Pitchforks and Daggers Review – Long May The King Reign

Pitchforks and Daggers is a narrative focused indiegame that will have you take the role of King Henry as you navigate the dramas and troubles that leading a nation entails. Dispense justice, create or break alliances and lay down the policies that will make you become a revered King (or even Emperor).

Gameplay

The base concept may remind you of something like Yes, Your Grace – but it’s a more concentrated experience, your gameplay involves you talking to members of the court, visitors and other royalty and making choices based on various input from your advisory council. Navigating the castle is extremely easy and as far as narrative gamers go, you’ll be right at home.

The save system works within checkpoints (you can’t save scum your way through this!) and honestly gives you a lot of replayability, and yes, there’s a TON of replayability!

Replayability

Most games that make you choose between two choices offer atleast a little bit of replayability, with Pitchforks and Daggers, you can expect a LOT of it. Each decision sets you down a completely different path, and with each path brings its own choices that will set you off on yet another off shoot. Due to this, you’re always presented with a chance to experience the story completely different from your playthrough(s).

I’ve played through the game roughly 5 times and with that, I’ve unlocked 12 achievements… of a possible 35. There are branching storylines everywhere and you are left wanting to experience more because it’s told in such a simple yet effective way.

The Narrative

Pitchforks and Daggers is a narrative game, it has beautiful pixel art and various settings but at the end of the day, the story is the experience. And I am beyond glad to say, that it doesn’t disappoint, in fact, it grabs you quite easily and before you know it, you’ll be trying to find all the possible endings for King Henry.

Verdict

So what do we make of King Henry? Does he live or die? Do we choose the beheading or a glorious future, well – If it’s up to me, King Henry will have a glorious reign as Pitchforks and Daggers. With its compelling writing and lovely visuals, I found it extremely easy to root for Henry (even though I’ll have him beheaded for that completionist journey!), Pitchforks and Daggers is well worth your time and a joy to experience. A fact even more so impressive considering it’s done by a Solo-dev, Idan Sheinkman.

Pitchforks and Daggers releases on November 19, 2025 on Steam.

Disclaimer: The key was provided for the review, game was reviewed on PC via Steam.