9 Kings patch 0.9 adds asynchronous multiplayer

On 25 May 2026 Sad Socket released patch 0.9 for the roguelike strategy 9 Kings, the largest early-access update so far. It brings the asynchronous multiplayer players had been asking for. By the time this story ran, the game held a 92% positive score from more than 19,000 reviews.

The mode sets your kingdom against the armies of nine real opponents. Matchmaking pairs players of the same level, but the battle is not live: you face layouts from people who already played under the same conditions, and you can take it at your own pace. The rules shift with the mode. The base card has hit points, you start with five cards in hand, and diplomacy begins once a king dies. The first three years are a mulligan, so you do not lose lives in that stretch.

The kingdom that lasts longer comes out ahead. Year 33 opens a final fight against a boss stronger than the others, and that clash is the tie-break for kings who endured that far. Reaching year 33 also pays three extra medals. Multiplayer unlocks after you have played the base game nine times. Sad Socket says the requirement is deliberate: the mode expects you to already know the kings and the basics.

Ranked play is nine ladders. Climb them into the top nine and you are the king of kings. Medals from battles and from daily missions unlock more than 99 cosmetic items and victory tracks. The looks the developers themselves name include a punk King of Nothing, an afro King of Greed, and a pirate King of Nature. They call the patch their most ambitious update. The game is still in early access, so balance passes and bug fixes are still ahead, with more content and polish planned before 1.0. Single-player is not parked: they still treat it as the core of 9 Kings and say new content and the bigger community requests are coming there too. The video is on YouTube, and the patch note is on Steam.