Why Early Access?

“We are a small indie team, and Sword & Shield Simulator is already a big, playable game with over 140 story missions and deep sword-and-shield crafting at its core. Early Access lets us balance the crafting economy and progression in response to real player feedback. ”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We expect around three to six months. Much of the full version is already built, so this time is mainly for balancing, unlocking the remaining content in the right order, and fixing issues raised by feedback. This is an estimate and may shift depending on player feedback.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“We plan to expand the Early Access version in three ways.

We plan to add Talstein, the largest region, with around 98 more story missions and roughly a dozen locations, including the town hall, cathedral, arena, market, thieves' guild, alchemist, goldsmith, and the bastion final battle, plus a buildable siege machine, a boss fight, and cutscenes.

We plan to add the higher-tier crafting items, opening up the full set of sword parts, blades, guards, handles, and pommels, along with more materials.

We plan to add a mine, a deeper material and mixture system, an expanded hunting system with more animals, resources, and arrow variety.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“This is a large, playable game today. It includes three regions, Danburg, Bloodlands, and Grainmill, with many interiors and exteriors, over 140 story missions, plus side quests and collectibles.

The core is crafting: you forge swords part by part in the sword designer using the furnace, forge, grinding wheel and chisel, and craft shields through an NPC production system. Around it are mining, hunting, tree chopping, lockpicking, contracts, trading, a skill system, fast-travel shrines, siege tower and cart repair, and smaller activities like the cups mini-game.

Some systems, such as reputation, are still placeholders and part of what we are polishing and balancing during Early Access.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“We are not currently planning to change the price when the game leaves Early Access. If that were to change, we would aim to make that clear beforehand.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“The best places to share feedback are the Steam forums and our Discord, where you can report bugs and suggest changes. We read what players send and take it into account as we keep developing the game.

Player feedback will be used to balance the crafting economy, pace progression, and decide what to work on next.”