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Overview

The time travel and alternate timeline premise is the narrative engine of Kingmakers. The game's story begins in a bleak, high-tech future where humanity faces extinction. A team of scientists has invented a time machine, and they send an elite task force operator 500 years into the past to medieval England. The mission: restore an original historical timeline that was altered by a malevolent otherworldly force, preventing the apocalypse before it can take hold.

This premise gives Kingmakers its signature hook: a soldier with modern military hardware dropped into the middle of the Glyndwr Rebellion of 1400 AD. It also provides narrative justification for the game's weapon upgrades and vehicle unlocks, since new equipment must be sent from the future at a cost. The developers, brothers Ian and Paul Fisch, have been intentionally vague about many story details to avoid spoilers, but the core framework has been confirmed through interviews, trailers, and the Steam store page.

The Original Timeline

In Kingmakers' lore, the original, correct course of history saw Owain Glyndwr's rebellion against the English crown succeed. Glyndwr and his allies conquered all of England and united Britain under a single banner. This unification set the world on a path toward technological advancement and prosperity. Instead of the centuries of internal conflict and division that characterized real British history, the original timeline produced a cooperative, technologically advanced civilization.

The specifics of how Glyndwr achieved total victory in this original timeline are not fully detailed, but the implication is that his alliances with Scotland and France (both of which existed historically) were more successful in this version of events. The Tripartite Indenture, which in real history was an agreement to divide Britain among Glyndwr, Percy, and Mortimer, may have evolved into a genuine unification under Glyndwr's leadership.

The Alteration

At some point, a malevolent, otherworldly force interfered with the timeline and changed the course of history. This interference caused Glyndwr's rebellion to fail, matching (roughly) the outcome that occurred in actual recorded history. The rebellion petered out by around 1415, Glyndwr disappeared, and Wales was eventually absorbed into England.

The altered timeline produced a world of division. Rather than unifying under a common cause, the nations of Britain (and later the world) remained fractured by "petty squabbles between nations" that stunted development. This fragmentation left humanity vulnerable and, in the far future, brought the species to the brink of extinction. The exact nature of the apocalyptic threat has not been fully revealed, but trailers and store page footage hint at a dystopian, high-tech future where resources are scarce and humanity is in decline.

The Player's Mission

The player takes on the role of an elite special operations soldier (described in various sources as an "American mercenary" or "elite task force operator") who is sent back to 1400 AD to undo the alteration. The core mission is to support Glyndwr's rebellion and ensure it succeeds, restoring the original timeline where Britain was united and humanity prospered.

The developers have stated that the player must ultimately unite England, Wales, Scotland, and "a little bit of Ireland" to prevent the apocalyptic future. This goes beyond simply winning battles for the Welsh faction; it suggests a broader diplomatic and military campaign to bring all of Britain's factions together under a common cause.

Timeline Comparison

The Resource Loop

The time-travel premise also drives the game's resource and upgrade economy. The future is in poor shape and running low on resources, so new weapons and equipment cannot simply be requested on demand. Instead, the player must loot in the past, gathering resources like copper, gold, and hidden treasures from the medieval world, then send them back to the future. These materials serve as currency for purchasing new weapons, vehicles, and upgrades from the future. This creates a feedback loop: the player fights medieval battles to earn resources, spends those resources on better modern hardware, and uses that hardware to win more difficult battles.

Upgrades have a tangible impact on gameplay. A basic weapon might struggle against heavily armored knights, but fully upgrading its magazine capacity, armor penetration, or accuracy at range can make it effective against elite opponents.

Seeing the World Change

One of the more intriguing aspects of the time-travel system, mentioned by the developers, is that players can "see the world shift and change around them due to decisions made in the past." This suggests that the player's actions in 1400 AD have visible, real-time effects on the world. The exact mechanism for this has not been fully detailed, but it implies a dynamic world state that reflects the player's progress toward restoring (or further altering) the timeline.

Multiple Endings

The time-travel premise enables the game's branching narrative. Paul Fisch confirmed that "the game has many endings," and the combination of faction alignment and player decisions during the campaign determines which ending the player reaches. Supporting Glyndwr and successfully uniting Britain produces one outcome. Failing to do so, or actively opposing Glyndwr by siding with England, produces different outcomes. The Scottish faction path adds yet another set of possibilities.

The developers intentionally keep story details out of trailers and marketing. Ian Fisch has stated that trailers should not "start naming a bunch of proper nouns and places and characters," preferring to let players discover the narrative through gameplay. This means many details about the time-travel storyline, the nature of the malevolent force, and the game's endings remain to be discovered.

Narrative Themes

• Temporal paradox: The game hints that interfering with history can produce unforeseen consequences. The store page description warns that the player might create new threats across the timeline.

• Technology vs. tradition: Dropping modern military hardware into a medieval world raises questions about the ethics and consequences of overwhelming technological advantage.

• Unity vs. division: The core message of the original timeline is that cooperation leads to prosperity, while division leads to decline.

• Determinism vs. choice: The player is told to restore a specific timeline, but the faction system allows them to make entirely different choices, raising questions about whether there is a "correct" history.

Tips

• Gather resources thoroughly in each mission. Copper, gold, and hidden treasures fund your weapon and vehicle upgrades.

• The game's canonical path supports Glyndwr and the Welsh faction, but exploring other faction alignments reveals different aspects of the story.

• Pay attention to environmental changes that reflect your progress in altering the timeline.

• The nature of the malevolent force and the full scope of the apocalyptic future are revealed through gameplay; the developers have kept these details out of pre-release marketing.