Why Early Access?

“Three Kingdoms: Alias is a long-form strategy simulation built around hidden officer identities, controlled information, realistic constraints, and difficult personnel decisions. The core direction is already established; Early Access is about refining the full-campaign strategy experience around it with players. We want feedback on long-term balance, AI pressure, scenario and ruler variety, mid-to-late game pacing, UI clarity, and the different play styles that emerge across repeated campaigns.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We currently plan for Early Access to last about 6 to 12 months. The exact timing may change depending on player feedback, stability, balance needs, and the improvements that prove most important after release.”

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

“The full version is planned to be a more stable, better balanced, and more polished version of the same core game. During Early Access, we plan to refine campaign pacing, AI decisions, UI guidance, combat balance, localization quality, and mid-to-late game flow. We also plan to improve the presentation of events, officer identity reveals, and community-requested usability details where they fit the game's direction.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The Early Access version supports full-length campaign play. It includes 5 scenario years (190, 195, 200, 205, and 210), 30 playable rulers, and a roster of 953 officers. Players can recruit and appoint officers, develop cities, manage resources, conduct diplomacy and intelligence, move armies and supplies, fight field and siege battles, resolve duels, investigate officer aliases, and pursue unification.
The game includes three standard name modes: Real Name, Hybrid, and Alias. For experienced players, Hardship mode adds higher difficulty levels and customizable options such as messenger rules, affinity display, complete-alias play, and max-stat starts. A unification campaign generally takes about 5 to 6 hours even for experienced players, and high-difficulty challenges or themed runs may take longer. The core systems are in place, while balance, AI quality, UI clarity, localization polish, and mid-to-late game pacing are still being improved.”

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

“The Early Access price reflects the content and polish available during Early Access. We currently plan to raise the price when the game leaves Early Access and reaches full release, in line with the additional content, features, and overall polish added by then. Any meaningful price change will be announced in advance so players can make an informed decision.”

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

“We plan to use Steam discussions, announcements, feedback forms, patch notes, and playtests to gather feedback. We are especially interested in reports about bugs, unclear UI, balance problems, AI behavior, localization issues, long-campaign information flow, and identity-reveal pacing. Community feedback will help us decide which improvements should be prioritized during Early Access.”