Oy rulers!
Great Houses of Calderia is a Feudal Grand Strategy game, but, what is this? You play as a noble House trying to make your way to the most influential and powerful families of Calderia. You can achieve that goal by taking various paths: diplomacy, intrigue, war and economy. You also manage your territory on a small scale, day-to-day aspects of your fiefdom and assign tasks to your characters as well as develop the relations with the other Houses of Calderia. Make allies, enemies, trade, arrange marriages, appeal for the most useful rank to complete your objectives.
On August 30 in Early Access on Steam, build your family's legacy of power and rise in the ranks of Calderia.
Feudal Grand Strategy
Great Houses of Calderia is a political and feudal simulation based on medieval European practices, focusing on land ownership, territorial administration and service-based relationships of power. It follows the vassal political system: Houses promise loyalty to higher authorities and answer directly to the Emperor.
1. Warfare
You can be at war with other Houses to weaken them or make them your vassals. But wars are expensive and slow your fiefdom growth, so you should declare war very wisely and prefer short term conflicts over lasting civil wars. Raise your army and choose your units carefully, command them on the map and in conflict resolution. You overview conflicts and battles on a strategic scale. You resolve battles through tactical choices and with the management of your army. Your control over the military units is through production, army movement and large scale battles.
2. Economy and Resource Management
Resource management allows you to grow your fiefdom in many ways: allocating resources to fund wars, trading, and managing your stock. Resources are also used to pay your workers, make them happy and more efficient. You need to establish commercial relations if you want your economy to flourish and grow faster. Military units cost money to rally and upkeep, as do bribes if you want to take another route. Even if you choose war over diplomacy, peace negotiations are inevitable if you do not wish to be in debt.
3. House Relations and Diplomacy
House relations are crucial for the progress of your fiefdom. You can declare war, make peace, form alliances, collect taxes, have vassals, embargo enemies, or request assistance against common foes. The game adds a management layer on a smaller scale to your fiefdom and family members, assigning them tasks like resource production, developing relations, and making official visits. Children take part in the scheme too, assign them to be wards and squires. You manage your House over multiple generations and as nobles, their lives are busy and rythmed by events; allowing them to learn, improve skills, and earn temporary traits.
4. Intrigues and schemes
If diplomacy and war do not allow you to complete your goals, you can bring turmoil from the inside. Recruit spies and disrupt the rival's fiefdom from within by various means. Spread propaganda, lead slander campaigns, set obstacles in their growth by hampering resource production, plan sly attacks on trading caravans, arson buildings and more. Outsmart the plans of your enemies and steal the power from them. This is a more cunning, deceiving and dishonest approach, but an effective one nonetheless.
Made by passionate indies
Resistance Games is a Finnish indie game studio specializing in PC and console strategy games. Founded out of a passion for this genre and a desire to connect with players, we aim to create unique experiences through collaboration with our community. Great Houses of Calderia is developed by a small team of indie developers wishing to offer a unique perspective on this genre, blending familiar elements with innovative ideas.
A fresh take on the genre
Diplomacy, war, intrigue and economy
Opportunities can arise from both victory & defeat. War and diplomacy matter equally. Diplomatic events cover big social events and traditions like weddings and jousts. Engage in courtly life, trade, negotiations, and even spying on your neighbors. Make crucial choices during battles and important diplomatic events to get an edge over your enemies. Assign your most capable family members to lead delegations and interact with other Houses. Use each family member's abilities, both innate and learned, to achieve your goals.
Conflict resolution system
In battles and important talks with other Houses, you need to make critical choices. These choices can give you advantages over your rivals. You handle battles using the Real-time tactical unit management system. But earning new titles isn't just about fighting – it's about being good at diplomacy, making deals, tricky plans, and successful trading. You get to be actively involved in controlling the course of important events, like dealing with other Houses or fighting in wars, by using our real-time tactical resource management system.
Multiple paths to victory
Make a lasting and powerful House in Calderia:
- Manage and expand your own fiefdom and its population.
- Become a higher member of nobility and bring other Houses under your rule.
- Establish a rich tapestry of unique traditions to your House.
- Obtain honorary ranks that will play a major part in how your rule influences the fate of Calderia in the end.
Community creation and modding
Create and experience unique, captivating events within the game with our modding tool. Unleash your creativity and shape new narratives! Make your voice count, you can contribute to the development of the game with your feedback. We hope to make the best game possible with our community and the modding tool available for the Early Access release. Your contribution will play a big part in the development and expansion of this tool so you may further customize the game, everything lies in your hands!
Innovative elements
Great Houses of Calderia combines fresh ideas to set itself as creative and unique game:
- A conflict resolution system for battles and diplomatic events based on a real-time tactical resource management system
- Its artistic direction based on the Mediterranean Renaissance, bringing to the genre sunny and vibrant colors
- Fantasy setting rather than historical
- Key characters with their own agendas
Play an active role in shaping your characters' world, designing the coat of arms of your House, choosing their traditions and values, their territory and the characters' storylines. There are multiple endings and hundreds of ways to play: unlock and discover traditions, noble ranks, and character traits by playing through the game in different ways.
Choices matter – You will need to make tough choices that resolve a wide range of situations, from dealing with other Houses to going to war. You will have to think about the good and bad sides of each choice.
Creating stories – Every action you take in the game leads to various outcomes and stories, whether it's about diplomacy, war or other events.
Balancing Diplomacy and War – Both aspects are equally important, and you need to take an active part to develop your influence.
Impactul decisions – Everything you do in the game has a clear effect that you can see. For example, if you send a trading caravan, you will actually see and interact with the moving characters from your fiefdom to its destination.
Easy to play – The game starts simple and progressively becomes more complex as you advance in your quest for power.
The world of Calderia
Renaissance setting
Calderia is a Mediterranean Renaissance-inspired land and earns its name from its most notable landmark, an old volcano with a warm-water lake in its caldera. Known as both the Old and New World, it was once home to a thriving civilization. However, a devastating disaster led to the inhabitants fleeing and establishing a new civilization far away. The story is set in the future, with new settlers: a noble family aspiring to rule Calderia, a mythical province of the Empire. Your goal is to shine, expand influence, and prevail over rivals to rise in the ranks and seize the throne of the power-hungry Viceroy.
Calderian society
Great Houses of Calderia is set in a fictional world with similarities to the Early Renaissance period, but in an egalitarian gender and race society, men and women can be in positions of power and join the military. Feudal rules still apply, arranged marriages between nobles serve strategic and diplomatic purposes: form alliances and create a lineage. Mechanical engineering has advanced beyond Early Renaissance technology, featuring DaVinci-inspired devices and weaponry. The nobility is close to the working class and supervises labor groups. Nobles are subjected to customs, including fashion, politics, trade, and banquets. Children are sent to other fiefdoms as a symbol of political goodwill as wards and squires.
Characters and story
Great Houses of Calderia is a character-driven game where you control the Head of House but also the entire family. Run your dynasty and navigate the personalities of your family members, each with their own stories and wishes. Their personalities are depicted in the game as Traits. Mind these as you assign them tasks and keep track of their actions. Your actions shape the stories of your family and influence the world of Calderia. The relationship between Heads of House impacts all family members. Each character has a connection with another, influenced by their personalities and their feelings for each other. Prioritizing politics over personal opinions and interests is challenging and your characters can act on their own, adding more life and unexpected events.
Traditions
As time goes by and you've established a foothold in Calderia, your House begins to develop traditions. These traditions will guide you in the years to come, distinguish your House from others, and regulate actions that are in contradiction with them. Your family might advocate peace or scheming, or alternatively, knowledge or happiness. Whatever decision you make, it has consequences for your family, which can be beneficial or detrimental. If you wish to build a lasting legacy, your characters must follow traditions. Consistency pays off and makes your family stronger and more powerful over time.
Character Journeys
They are a meaningful series of events that occur in the lives of your family members at some point. If a character decides to embark on a character journey, the player has no control over it. They may, however, choose what type of decisions they make on such journeys. Character Journeys can be Romeo and Juliet-style love tales with a rival family, pilgrimages to the ancient ruins of Calderia, a steady decline into madness, or a desire to flee the nobility and its politics. Whatever the journey is, the characters enter it on their own will and frequently end up with their lives altered in some way.
Mathemagicians
The first Calderia residents discovered strange objects made of a metal material that was unfamiliar to them. These items are studied and used by a mysterious group of scholars: the Mathemagicians. They may approach you and ask to be part of your court during your rule...
Build your family's legacy of power and rise in the ranks of Calderia on August 30 in Early Access on Steam.
- Great Houses of Calderia Team -
