Game

For The King

2018

Insufficient evidence

We did not find enough credible, independent evidence to publish a numeric cash-grab score. Unrated is more honest than a guess.

What counts as a cash grab?

Commercial extraction prioritized over meaningful consumer or creative value. Profit, popularity, adaptations, sequels, remakes, high budgets, and normal marketing do not count by themselves.

Why?

For The King was developed by IronOak Games, funded via Kickstarter, and spent over a year in Early Access before its April 19, 2018 full release. Major outlets gave generally favorable reviews and Steam user ratings are strongly positive. The product offers paid expansions and a soundtrack plus free cosmetic packs, but I found no reporting of in-game microtransactions or predatory day-one monetization. Post-release paid adventure DLC added new realms, characters, and mechanics, which indicates substantive ongoing content rather than simple low-effort reuse.

No credible reporting of in-game microtransactions or predatory monetization for the 2018 release.
Official Steam DLC list shows paid expansions and soundtrack alongside free cosmetic packs.
Contemporary reviews from PC Gamer and aggregators describe the game as substantive and well-crafted.

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Score factors

Direction	Factor	Evidence	Impact
Against	No predatory microtransactions reported	There is no evidence in major coverage or the Steam product/DLC listings that For The King used in-game microtransactions or aggressive monetization at launch.[2][1]	-11
Against	Paid expansions and soundtrack are discrete purchases	The Steam DLC page lists a paid 'Lost Civilization' adventure pack and a paid soundtrack alongside several free cosmetic packs, indicating paid expansions rather than continuous microtransactions.[1]	-12
Against	Positive critical and user reception	Contemporary reviews described For The King as a challenging, well-made tabletop-inspired roguelike and Metacritic and Steam show generally favorable scores.[3][4][2]	-15
Against	Kickstarted and extended Early Access development	The game was successfully Kickstarted and entered Early Access in 2017 before a full release on April 19, 2018, which suggests iterative public development rather than a rushed cash-out.[6][5]	-11
Against	Post-release DLC added substantive content	A paid 'Lost Civilization' adventure pack released in February 2021 adds a new jungle realm, arena battles, new characters, and mechanics, showing continued substantive investment in content.[1]	-13

Confidence: Low · No source-backed commercial-extraction signal was found. · Researched 2026-08-24

Sources reviewed

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