Why Early Access?

“Nine Thrones is an ambitious open-world fantasy RPG built around tactical turn-based combat, player freedom, and a living world that doesn't revolve around the player.

The core game is already playable, but our vision extends considerably beyond what is currently implemented. We want to build a world where kingdoms develop, armies fight, merchants trade, and independent characters pursue their own ambitions, whether or not the player is involved.

Early Access allows us to develop these systems alongside the community, improve the existing gameplay, and gradually expand the world while giving players an opportunity to enjoy and help shape the game as it grows.

We believe player feedback is especially valuable for a game built around emergent gameplay, where unexpected interactions between systems can produce some of the most interesting experiences.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We expect Early Access to be a substantial development period, potentially lasting two years or longer.

Our plan involves several major development milestones, expanding the game's kingdoms, characters, adventures, and simulation systems while continuing to improve the core experience.

We do not have a fixed date for version 1.0. Our priority is to make meaningful progress and release substantial improvements as they become ready, rather than rush toward an arbitrary deadline.

We intend to communicate our progress and evolving plans throughout Early Access.”

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

“Our long-term goal is to transform Nine Thrones from a playable tactical RPG into a much richer, more reactive fantasy world.

We plan to expand all nine kingdoms, giving them more distinctive settlements, characters, factions, adventures, and political conflicts. The starting regions are currently much more developed than other parts of the world, and bringing those other areas to life is a major priority.

We also plan to deepen the underlying simulation, including trade and production, autonomous NPC adventurers, political relationships, and military campaigns. Our aim is for the world to develop independently, creating opportunities and consequences that are not scripted around the player.

Other planned improvements include mounted combat, naval gameplay, siege warfare, expanded character interactions, additional equipment and abilities, and improvements to exploration and settlement management.

Throughout development, we also intend to improve the artwork, animations, interface, performance, balance, and overall presentation.

These are our development goals rather than guarantees that every planned feature will appear in a particular update. We expect to refine our priorities based on development progress and community feedback.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Nine Thrones is currently a playable single-player fantasy RPG with character creation, exploration, companions, quests, character progression, trading, and tactical turn-based combat ranging from small encounters to large battles.

The most developed content is concentrated in the starting regions, where players can explore, encounter characters and factions, take on adventures, and participate in the conflicts of the world.

The game also contains the foundations of broader systems for armies, kingdoms, trade, and world simulation. However, many of these systems are still being expanded and refined.

Players should be aware that the nine kingdoms are not yet equally developed. Some regions have limited content, certain features remain incomplete, and the game will continue to receive significant changes during Early Access.

We consider the existing tactical RPG experience a solid foundation, but there is still substantial work ahead. Players should expect occasional bugs, balance issues, unfinished content, and systems that evolve as development progresses.”

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

“Yes. We have priced Nine Thrones based on what we believe the game offers today: a substantial, playable turn-based tactical RPG, while much of our larger vision for the world remains under development.

We plan to release several major updates throughout Early Access, substantially expanding the content and improving the depth and quality of different regions and gameplay systems.

As we reach major development milestones, we intend to increase the price to reflect the additional content, features, and improvements available to players.

Our goal is for players who support Nine Thrones earlier in development to receive the benefit of a lower introductory price, while later pricing reflects a more complete and polished experience.

The timing and amount of any price increases will depend on our actual development progress.”

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

“Community involvement is an important part of our development process.

We plan to communicate regularly through Steam announcements, the Steam discussion forums, and our Discord community, sharing development progress, upcoming features, and major updates.

We welcome bug reports, balance feedback, gameplay suggestions, and accounts of players' experiences. Because Nine Thrones emphasizes freedom and emergent gameplay, we're particularly interested in discovering how players interact with its systems in ways we may not have anticipated.

We intend to use this feedback to help prioritize improvements, identify problems, and refine gameplay as development continues.

Our goal is to maintain an open and constructive relationship with the community, being transparent about what is currently implemented, what we are working on, and which features remain longer-term ambitions.”