You can play as either the Romans or the Gauls, with the mysterious Druids and the rampaging Teutons occasionally showing their faces. When played as an RTS, Celtic Kings gets lost among the crowd of fantasy/historical titles already out there, with its simplified economics and derivative gameplay. But when played in adventure mode, it proves to be surprisingly addictive.In this mode missions can vary from solo explorations with you fighting off wolves and brigands, to leading sieges on enemy forts and meeting in the field for full-scale battles. Troops can be arranged into formations by your heroes for greater tactical control. Druids and priests can summon magic through self sacrifice in another of the game's nice touches. And your hero and his followers earn experience and improved fighting abilities along the way. Celtic Kings uses a much simpler interface than other, better known real-time titles.
The maps are fully created, with no ability to build (or even permanently destroy) buildings, only capture and damage existing structures. All units can be created quickly and easily, and are usually automatically garrisoned in elected buildings. While there are other complexities, such as level-gaining, race-specific units, heroes, and the necessity for supply lines, Celtic Kings' structure removes more of the 'resource gathering' with straight-up combat.Multiplayer is supported via the Gamespy Network, and through straight TCP/IP. At the LAN I attended, there was little to no lag, and with the game's simple interface, even the non-RTS gamers were able to be competitive quickly.However, there are still some serious flaws that need to be fixed. Enemy AI is almost non-existent. The audio element is also not working correctly, as I could never get any in-game sounds to work.
All cut scenes and animation had audio, but not in-game. While disappointing, however, it did not detract from the game itself.
Inspired by games like Chivalry, Reign of Kings' combat system is being tuned for satisfying, fast paced action. Players fight over the scarce. 'I want to add Chinese culture, Chengdu culture, into the game. People might be curious about these artifacts!' When progressing from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age, the celebration screen displays artifacts from Sanxingdui, a major Bronze Age archaeological site located near Chengdu.