The King Is Watching devs are making The Crab is Walking, this journalist is writing
Although one of the crabs is a spider, actually
The King Is Watching developers Hypnohead have announced The Crab Is Walking, a roguelite city-builder in which you alternate between arranging tetronimo-shaped city districts on the back of a colossal crustacean, and sending out armies of Mad Maxalots to slaughter wasteland insects. Unlike in The King Is Watching, you do not have to actively train your gaze on your crab metropolis to stop it slacking off.
I am amusing myself imagining the cycles of brainstorming that led from one game's setup to the other. "The King Is Wattling? The King is Swatching? The King Is Walking? Nonsense, Kings do not walk, they have sedan chairs. Hang on, what other things can be Kings? Lions? Ridiculous, you could never build a city on a lion – their spines are too narrow. Crabs though? Crabs have nice flat backs." I must point out that the developers appear to have already gotten bored with their own premise - one of the monstrous scuttling cities in the screenshots is actually a spider. Such a slap in the face for carcinologists! Here's a trailer.
They're promising "deep strategy combined with short runs". Each run you pick a different Ride to found a settlement on, and a different Rider to lead your folks into battle against the post-apocalyptic wildlife. Each Ride/Rider combo is productive of different playstyles. "Play to your advantages, work with your weaknesses, and find the pair that works for you," the devs advise. "The rabbit was fast. The turtle was persistent. You have a giant crab." OK, Hypnohead, are you referencing a proverb or can I build a city on a rabbit in this game? Because if that's the case, I'm going to report you for false advertising.
Between battles with the chittering wretches of the vast sandy nothing, you'll arrange and combine districts on a grid to either increase production, fuel your Ride, or bolster your army. I'm not sure how the combat aspect works, exactly, but it looks like an autobattler in the trailer.
In a Steam blog post, Hypnohead address the question of why they aren't (currently) making The King Is Watching 2. "We’re still working on The King is Watching and releasing new content for it, so this isn’t the time for a sequel," they comment. "Our next update will focus more heavily on gameplay variety, and we already have a rather large folder full of ideas for where its central mechanic could go next. We also understand much better what players enjoy about the game, and we’ll be carrying those lessons into everything we make from here. So, who knows? Perhaps one day that folder will become something more…"
They add that "The Crab is Walking gives us room to attempt things that weren’t possible or practical in The King is Watching," which might sound farcical out of context, but is actually about how they've come along as artists and designers. "We’re working with a different resolution, allowing for more detailed pixel art and more elaborate animations," the devs go on. "We’re also introducing more sophisticated unit behaviour, combat statistics, and a more convenient, polished interface."
The Crab Is Walking has no release date yet, but playtests will begin in 2027. Clawsome! Read more on Steam.