Pioneers of Pagonia

Pioneers of Pagonia is a colorful city builder co-developed by veteran designer Volker Wertich, responsible for creating the iconic The Settlers series in 1993. The game is heavily inspired by old-school strategy games while incorporating a number of innovations. It was developed by the independent German studio Envision Entertainment.

Plot

Pagonia is an archipelago, its islands dotted with numerous villages once belonging to the same community of people. One day, an unknown cataclysm separated them, resulting in the formation of smaller tribes forced to lonely struggle against robbers, aggressive wildlife and mythical beasts. As the titular pioneer, we travel across the lands, build up their economy, participate in tribal rituals and help other islands to eventually unite them under the same banner.

Though the game's world has an expansive backstory, the game lacks a story campaign. Instead, Envision Entertainment chose to emphasize various challenges to encourage replayability.

Mechanics

Our goal in Pioneers of Pagonia is to lead a community and turn it into an economic powerhouse. To do so we must research new technology, construct over forty different building types and develop production chains for more than seventy different resources. By constantly exploring the world we discover new sources of goods, valuable treasures or mysterious magical places. The player can both manage a community and delve into the arcane. Completing quests for neighboring villages lets us gain the trust of their residents, form alliances and establish trade routes. This requires logistical solutions such as building roads or transport methods.

Pioneers of Pagonia doesn't let us directly lead our combat formations. Our soldiers await simple orders (such as going on patrol, recon or searching for enemies) in their dedicated buildings. Different units work better against different enemies - for example, guards can easily deal with thieves, but mages will be more useful against ghosts.

The developers of Pioneers of Pagonia implemented procedurally generated maps, which make the game more replayable, as it's slightly different each playthrough. The studio also plans to introduce a co-op mode in the future.