I’ve started and stopped this article more times than I’d like to admit. It turns out it’s much harder to write about something you love than I’d thought. On the days I loved it, I wanted to hype it up. On the days it frustrated me, I wanted to tear it down. But I’ve always believed that when promoting something, incentivised or not, it’s important to stay grounded and be objective. Facts first, decorated with your own opinions.
So, before I go any further: I am in no way affiliated with Polo King or its developer. I don’t earn royalties, revenue share, or anything like that from the promotion or success of the game. I am in touch with the developer, sharing my thoughts on the game and how I feel it could improve, and it’s exactly that which I’m sharing with you today. An honest review of one of the only mobile indie polo games. Spoiler: I like it. A lot.
I played it for the first time during a week in which I was horrendously unwell. A dire case of the flu. One which affects people like myself quite severely. Unfortunately, this sudden—yet all-encompassing—illness meant that I had to skip both of my polo lessons.
During the week off, an internal battle took place: coughing and sneezing, dizzy and confused, uncertain as to whether I would brave the elements on what were some very lovely late-summer days.
Alas, sensibility took over and I remained inside, watching the wind, rain, and sun pass me by, like a comet flying across the sky. I’ve always struggled with rest. Somehow it felt like a boring waste of time and something I did not deserve. Something to work on, perhaps.
In my restful stupor, I did find solace—in a mobile game of all things. I have always despised mobile games. Overly complicated black holes that bring nothing other than frustration, as you either wait or pay for an outcome. Not great if you’re someone like me with little to no patience. Not this game though. This game is different. This game works offline.
Polo King 2026.
Launched by computer science graduate, and 3-goal polo player Rupert Duff, Polo King 2026 is the successor to “Polo King: The Game of Kings”, which was first released 6 years ago. Pre-COVID! The second rendition of Polo King, though, the one we’re discussing today, is but half a year old and already twice the game.
Before Polo King 2026 was released, I had played the original. I loved the idea of an easy-access polo game and I’m a huge fan of pixel art, but I could not wrap my head around the controls, which ultimately led me to stop playing. I’m happy to share, though, that Polo King 2026 does not suffer the same fate. Although, as with any indie game, it has its own challenges.
The first thing I recognised, after playing a few times, was just how good this 3D rendition of a polo match is. While some may challenge the graphics, which I actually really like, it’s unbelievable how good it is for learning strategy and rules. Having aerial multi-perspective shots of fouls, fields, and angles makes for an incredibly open field for reading play. You can plan a play and see it through with solid accuracy. I may even attribute some of my recent lesson success to playing!
I believe the first few levels of polo (-2 to 0 goals) are all about knowing how to hit the ball, while everything above is about knowing when, why, and where to hit it. The strategy. I believe Polo King 2026 is excellent at helping you learn just that, without breaking the bank.
Now I have to get this in, so it’s as good a place as any. There is a persistent friction point. It’s not the menu, the music, the graphics, or the systems. It’s the character switching. The character switching made it impossible to challenge an opponent when defending your goal, or to line players up strategically. Because it would keep switching. I resolved this by switching the character switching off, which solved the worst of it, but I haven’t tried turning it back on since the recent updates. Those are certainly worth checking out. The new career mode is so much fun!
In fairness, AI is super hard to get right in games. It’s usually one of two things: they suck, or they’re absolute demons that never miss or lose. Finding the middle ground is a tall order, so I’m happy to cut it some slack.
Some other very minor challenges include some dubious line of the ball (LOB) calls, chukkas ending as I’m about to score, and what I can only describe as player skill issues (me), rather than anything Rupert’s done. When I mentioned some of these issues to Rupert, he responded in a way that gave me pause.
“Not sure it will ever be perfect, but neither are human umpires so some randomness is ok”
He’s so right. Umpires aren’t perfect and neither are we. That doesn’t make every frustrating call a good one, but a bit of unpredictability does feel true to polo. The niggles and challenges that come with building a game give it character, a sense of randomness that’s not really possible to quantify.
What I’m trying to get at here is that Rupert says he just wanted to “make a fun polo game”, and that’s exactly what it feels like. It’s not trying to have the best graphics, or the best story. All it’s trying to do is be a fun polo game that you can play online, and it’s already halfway there!
I wanted to save my favourite bits for the end. Partly because that’s just how it turned out, and also because I work in marketing. Sue me.
Inspired by Jeta Castagnola and Poroto Cambiaso, players can smack the ball out of mid-air if you time it right. A really cool touch that caught me off guard when I first saw it. So much attention to detail has to go into that, aligning vectors and organising character skeletons!
At some points I’ve even had the ball float between two opposing players. I was ASTONISHED. It reminded me of when players bounce the ball on the head of their mallet! What’s even better is that it’s intentional; if you’re in the right position and your mallet’s ready, you can knock the ball in the opposite direction while it’s in the air and stop a goal. I wish I had it recorded.
There’s so much I love about this game. The fact it’s polo, a passion project, an awesome game with really cool graphics. The way it enables me to learn and enjoy polo without having to leave the house. I can play it on the tube or sick in bed. It feels like it brings me closer to polo as a wider sport and I’m super grateful for that.
Oh, and the best bit, which I’ve already mentioned: it works without connecting to the internet! Completely local. Polo King 2026 works COMPLETELY OFFLINE! I don’t know another game of this quality that does that. Obviously, once multiplayer is introduced and other features that require an internet connection become available, that may change. But I really hope that at least the quick match will always be available online or offline, and that we have a personal scorecard of wins, losses, draws, and other fun stats that’s just ours. Or public. I just want stats.
Final takeaway: Polo King is an excellent game. The most fun I’ve had on mobile. Yes, it has some bugs, but they’re being fixed, and a few of the ones I ran into have likely been squashed already. A passion project from a polo player and fan. Someone I feel I can call a friend. There’s something here for everyone: professional, amateur, hobbyist, and fan. Well worth a play if you want to have fun and learn without the financial or physical demand.
If you’d like more content like this, or you want more information on exactly how Polo King works, some of the feature explainers, or insight into what’s coming next, then comment on this article, share it with your friends, and make sure to stay up to date with Polo King by clicking the links below.
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