The Monarch: First Light

Medieval base-building strategy about surviving attacks that arrive each night

Citadel Games · Released Apr 3, 2024

Casual Indie Simulation Strategy Free To Play

Reviews: Mixed; 68% of 136
Recent reviews: Not enough recent
Players: 0; daily peak, Oct 28, 2026
Steam Deck: Playable
Last update on Steam: 2 years ago; Oct 8, 2024
Minimum PC: 1 GB disk; Full requirements

What is The Monarch: First Light?

A free-to-play, single-player, side-scrolling strategy game set in a land where gates of hell open each night. You collect coins, recruit peasants, train units, build and upgrade walls, and gather power-ups while working to destroy the gates.

For you if...

+you like mixing base building with real-time defense

Not for you if...

−you want multiplayer cooperation or competitive matches

What players say

68% of 136 reviews are positive

Players praise the simple but challenging gameplay. The most common complaint is that it ends as a limited prologue rather than providing a full game.

Screenshots and trailer

The Monarch: First Light system requirements

Minimum: 1 GB of disk space.

As published by the developer.

Can my PC run The Monarch: First Light?

The published requirements do not name a graphics card we can compare.

Set up my PC →

Minimum

OS: Windows 10
Processor: Dual Core
Storage: 1 GB available space
DirectX: Version 10

Does The Monarch: First Light have co-op or multiplayer?

No: single-player only, no multiplayer modes declared.

Single-player

Does The Monarch: First Light run on Steam Deck?

Playable Playable: it runs on Steam Deck with some adjustments.

Default controller config not fully functional
Some text entry requires manually opening the on-screen keyboard
Some in-game text is small and may be hard to read
Shows Steam Deck controller icons
Default graphics settings perform well on Steam Deck

PC version details

DRM: None declared on Steam
Controller: Keyboard and mouse
Platforms: Windows
Achievements: 10
Steam features: Family Sharing
Languages: Full audio: English, Turkish, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese - Brazil, Portuguese - Portugal, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish - Latin America, Traditional Chinese.

Does The Monarch: First Light use AI-generated content?

No AI-generated content is disclosed on the game's Steam page.

Self-reported by the developer under Steam rules: it covers AI content that ships in the game, not tools used to make it. Steam page checked on Oct 27, 2026. How to filter AI games on Steam