Cutting-Edge Tech: Kingmakers Dev Delays Release to Deliver True 60 FPS on Midrange PCs, Vowing to Push Unreal Engine 4 to its ‘Absolute Limits’ for Massive Battles

Redemption Road Games has announced a delay for its highly-anticipated, time-traveling medieval-meets-modern shooter, Kingmakers. The studio is pushing back the launch from its previously scheduled date to ensure the game meets its colossal technical ambitions, specifically focusing on uncompromised performance for a wide range of hardware. The delay is rooted in a commitment to technical excellence and providing a truly next-generation experience, even on more modest PC gaming setups.

Engineering Ambition: Unlocking UE4’s Full Potential

The core reason for the delay is the sheer scale and complexity of the game’s central mechanic: a fully real-time simulated war with tens of thousands of enemies fighting simultaneously. Lead coder, Ian Fisch, detailed the development team’s uncompromising technical goal in a recent statement, which emphasized their engineering-first approach.

The team is not just building a game; they are pushing the boundaries of what is possible with the engine they have chosen, declaring:

• Unreal Engine 4 Optimization: “We set out to push the Unreal Engine 4 codebase to its absolute limits.” This suggests massive, custom-built technological solutions have been engineered to handle the unique demands of the game’s simulation layer.
• True Performance Target: The commitment is to provide “true 60 FPS to midrange PCs, without the need for fake frames.” This is a direct reference and rejection of modern frame generation technologies (like DLSS 3 Frame Generation), which can introduce latency. Redemption Road Games is focused on achieving native performance, a significant undertaking given the on-screen chaos.
• High-Fidelity AI: The delay ensures their promise of a next-generation experience holds true across the board. The developers state they currently have “tens of thousands of soldiers, each with AI and pathfinding that rivals what you’d expect from a AAA third person shooter.” This level of individual unit fidelity in a mass combat scenario is what distinguishes Kingmakers from existing strategy games or crowd simulations.

The game’s unique premise—taking modern firepower (assault rifles, armored vehicles, airstrikes) back 500 years to radically alter the course of a massive medieval war—requires this level of robust, uncompromised technology to prevent the game from collapsing under its own scale. This focus on low latency and high frame rates is paramount for a shooter experience where player action and precision are critical.

The Kingmakers Promise: A Fully Simulated, Destructible World

The development goals for Kingmakers extend beyond just framerate; they promise a world that reacts dynamically and authentically to the massive battles waged across its lands. Every element of the game’s environment is being meticulously crafted to uphold a full-simulation promise, which naturally demands more time for polish and debugging:

• Persistent Battle Simulation: “When you walk away from a battle, it continues to play out. Nothing is faked.” This means every arrow, bullet, and soldier remains part of a persistent world simulation, a rare feat in any real-time strategy or third-person action hybrid.
• Environmental Destruction: The world features colossal, 6-story castles where “every room can be entered and every wall, floor, and ceiling destroyed.” This full destructibility adds an immense layer of complexity to the physics and rendering required for a consistent 60 FPS experience.
• Seamless Co-op and Scale: All of this ambitious technology is designed to support “full drop-in/drop-out 4 player multiplayer.” Maintaining performance parity across four players engaging with a massive, simulated battle is the ultimate test of their engineering success.

Industry Context: Prioritizing Player Value Over Arbitrary Deadlines

The decision to delay, even just days before a planned launch, echoes a growing trend in the gaming sector where developers are choosing to prioritize the finished product’s quality over meeting arbitrary deadlines. Redemption Road Games is making a clear statement about consumer confidence and monetization ethics.

The studio’s message to fans is one of reassurance and commitment: “We’re making sure everyone who buys the game is enthralled and feels like their money was well spent.” By focusing on a smooth, high-performance experience—even for the midrange PC market—the team is investing in long-term player satisfaction and positive word-of-mouth, which is invaluable in the competitive PC games market.

While the new release date remains “coming soon,” the detailed explanation for the delay provides crucial insight into the extraordinary technical efforts being made by Redemption Road Games. Kingmakers is shaping up to be a significant technical showcase for Unreal Engine 4, potentially setting a new standard for mass combat simulation and optimization in the third-person shooter genre.

The dedication to providing true 60 FPS performance on less powerful machines, without relying on “fake frames,” is a high-value proposition that resonates deeply with the PC gamer community and underscores a commitment to delivering genuine, uncompromised gaming quality.