CivCraft: Legends of Ellaria announced

Arik Helman of developer Larkon Studio writes that CivCraft is a hybrid RTS / open-world action RPG; which is to say, you’re a sovereign in charge of building cities, raising armies, and fighting battles on behalf of your country, but you can always slip off and experience your country on foot as an adventurer.

The plot premise:

You are the king of a clan, that once belonged to a powerful empire… An old clan, who came from the decaying world of Marra in search for RiftStone, a special resource that is the base of all magic. For centuries, kingdoms on Marra have waged endless wars with each other for the rare and precious RiftStone. Ironically, the wars for that ultimate power have left the once glorious world of Marra as nothing but an empty, barren land. With the last RiftStone available and the finest wizards and researchers in Marra, you are determined to build a portal and travel through the rift to the source of the RiftStone, a world that is in the center of other worlds rift, a world which has more magical and rich resources that you could imagine: Ellaria.

Now, while you are a king and thus technically in charge of a whole country, you can choose to be a Bad King and run off on larks while off-loading your royal duties to a long-suffering adviser like a less sex-crazed version of Robert Baratheon. The developers state that your royal adviser will manage and expand your kingdom on your behalf while you run around going on quests, killing monsters and haphazardly looting–good to know.

I’m just going to quote the developers here:

Ellaria spans for over 450 square Km, containing many locations, houses and ancient dungeons. Each one – existing or built by you – has a complete interior, as well as items you can take and crafting areas you can use.

Your kingdom and its citizens are not just mindless workers. Each citizen in your kingdom has a name and a character. Your citizen will react to you, join you, give you quests and are a part of your story.

Pretty crazy! The developers have provided a lengthy (though clearly heavily edited) video showing the game in its current, pre-alpha state:

It’s all pretty absurdly ambitious–this should be interesting to watch, at a minimum.

CivCraft is still live on Kickstarter for a short period, where the “get the game” tier is $20. It will be getting a Windows / Mac Steam Early Access release in a few months (note that the game is reportedly 3 years into development already), with console ports to follow whenever CivCraft gets its final release.