Kingdoms & Lords soft launches early, arrives on all Windows Phone 8 devices next week

Xbox Windows Phone gamers might have noticed that a Store link for Gameloft’s Kingdoms & Lords has been making the rounds today. Unfortunately, most users are finding they can’t actually download or play the game on their phones. Is it a case of the dreaded 1 GB RAM requirement? Nope, even folks with 1 or 2 GB of RAM can’t get their Kingdoms on.

Windows Phone Central checked in with our friends at Gameloft and discovered just what is happening with Kingdoms & Lords. It turns out the game has soft launched in a few territories but remains mostly inaccessible to users in other regions like the United States. Luckily it will be releasing worldwide next week, so the wait shouldn’t be too hard.

Head past the break for our hands on video, Achievement details, and more!

Romancing the kingdoms

Kingdoms & Lords is one part city building game mixed with one part strategy. Players will expand their own towns, purchasing buildings, building roads, and harvesting resources. Completing missions nets you experience and new items to use in your kingdom.

Unlike simpler games such as Gameloft’s own Ice Age Village, Kingdoms & Lords also features a strong battle component. Players can invade each others villages and defend their own villages. They’ll also do battle against AI bosses, each of which provides a tasty Achievement.

That competitive element puts Kingdoms & Lords ahead of other games in which players just check in throughout the day to collect resources and nothing more. This one also features some really nice medieval artwork. You can zoom in really close to take it in or stay zoomed out for easier kingdom management. Oh, and you'll be glad to know this game supports cloud saves, too.

Achievements

Time was we regularly learned about Xbox Windows Phone game’s Achievements well in advance of their actual release. Sadly Microsoft closed the door on the method once used for those early discoveries. But having already played the game on a developer phone, we have the full Achievement list to share with you now.

• Advancement (5): Complete the tutorial and the mission “The First Visit.”
• Friends All Over the World (10): Have more than 10 friends.
• Defense Fortress (5): Establish your defensive line.
• Draw First Blood (10): Win the first fight.
• Be First Blood (5): Lose one fight.
• Demon (10): Successfully invade friends’ kingdoms 100 times.
• Demon’s Nightmare (10): Successfully resist invasion 100 times.
• One Step, One Footprint (10): Raise the Population to 150.
• Roast Chicken Hobbyist (5): Have 10 campfires on the map.
• Money, Money (15): Own all of the Kingdoms buildings.
• I See You (10): Wipe out shadowy areas.
• Good Luck Follows You (5): Win 50 one-on-one battles.
• Barbarian General (10): Defeat Barbarian General.
• Lady of the Coast (10): Defeat Lady of the Coast.
• Duke of Cowerdon (10): Defeat Duke of Cowerdon.
• The Evil Monk (10): Defeat The Evil Monk.
• Lady Bloomdale (10): Defeat Lady Bloomdale.
• General McCallister (15): Defeat General McCallister.
• The Stygian Witches (15): Defeat The Stygian Witches.
• World Conqueror (20): Defeat all the bosses.

Looks like we’ll be doing a lot of battling with our friends, doesn’t it?

Soft launch

Previous Gameloft titles have sometimes experienced problems with their social features at launch. In order to reduce those woes, Kingdoms & Lords is soft launching in Vietnam, Romania, Indonesia, and Mexico this week. Players in those regions should be able to grab the game now (or tomorrow at the latest).

The rest of us (who don’t care to resort to region switching trickery) will have to wait till next week in order to grab the game. Gameloft expects Kingdoms & Lords to fully launch on November 11 (Monday), slightly ahead of the usual Wednesday release. We'll see! It runs on 512 MB devices and costs nothing to download, so all Windows Phone 8 owners will be able to join in the fun. As for the Windows 8 version: don't expect it next week, but it should arrive by the end of the year.

In the meantime, here’s a link you can use to view the game's Store page. Remember, you won't be able to download the game if your phone's region isn't set to the countries listed above.

• Kingdoms & Lords – Windows Phone 8 – 122 MB – Free – Store Link (keep in mind the game may not be available in your region)