Capture a fragile wild creature. Train it into a legendary combat partner. Ride a dragon into the sky and conquer it. Eldrem Studios — a 13-person independent studio in Bucharest founded by veterans of Assassin’s Creed and Ghost Recon development at Ubisoft — has officially revealed Eldrem Kingdoms, a premium open-world RPG combining fast combat, free-flight exploration, creature collecting and breeding, crafting, and floating fortress-building, targeting Steam Early Access in 2027.
Creatures as Combat Partners, Not Mounts
Players start by capturing and taming fragile wild creature young, then raising them through systematic training into combat-specialized companions — a progression structure built specifically to maximize the satisfaction of that growth arc. The core design distinction is that creatures aren’t mere mounts: they’re linked directly to the player character, sharing powerful magic and unique skills as strategic partners rather than transportation.
Whichever creature is currently summoned determines the player’s available spells, combat techniques, and special abilities entirely — swapping companions immediately swaps the available skill set and combat style along with it. This creates a combat paradigm built around active creature selection matched to enemy or situation, rather than a fixed character kit with a creature bolted on for flavor. The developers have described their tonal target as combining How to Train Your Dragon‘s emotional depth with Game of Thrones‘s weighty, epic atmosphere.
Exploration and Fortress Building
Exploration spans multiple floating islands, ancient ruins, and varied biomes accessible through free flight on creature backs. A player-built and expandable floating fortress serves as the game’s base-management hub: equipment crafting, creature breeding, and training all happen there, and NPC specialists can be recruited to automate repetitive tasks. The fortress also has to be actively defended against enemy attacks — base management and base defense run as parallel systems rather than one being purely passive.
The Ubisoft Veteran Studio
Eldrem Studios was founded by senior developers who worked on major Ubisoft franchises including Assassin’s Creed and Ghost Recon. Co-founder George Cercheaza: “The whole team has spent a long time making games at large AAA studios.” He specifically emphasized independent development as an opportunity to take on new creative challenges and evolve the game through direct community communication — the standard AAA-veteran-goes-indie narrative, here applied to a creature-RPG built on Unreal Engine with over a year of development already behind it.
The Kickstarter
Eldrem Kingdoms is currently running a community crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. The initial $20,000 goal was met within 5 hours of the campaign going live, with funding continuing to exceed that target since. The studio plans to reveal additional stretch goals and new features based on community feedback as the campaign continues.
Cooperative and competitive multiplayer content is planned for future addition, though the core design remains a single-player-focused premium game. The studio has explicitly stated it will not introduce pay-to-win monetization — no “spend money to get stronger” systems — a specific commitment worth noting given how creature-collection RPGs as a category have historically been vulnerable to exactly that monetization model on mobile and free-to-play platforms.
Who This Is For
Strong fit for: creature-collecting RPG fans who want captured creatures functioning as genuine combat-style-defining partners rather than cosmetic mounts; open-world action-adventure players who want free-flight exploration across floating islands; base-building fans who want fortress management paired with active defense; players who specifically want a premium, non-pay-to-win business model in this genre; backers interested in supporting a Ubisoft-veteran independent studio’s first project.
Cautious fit for: players who want a confirmed 2027 date narrowed further, or Early Access content scope confirmed before backing; anyone who needs hands-on evaluation rather than a reveal trailer and Kickstarter pitch before judging quality.
Less ideal for: players who dislike creature-collection mechanics or open-world action-RPG pacing; anyone specifically wanting multiplayer at launch (planned for later); players who need a finished game rather than an Early Access-bound project still in Kickstarter funding.
The Takeaway
Eldrem Kingdoms is thirteen AAA veterans betting that the specific discipline they built at Ubisoft on franchises like Assassin’s Creed transfers to an independent creature-RPG where your dragon isn’t just how you get around — it’s what determines how you fight. The Kickstarter’s five-hour funding of its initial goal suggests the pitch is landing with backers before a single Early Access build exists; the no-pay-to-win commitment is the specific promise that will matter most once the game actually ships.
The young creature is captured. The training has begun. And somewhere over a floating island, on the back of whatever companion best suits the fight ahead, a former AAA team is finding out what independence actually lets them build.
Kickstarter live now. Steam Early Access targeted for 2027.
Information regarding ‘Eldrem Kingdoms’
| item | detail |
|---|---|
| Developer | Eldrem Studios (Bucharest, Romania) |
| Publisher | Self-publishing |
| Genre | RPG, Creature Collecting, Open World Action Adventure |
| platform | PC (Steam) |
| Release date | 2027 (Early Access) |
| Reactions/Evaluations | Exceeded Kickstarter goal of $20,000 (Goal reached within 5 hours of release, based on press release) |
| Steam Page | Shortcut |
