How to play King's Field today

Pick a path before you pick a setting

King's Field does not have an official PC build or a browser port. The practical choices are a real PlayStation or PlayStation 2, a current emulator that you feed with a BIOS dumped from hardware you own, or a store page for a related FromSoftware game that is not the main series. I split those on purpose so a community recompilation is not described as a release.

The PlayStation trilogy runs on original hardware and on PlayStation 2 consoles that read PlayStation discs. The Ancient City is the PlayStation 2 game. Early PlayStation 3 models can also read PlayStation 2 discs; Wikipedia notes that later slim models dropped that drive compatibility. PSP is only for Additional I and II, both Japanese and both without an English script on record.

Emulators, without pretending they include the game

DuckStation is the PlayStation emulator with an official Android app, upscaling, and PGXP. Its README says the BIOS is not included. Use it for the 1994 game, the US King's Field, and the US King's Field II. The 1994 disc is Japanese only; an English patch exists for serial SLPS-00017, dated 12 December 2006 on the Romhacking archive.

PCSX2 is the PlayStation 2 emulator. The project asks for Windows 10 or later, macOS 11 or later, or Ubuntu 22.04, plus an x86-64 CPU with SSE4.1. It does not ship a BIOS, and the download page has no Android build. The cleanhit FAQ for The Ancient City says a current nightly is enough for a native-resolution picture, that a high-resolution patch is required above native or liquids and the skybox draw lines, and that the game itself has no twin-stick camera. Turn with the D-pad and look with the triggers. Do not speed up the turn rate; that FAQ treats the slow turn as part of the fights.

On a phone, DuckStation covers the three PlayStation games. The Ancient City has no official PCSX2 Android build, and AetherSX2's development has stopped. I would not send someone to Android for the PlayStation 2 game. Details sit on DuckStation, PCSX2, and Android.

FAQ