Fool King's medieval autobattler lands on 16 November
Loot Donkey's tactical autobattler Fool King has a launch date of 16 November 2026, confirmed by the studio on its own Steam feed after the PC Gaming Show Tokyo Direct.
The date, straight from the studio
Fool King has a release date. The studio behind it, Loot Donkey, posted the news on the game's own Steam feed on 21 September: Fool King launches on 16 November 2026, and the announcement came after the game appeared in the PC Gaming Show Tokyo Direct.
The same post carried a second number the studio is clearly pleased with, saying the game has now passed 10,000 wishlists. The demo is already out and is still being patched, with the team writing that more updates are on the way while it finishes the rest of the content.
What kind of game it is
Fool King is a tactical autobattler with asynchronous player-versus-player battles. You build an army, spend upgrades on it, set formations and then watch the fight resolve itself, which is either the most relaxing way to lose a war or the most stressful, depending on how the dice land.
The Steam listing puts the pitch as dethroning the Fool King himself, with frantic simulated combat deciding whether your carefully arranged line holds. A developer video published the day before the date announcement walked through factions, units and tactics, which suggests the studio wants players thinking about composition rather than clicking faster than everyone else.
Loot Donkey is the developer, with Firefly Studios and WuselFaktory listed as publishers. The Steam page still shows the release as upcoming, so there is a demo to try before committing to the November date.
Our opinion
Autobattlers live or die on whether the decisions before the fight feel meaningful, and an asynchronous structure is a smart way to dodge the genre's usual problem of needing a live opponent at three in the morning. Ten thousand wishlists off a demo is a real signal for a small studio, and dating the launch a fortnight after the PC Gaming Show spotlight rather than months out is refreshingly decisive. The risk is the one every autobattler faces once it charges money: the demo's balance has been tuned for a free audience, and the first patch after launch will decide whether the community reads the game as solved or as supported.