Senare i år, i december, kommer Envision Entertainment att ta det stora steget och ta sin strategititel Pioneers of Pagonia ur Early Access. Efter att i flera år ha fungerat som ett "ofärdigt" spel är projektet redo för sin 1.0-version, och detta kommer att markeras genom införandet av ett stort kampanjläge som också fungerar som en handledning för att hjälpa nyare spelare att anpassa sig till och lära sig om spelet och dess olika system.
Som en del av Gamescom fick vi möjlighet att sitta ner med creative director Volker Wertich, där vi frågade om kampanjläget och hur det var att bygga ett berättelseläge efter att resten av spelet i stort sett var klart.
"I mean, what is really tricky about campaigns in strategy games, very often there's a lot of time pressure, and the campaign is created in parallel to the game. And often you feel that, yeah. So we had the opportunity now, also with Early Access, to take our time to polish the game. To make the economy more complete, more, let's say, finished in a way that it feels really like it's the final product. And then we worked on the campaign. So I think that's something people will feel. That it doesn't look like the campaign is just something additional which has been added somehow, but it's really integrated into the game, explains a lot of the lore of the game, and will also have some very nice surprises and twists for the players."
På tal om att använda kampanjen som lite av en glorifierad handledning, lade Wertich till följande.
"The most important thing is here that, of course, the game has a lot of depth and complexity. But because of the what you see is what you get system, it's very easy to understand if you just observe it. And we are unfolding the new systems and features step-by-step in the campaign. So in the beginning, for example, the tutorial starts that you go to an island and you have a shipwreck, basically, and it's completely broken and you need to repair your ship. And on this first map, you don't have to, let's say, train magical units or do subsurface mining. So it starts much easier and step-by-step you learn the new systems and the new mechanics. And I can assure you it's really a great pleasure in that way because... we have more than 100 different commodities, more than 70 different buildings, but you really learn this step by step and it gets a lot of fun."
Du kan se hela intervjun med Wertich nedan, och när det gäller när Pioneers of Pagonia kommer att lämna Early Access är detta planerat till den 11 december 2025.
