A medieval io game where you build a castle and lead an army

An io game with a world that keeps going

Like other io games, Bareking starts from a link: no download, no install, no store. Create a name and a password (no email) and you are on the map. Unlike most io games, your progress does not vanish when you leave. The server runs day and night, so your castle, your economy and your kingdom are still there when you come back.

Start from scratch: from bare king to lord

The name says it: you begin as a bare king with nothing but a crown. Every new player starts on equal terms, with one fief, level 1 buildings and a small escort of 9 riders, and nothing can be bought with real money. Each fief you buy multiplies your production, so you grow fief by fief into a lord with land of your own, and a lord with enough wealth can found a kingdom and fight for the crown.

Build and grow your castle

Pick a spot on grass, flowers or sand and place your 3x3 castle. Around it you run eight buildings — castle, lumber hut, farm, iron mine, mint, workshop, stable and barracks — each up to level 20, with upgrades running in parallel. Wood, food, iron and gold flow in every minute, and buying a fief multiplies your output.

Knights, archers, infantry and cavalry

Your army has five classes: marauders, infantry, archers, cavalry and catapults, with a base power of 1, 2, 2, 4 and 5. Every level adds 35% more, up to your barracks level. Catapults rule castle sieges but are weak in the open. The workshop forges swords, arrows, shields and armour; the stable raises horses. A big army moves slowly unless most of it rides, and every soldier eats food and gold, so size is a real choice.

Field battles and castle sieges

Attack a player in the open and both sides are locked in place for five seconds while arrows fly; the result lands when the countdown ends. Storming a castle is a 30-second siege. Archers shine on defence, cavalry in the field and infantry against walls. Take a castle and its resources are yours.

Found a kingdom and wear the crown

With a million of each resource you can found a kingdom. The king is the online member with the highest total of experience, fiefs, castle level and mint level, so the crown can change hands. Kingdoms declare war, sue for peace and pay tribute, and between kingdoms a tenth of the loot gold goes to the winning kingdom’s treasury.

Ride together

Form a squad of up to eight players that marches behind one commander and fights as one army. Talk in world chat, squad chat, private messages or browser voice chat, and add friends to see when they come online.

Who Bareking is for

• You like medieval strategy, castles and knights, but do not want to install a large game.
• You want an io game where your progress is saved and the world stays alive while you are away.
• You want to play on a school or work computer, a Chromebook or a phone: it runs in any modern browser.
• You want to fight real players: computer-controlled riders keep the map lively but never attack you, so every attack you face comes from a person.