RAEV: Kingdom on the Distant Shores preview – An ambitious fantasy 4X city-builder with RPG elements

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Gamescom 2025 featured a lot of great games, including the highly anticipated The Expanse: Osirin Reborn, the dark and gritty sequels Dawn of War 4 and Mechanicus 2, and the impressive Anno 117. However, my personal favorite game from the show was a title called RAEV.

Ravine Games’ new strategy game is difficult to categorize, and that’s what makes it so appealing. It combines city-building – where you create impressive towns and manage complex production – with the large-scale exploration and conquest of a 4X strategy game. On top of that, it features RPG elements, letting you assemble teams of heroes to delve into dungeons for loot. Surprisingly, all these different parts come together to create a truly immersive strategy experience.

I was chatting with the developers at their show booth, and they explained that they’re really focusing on building up a whole kingdom in the game, rather than just a city. They said it’s easier to think of it that way, and honestly, it makes a lot of sense when they put it like that!

RAEV creates a relaxing and inviting atmosphere, similar to games like Pioneers of Pagonia and Fabledom, and offers plenty of options to adjust how challenging the gameplay is. But you’ll customize more than just the difficulty at the beginning. The biome you choose to start in is especially important. When the game launches in Early Access, there will be six different biomes available, and they’re more than just cosmetic changes. Each environment has its own unique resources, obstacles, and how the landscape is created, leading to vastly different gameplay experiences.

Forests with mountains offer many natural defenses, creating narrow passages where you can control enemy movement. Savannahs are more open, but have elevated areas you can reach once you unlock elevators. However, finding enough food and water will be harder in a dry environment like the savannah. Ultimately, your choice of location impacts your strategy from the very beginning, as you balance the advantages and disadvantages of each – or simply pick a setting that fits the style you’re going for.

Each campaign starts with a core storyline – you can skip the dialogue if you replay it – where your first colonists are stranded in a new, unknown territory. Like most city-building games, your goal is to construct housing, create a strong economy, and keep your people happy so you can unlock more advanced buildings.

RAEV lets you build pretty freely, using a system of add-on pieces much like the games Fabledom and Manor Lords. Each area you build in is quite large – two kilometers by two kilometers – giving you lots of space and flexibility for designing your settlements.

The developers are focused on letting players have fun shaping the game world. They envision cities built into cliffsides, winding up mountains, or even nestled within huge chasms, and they’re building tools to make that possible – which will really enhance the game’s fantastical feel. Players will be able to build things like stairs, ramps, bridges, tunnels, and elevators to make these environments truly livable. Because resources aren’t automatically delivered, players will need to think about how to move them around, making logistics an important part of the game.

From the beginning, the game includes light role-playing features. Each townsperson has their own preferences and dislikes, which impact how well they perform different jobs. People who enjoy their work are more productive and gain experience faster. This is important because more advanced jobs require experience in the basic versions of those roles.

The developers explain that creating a powerful Paladin isn’t done directly. Instead, you start with a regular citizen, train them as a soldier, and then promote them through the ranks to become a veteran knight. Finally, after a few levels as a cleric, they’ll be ready to become a Paladin.

Putting a lot of time and effort into developing just one Paladin shows how powerful individual units can become – losing a hero like that is a big deal. This system fits perfectly with the game’s fantasy setting and helps you build strong connections with your kingdom. It makes building and managing your realm feel personal without being too complicated. You don’t need to micromanage everyone, but you’ll keep track of the important people in your realm.

This system connects the city-building and kingdom-building aspects of the game. You won’t just be building one city; there’s a larger world map where you can establish multiple cities, manage resources, and move armies – similar to a 4X strategy game. Each city you place on the map starts as a construction project in the city-building mode, but once developed, it can operate independently with a governor.

The developers of RAEV say it’s technically possible to conquer the entire game world and become its sole ruler, though it would take around 100 hours of gameplay. What makes RAEV appealing is its variety: within a single campaign, you can choose to build and manage cities, fight large-scale wars, lead a group of adventurers through dungeons, or protect resource caravans. All these activities take place in the same interconnected world, and each one impacts the others.

The game is also planned to include features like forming alliances and trading with other kingdoms, which will make gameplay more complex and strategic. The developers describe this as a simplified version of the mechanics found in games like ‘Crusader Kings’.

If you enjoy games like Crusader Kings, The Settlers, and Age of Wonders, then you’ll definitely want to add RAEV to your wishlist.

RAEV is planned to come to PC in 2026.

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2025-10-07 18:47