i find Kingmaker gameplay design really well thought out. it's punishing due to their design especially if you don't have an earlier saved games like vordakai's tomb. Kingdom Management take times to learn and understand and actually there's some difficulty or challenges in it. i would say it involves in alot of trial and error. there aren't really many helpful guides out there. also the Kingdom Management is deadly. you can easily waste your time without doing much of anything (progressing your party, leveling and upgrading them). when the timer hits, it's only about you able to beat the encounter or reload to earlier saves to prepare for it.
while personally loving this, many casuals may find it very punishing and unforgiving. i would say if owlcat maybe and perhaps do a hard saves checkpoint for every critical chapters (which is non deletable saves). then players may still can go back to the latest chapter checkpoint before it's really Game Over.
there are plenty of time (hundred of days) before the timer kicks in for each chapter. it's a balance between the kingdom events and party leveling and progress.
they make it more easier with Wrath of Righteous. i love the crusade battle. it reminds me of Heroes of Might & Magic. some people here dislike crusade battles. I think there are only few forced major crusade battles. also if not mistaken there's a difficulty for the crusade battle if anyone don't enjoy it.
