9 Kings Quest Mode: How to Unlock It and How the 81 Challenges Work

9 Kings Quest Mode unlocks after your first single-player victory, on any difficulty. One win is all you need. You don’t have to unlock every king or beat the game on the hardest setting first.

Once you’ve unlocked 9 Kings Quest Mode, you can explore the 9 Lands, a map containing 81 different challenges across nine kingdoms. Not all of them are open at first. Beat the challenges you can reach and new areas of the map will become available.

How to Unlock 9 Kings Quest Mode

1. Choose Singleplayer and start a run with a king you have unlocked. King of Nothing is available from the beginning.
2. Play through the run and win. The publisher’s guide says any single-player difficulty counts.
3. Return to the mode selection after your victory and choose Quest Mode.
4. Start in the Kingdom of Nothing area of the 9 Lands and complete the challenges currently available.

You do have to win. Surviving a few years before losing won’t unlock the mode, even if you made progress towards another king. If Quest Mode is still locked, make sure you’ve actually finished a solo run with a victory.

The starting King of Nothing can get you there. You can worry about unlocking King of Blood, King of Time and the rest later: their requirements have nothing to do with opening 9 Kings Quest Mode.

How the 81 Challenges Work

There are nine challenges associated with each of the nine kings, making 81 in total. The 9 Lands map doesn’t show every challenge as available from the outset. Completing a challenge reveals new parts of the continent and more challenges to tackle.

After each win, check the map for newly opened paths. You can follow those routes into other regions instead of replaying a challenge you’ve already beaten.

Those are 81 separate challenges, not an 81-round survival marathon. Each scenario gives you its own setup and problem to solve, rather than simply stretching a normal run out for longer.

There isn’t a single deck arrangement that will automatically beat all 81. Before committing your cards, read the challenge’s objective and look at the pieces you’ve been given. In one encounter, improving a troop might be enough; in another, getting the placement right may matter more than raw damage.

9 Kings Quest Mode Difficulty: Knight, King and Chaos

Difficulty	What it means
Knight	The easier setting, intended for exploring and trying things out.
King	The main intended difficulty for Quest Mode.
Chaos	The toughest option, with extremely strong enemies.

These settings are part of 9 Kings Quest Mode. You don’t need to beat those difficulty levels in Singleplayer to unlock the map. Any solo victory will do.

I’d start on Knight if you’ve only just got your first victory. The challenge layouts are plenty to get used to without making every enemy brutally strong. Move up to King once you’re comfortable; Chaos is there for players who enjoy being absolutely punished by their own bad card decisions.

What to Do When You’re Stuck

Read the challenge objective before placing anything. Buying more troops isn’t always the answer. Look at where your buildings give bonuses, and consider whether upgrading an existing plot would be stronger than filling an empty one.

When you lose, pay attention to how. If enemies keep breaking through on one side, move your defences around. If your troops survive but can’t finish a fight, try upgrading the units doing most of the damage.

And don’t spend an entire evening banging your head against one awkward challenge. Clear something else, learn a new combination and come back to it later.

Is Quest Mode Included With PC Game Pass?

Yes. Quest Mode is one of the game’s main modes, not a separately purchased DLC. The PC release is listed for PC Game Pass, and the unlock condition is the same in the publisher’s documentation: beat a Singleplayer run. That doesn’t make Quest Mode exclusive to subscribers; players who own the PC game can access it as well.

9 Kings Quest Mode is there as soon as you’ve earned one Singleplayer victory. Open the map, clear whichever challenges are available and pick Knight, King or Chaos depending on how tough you want the fights to be.

Official source: Sad Socket / Hooded Horse official 9 Kings information.