart
Pick your path to glory. Trade with rival monarchs, race them for the wonders, lean on your own monarch's abilities, or wipe the competition off the map.
Only one thing counts at the end: the most efficient empire and the most glory before the last turn falls.
What's in the demo
A complete 4X match, not a slice of one. Tutorials, procedural maps and a highscore chase are all in there.
- Play a full 4X match in just 60 minutes
- Learn the game through 3 tutorial missions or a guided playthrough
- Classic Mode with procedurally generated maps
- Challenge Mode with 3 of 18 handcrafted missions to compete for the highscore
- 50+ buildings to build and optimize your empire
- Choose between 2 of 6 monarchs, each with unique abilities and buildings
On Steam
Wishlist and store page
Screenshots
A look at the map
About us
Two childhood friends, one strategy game
MixedMoonGames is an independent studio from Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Two friends who grew up together, on a mission to make strategy games that bring people together.
Monarchs at Play blends classic 4X depth with the charm of a board game. Fast, tactical, built with a lot of care, and self-published.
Community
Come talk, play and test
Discord
Direct line to the developers, plus playtests and balance talk.
Questions
Things people ask
When does Monarchs at Play release?
The full game is planned for the first quarter of 2027. A free demo lands on Steam on 10 November 2026, and it contains a complete 4X match rather than a slice of one.
How long does a match take?
About an hour. A full match runs 60 turns, from your first buildings to final scoring, so a whole 4X campaign fits into one evening.
Can I play Monarchs at Play with friends?
Yes. Every mode works solo against AI monarchs or in multiplayer against other players, with up to six monarchs on the map.
What is in the free demo?
Three tutorial missions or a guided playthrough, Classic Mode with procedurally generated maps, Challenge Mode with 3 of the 18 handcrafted missions, more than 50 buildings, and a choice of 2 of the 6 monarchs.
Do I have to move armies around the map?
No. There are no units to micromanage. Military buildings apply pressure to neighbouring tiles instead, so you conquer your rivals' buildings by building well rather than by shuffling armies every turn.
Which platforms will it be on?
PC through Steam at launch. You can add it to your wishlist there now to be told when the demo and the full game go live.