PlayStation 5 players will get access to a highly rated 2025 roguelike strategy game on July 29. Developer Hypnohead and publisher tinyBuild have confirmed that The king watches is coming to PlayStation 5 later this month after being a PC-exclusive game since launching on Steam last July. During this time, The king watches has been rated “Highly Positive” for user reviews on the platform.
The king watches will also be released on Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch on July 29.
Despite the PlayStation finding itself in hot water with fans over Sony's plans to end physical disc production of its games in 2028, the library of digital indie titles on the platform continues to grow in 2026. Palworld recently launched in 1.0 and is only available digitally on PS5, while other indie games like Mine the Hollower are currently available digitally, with physical copies planned for release in the future. The king watches launches digitally only on consoles this month and has not been confirmed for a future physical release yet.
Roguelike Strategy Game The King Looks To Hit PS5 On July 29th
Hypnohead and tinyBuild released a new trailer for The king watcheswhich showcases the game running on consoles and confirms its July 29th release date. At its core, The king watches is a strategy game that uses roguelike mechanics for progression. Players take on the role of a king and are tasked with managing their kingdom's production and defense against incoming waves of enemies, similar to the mechanics of a tower defense game.
The King is Watching is a roguelite kingdom builder. Rule with the power of your royal gaze! Choose between producing resources, training armies, or balancing both, while adapting to unique events each run.
Build your perfect top ten one reveal at a time.
Start
Switch two choices?
Choose two locations to trade before locking in your final ranking.
But the unique gameplay hook of The king watches is in the name; minions only work while the king is watching. This means players must manage tasks carefully as they cannot watch everyone all the time, and choosing to watch the miners, farmers, barracks or other industries to monitor can have consequences if others are allowed to slack off. RTS-style combat is also part of this gameplay loop, and players must adapt on the fly to switch which workers they're overseeing to best prepare for incoming bosses.
As with other roguelike games that Hades and Slay the Spire 2players can choose permanent upgrades to keep between each run, unlocking useful abilities and new strategies to use in future runs. When one kingdom falls, another comes back stronger, and the more players invest in The king watchess permanent upgrades, the better chance they have of succeeding with their next kingdom.
The king watches also just released its Shifting Sands free update last month, which added a brand new map, new units and weapons, an infinite mode, and customization options to make runs more challenging. All of these features will be included in the console release of the game at launch. PlayStation already has a packed release schedule for July 2026, but roguelike fans yearning for a new challenge should add The king watcheswill be released on July 29 to their calendar.
