Medieval Dynasty Download Pc
Charise Scrivner
Eventually, you will find yourself engulfed in the routine of everyday medieval life as you labor to build up your settlement. A typical day looks something like this: wake up, grab a drink from the nearby river, cook some meat, check your rabbit trap, hunt a deer, cut down trees, and gather other resources for your next building. The various systems are tied together in a way that creates a very satisfying gameplay loop, and watching your settlement grow is equally rewarding. As the days go by, so do the seasons, which add additional wrinkles to consider. Crops can only be planted and harvested during specific seasons, the winter months force you to dress warmer or carry a torch, and berries are poisonous unless picked during their peak summer ripeness.
Outside of my initial frustrations when first starting my adventure, I ran into trouble once more when I became responsible for the well-being of others. Having other people in your settlement is handy because you can give them jobs, like having someone cutting logs at the woodshed. The issue is these folks are not self-sufficient. The lumberjack at the woodshed needs an axe to work, which means that you either have to craft one yourself and put it in the appropriate storage chest, or recruit another settler to craft items who is in turn going to need the raw materials to craft those items. Again, it is systems on top of systems.
While Medieval Dynasty does not revolutionize the genre, fans of survival RPGs will likely enjoy its addictive gameplay loop and deep systems. Survival game casuals and newcomers be warned, however, as both patience and a willingness to learn are prerequisites to finding that enjoyment.
Jason has been writing for Gaming Nexus since 2022. Some of his favorite genres of games are strategy, management, city-builders, sports, RPGs, shooters, and simulators. His favorite game of all-time is Red Dead Redemption 2, logging nearly 1,000 hours in Rockstar's Wild West epic. Jason's first video game system was the NES, but the original PlayStation is his first true video game love affair. Once upon a time, he was the co-host of a PlayStation news podcast, as well as a basketball podcast.
A world of adventure!
Medieval Dynasty is a first-person, open world, realistic medieval life simulator, survival and town builder game, developed by Render Cube and published by Toplitz Productions. Released on Steam Early Access on September 17th, 2020. Hunt, survive, build, and lead in the harsh Middle Ages. Create your own Medieval Dynasty and ensure its long-lasting prosperity or die trying!
Medieval Dynasty was an early access success when it debuted back in 2020 and has since steadily grown its fan base along with its list of features as the developers have continued supporting the game with meaningful updates. Perhaps most significantly, the game recently implemented a highly-requested co-op mode so players can work together in this cozy medieval life sim that melds survival gameplay with city-building mechanics.
In the wake of the new co-op update, Game Rant interviewed Render Cube's Producer Marcin Warszawski and marketing manager Kamil Judasz about how Medieval Dynasty has evolved over the years, the challenges the team faced in the game's early days, what they feel makes a great survival game, and lots more. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Warszawski: Well, there are some obvious picks, like the console update that allowed us to expand our player base to more platforms than just PC. The recently published Co-Op (for now, still only on Steam) many players were waiting for helped our community grow as our players dragged their friends and family into the world of Medieval Dynasty. Maybe a bit less obvious thing would be the moment we added a third-person perspective, whose main goal was to eliminate the problem of people struggling with nausea due to head-bobbing.
But in my opinion, one of the seemingly small changes that proved to be pretty huge is the possibility to... grab items and move them around, which was added right after exiting the early access phase. We have many amazing players who love to decorate their villages, and this simple ability to arrange the village in your own specific way opened new possibilities for our players to express themselves and make the beautiful screenshots that amaze us up to this day.
When it comes to the city-builder aspect, we took some inspiration from Stronghold series, Knights and Merchants, Settlers and Anno. Survival was mostly inspired by games like The Forest and Green Hell. But as passionate gamers, we tried to recall what our favourite titles did right and what they did wrong, and from this special mixture, our unique Medieval Dynasty came out of our kettle.
Q: What are some challenges involved in developing a game like Medieval Dynasty that you feel players might not have thought about? Are there certain aspects of the game that are deceptively tricky to work on?
Warszawski: The thing that instantly comes to mind is the map itself. On one hand, we want to give our players as much open space for their villages and development as we can; on the other, this limits our quest design because we either take away from our players the possibility to build their village at the beautiful waterfall and spooky marshes, or the injured merchant might spawn just at their doorstep claiming that he hid in the bushes, or the outlaw who ought to be hidden in the forest might appear next to our carrot field. This can apply not only to quests but also to wild animal spawn points because if they don't get deactivated, the next season a player could wake up next to a pack of wolves instead of a loving partner.
Warszawski: In my opinion, there is no universal answer to this question, as it depends on what product you want to make and to what group of people it is directed at. Our game is casual friendly and has a soothing experience vibe. After all, in our game, there are game customization options, thanks to which you can not only turn off weight and environmental hazards or speed up the rate at which your character is getting experience points, but also make yourself completely immortal. Even though this solution is applicable to our game, it would, in my opinion, feel like cheating in more demanding survival games or those that are famous for their difficulty like the Dark Souls series.
But if we take into consideration our target group of players, then I think that there should be some dangers that motivate them to develop and improve, but not hard enough to make them feel that if they make one mistake, their whole work can fly out of the window. What is more, I believe that the most important aspect of our game is making your own cozy place. Whether it is just a small farm for your own family or a big living town with over a hundred buildings, a player must be able to stop for a moment, look at it, and think, "Yeah, I made it, and this is now my happy place." This deepens the feeling of immersion in the game, and many players shared with us their stories about how their villages were their safe spaces where they could escape from some difficult moments they experienced in the real world.
Warszawski: Before the early access, the start of our game was supposed to be completely different. Players were meant to begin already with a wife and a son, right in the winter, and most of the gameplay features were blocked behind a story-driven tutorial that needed to be completed if a player wanted to experience a fully open world. It had two major flaws. The first was that this approach would take away the sandbox and free will for a few hours of gameplay, which would definitely make replayability a much worse experience.
Q: Medieval Dynasty recently implemented co-op. How do you feel the experience changes when playing with more people, and what challenges did you face adjusting the game to suit multiple players?
Judasz: Implementing co-op in Medieval Dynasty was a significant milestone for us, marking our first venture into creating a cooperative mode within our team. Adapting the game to accommodate multiple players required careful consideration to ensure a seamless experience. Challenges included synchronizing players, maintaining balance, and optimizing performance.
Playing in co-op transforms the experience into a dynamic adventure where players can strategize, divide tasks, and work together. Despite the challenges, co-op mode fosters teamwork and camaraderie, allowing players to share their gaming experience with friends and expedite progress through collaboration. Overall, co-op enhances the social aspect of gameplay, enriching the experience and providing new opportunities for cooperative play.
Judasz: With the co-op update released, we're thrilled to discuss what lies ahead for Medieval Dynasty. Our focus remains on continually improving the game by addressing any existing issues and enhancing gameplay features based on player feedback. Additionally, we're excited to announce that we're gearing up to bring the co-op mode to console versions and other platforms. This expansion will allow even more players to experience the cooperative adventure of Medieval Dynasty. We're committed to delivering an engaging and immersive experience for all players, and we can't wait to share more details as we continue to evolve and grow the game.
Q: Medieval Dynasty has a sizable and passionate community, with tens of thousands in the Discord and hundreds of thousands in the Steam Hub. How does the community influence the studio's development and approach to the game?
Judasz: The Medieval Dynasty community plays a pivotal role in influencing our development process and game approach. We prioritize engagement with our players, considering their feedback as fundamental to our expansion and quality improvement strategy. Beyond feedback collection, we offer dedicated channels for direct communication and bug reporting, fostering collaboration and a sense of ownership among players.