Kingdom Two Crowns arrived on 11 December 2018 from Raw Fury, and it is the entry that finally lets a reign continue across five islands instead of ending the moment you lose your crown. You ride left and right through a side scrolling pixel kingdom, drop coins to recruit vagrants from camps, hand out bows, hammers and scythes, and hold the walls when the Greed come for the crown at night. Two monarchs can share one save in local or online co-op. The campaign roster now runs Europe, the free Shogun and Dead Lands settings, the paid Norse Lands, and Call of Olympus, which launched on 8 October 2024.
Starting Kingdom Two Crowns can feel overwhelming. This guide tells you exactly what to focus on during your first hours so you don't waste time on things that don't matter yet. For the full progression path, see our walkthrough.
What Kind of Game Is This?
Kingdom Two Crowns is a strategy game built around Coins, vagrants and tool assignment and The Greed and their portals. The core loop involves mastering these systems to progress through increasingly challenging content.
What to expect: Time investment in learning mechanics, experimentation, and gradual mastery. The game rewards patience and knowledge.
Choosing Your First Build
| Build | Beginner Rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Europe | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Shogun | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Dead Lands | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Norse Lands | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Call of Olympus | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
Our recommendation: Start with Shogun. It offers the most forgiving experience while teaching core mechanics.
Avoid Call of Olympus as your first pick. It requires deep knowledge of game systems to use effectively. Once you're ready, check our classes guide for all options.
First Session Step-by-Step
Step 1: Learn Coins, vagrants and tool assignment
Coins are the only currency and the only command you have. Dropping one near a vagrant camp recruits a villager, and paying at the right station turns that villager into an archer with a bow, a builder with a hammer or a farmer with a scythe. There is no unit menu, no selection box and no direct orders, so every decision you make is really a decision about where to spend the coins you are carrying.
This is the foundation. Spend your first 15-30 minutes getting comfortable with how Coins, vagrants and tool assignment works before worrying about anything else. Our combat guide breaks this down further.
Step 2: Head to Island I
The starter island and the safest place in the campaign, with no small portals to worry about. It holds the Statue of Archery, the Griffin mount and the Ballista Hermit, and most monarchs return here repeatedly because the unlocks are strong and the nights are survivable. Gems are not available yet.
Clear the main content here before moving on. Everything teaches fundamentals you'll need later. See our maps guide for all locations.
Step 3: Get Your First Upgrade
Look for Builder: it's the most accessible early upgrade. Made by paying a vagrant for a hammer. Builders raise and upgrade walls and towers, repair damage after a night attack and are the only reason a broken wall is back up by the next sunset. In Norse Lands they are tougher than usual and carry shields.
Step 4: Understand The Greed and their portals
The Greed attack at night, get stronger on blood moons and exist to take your crown. Their portals sit in the mountains at the edges of every island and keep producing attackers until you send a force out to destroy them. Island one has no small portals, which is why it works as a safe base, and later islands stack several of them on both sides.
This is the system most new players overlook. Invest time here early. It pays off throughout the entire game.
Step 5: Push to Island II
Where gems finally appear, which makes it the first island that funds unlocks rather than just surviving them. The Stone Mine here opens the path to the Iron Mine later, and the Stable Hermit is the practical unlock because it moves mounts between islands with you.
Essential Mechanics Explained
Coins, vagrants and tool assignment
Coins are the only currency and the only command you have. Dropping one near a vagrant camp recruits a villager, and paying at the right station turns that villager into an archer with a bow, a builder with a hammer or a farmer with a scythe. There is no unit menu, no selection box and no direct orders, so every decision you make is really a decision about where to spend the coins you are carrying.
The Greed and their portals
The Greed attack at night, get stronger on blood moons and exist to take your crown. Their portals sit in the mountains at the edges of every island and keep producing attackers until you send a force out to destroy them. Island one has no small portals, which is why it works as a safe base, and later islands stack several of them on both sides.
Island hopping by boat
The campaign runs across five islands, each harder and carrying more bosses than the last. You build a boat, sail on with whatever units you can fit aboard, and you can sail back later, which matters because unlocks are spread unevenly. Gems for unlocks first appear on island two, the Iron Mine sits on island four, and the Unicorn mount waits on island five.
Mounts and their abilities
Your mount is not cosmetic. The Stag, Warhorse, Drafthorse, Lizard, Bear, Griffin and Unicorn each carry an ability, and the Unicorn generates coins simply from riding, which is why so many players burn island five gems on it. The Stable Hermit exists to move mounts between islands, and the Dead Lands and Call of Olympus settings add their own, including Cerberus, Pegasus and the Chimera.
Two monarch co-op
Two players can rule the same kingdom together, in shared screen, split screen or online. Each monarch carries their own coin purse and each can be caught out alone at night, so the practical split is one monarch pushing the left side while the other holds the right, rather than both riding together and leaving one flank undefended.
Common Beginner Mistakes
1. Recruiting archers before farmers, which produces a defence you cannot afford to maintain and a kingdom that never accumulates coins
2. Riding into the night with a full purse, then losing every coin at once when the Greed catch the monarch away from the wall
3. Attacking the big cave in the mountain before clearing the smaller portals feeding it, so reinforcements arrive faster than the detachment can advance
4. Sailing to a new island with an empty boat, arriving with no builders and no archers and having to rebuild an entire kingdom from vagrants
5. Treating Norse Lands as a reskin of Europe and relying on wall tier, when its walls are deliberately weaker and its shield wall is meant to carry the defence
First 5 Hours Checklist
- Understand Coins, vagrants and tool assignment and The Greed and their portals
- Choose Shogun as starting build
- Clear Island I main content
- Acquire Builder or equivalent upgrade
- Reach Island II
- Coins are the only order you can give. Everything from recruiting a vagrant to upgrading a wall runs through dropping coins, so the whole game reduces to deciding what your purse funds next.
- Farmers pay for archers, not the other way around. A kingdom that builds its farmland first can field a full archer line by day six, while an archer first kingdom is still short of coins on day ten.
Tips for New Players
- Coins are the only order you can give. Everything from recruiting a vagrant to upgrading a wall runs through dropping coins, so the whole game reduces to deciding what your purse funds next.
- Farmers pay for archers, not the other way around. A kingdom that builds its farmland first can field a full archer line by day six, while an archer first kingdom is still short of coins on day ten.
- Squires and knights carry coins as a health buffer, up to five for squires and eleven for knights in Two Crowns. Loading them up before a portal assault is the difference between reaching the cave and losing the whole detachment.
- Each squire collects four archers behind them, so counting squires is a better measure of your attack force than counting individual units.
- Island one has no small portals, which is exactly why it works as a base to return to. Build your strongest economy there and sail out with what you can afford rather than trying to hold island four from scratch.
- The Stable Hermit on island two is the unlock that quietly saves the most time, because without it your mount does not follow you across the water.
- Blood moons hit far harder than ordinary nights. Watch the moon and spend the day before on wall upgrades and ballista repair rather than on new recruitment.
- The Unicorn on island five earns coins simply from riding, which is why so many monarchs save gems specifically for it rather than spending them on earlier mounts.
- Shogun is mostly a setting change from Europe with one real mechanical difference: the ninja, a special unit that goes outside the walls and ambushes the Greed rather than waiting behind them.
- Norse Lands is a full paid campaign, not a skin. Walls are weaker, builders are tougher, builders and archers carry shields with a shield wall mechanic, the berserker is a new unit, and artifacts come from solving puzzles instead of from gem spending.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many islands are in Kingdom Two Crowns?
Five in the main campaign, each harder than the last and carrying more bosses. Gems for unlocks first appear on island two, the Iron Mine is on island four, and the Unicorn mount is on island five. You can sail back to earlier islands, and many players use island one as a permanent base because it has no small portals.
What is the difference between the campaigns?
Europe is the base campaign. Shogun is largely a feudal Japan setting change with the ninja as its one special unit. Dead Lands adds four rulers with individual abilities and its own mounts. Norse Lands is a full paid campaign with weaker walls, tougher builders, shields, a shield wall mechanic, berserkers and puzzle earned artifacts. Call of Olympus, from 8 October 2024, is an Ancient Greece campaign built around winning favour from gods including Athena, Hermes, Artemis and Hephaestus.
How do I get knights?
Pay a shield to a villager at the second tier house, which is two tiers past the campsite, and that villager becomes a squire. Buying swords at the forge then upgrades squires into knights automatically. Each squire also picks up four archers to follow them.
Which mount should I unlock first?
The Unicorn on island five is the one most players target, because it produces coins while you ride and solves the money pressure of the late islands. Before that, the Stable Hermit on island two matters more than any single mount, since without it your mount will not travel between islands.
Does Kingdom Two Crowns have co-op?
Yes. Two monarchs can rule one kingdom together in shared screen, split screen or online co-op. Each monarch carries a separate purse and can be caught alone at night, so the usual approach is to split the map and hold one flank each rather than riding together.
More Kingdom Two Crowns Guides
- Kingdom Two Crowns Kingdom Two Crowns Overview
- Kingdom Two Crowns Best Builds
- Kingdom Two Crowns Tier List
- Kingdom Two Crowns Walkthrough
- Kingdom Two Crowns Tips & Tricks
- Kingdom Two Crowns Weapons Guide
- Kingdom Two Crowns Combat Guide
- Kingdom Two Crowns Boss Guide
- Kingdom Two Crowns Maps & Locations
- Kingdom Two Crowns Crafting Guide
- Kingdom Two Crowns Classes & Characters
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