The Of Crowns and Chains remake has reached its second alpha milestone, Severn, and an early playable build is now available through Steam's remake-alpha beta branch.
Important: This is a very limited development alpha, not a complete game or a replacement for the current public version.
At present, the map only contains England and Wales, meaning there are just two playable countries and a very small area of the world to interact with. Gameplay is also extremely basic, with early implementations of land units, navies, warfare, and diplomacy.
There is no substantial economic or political simulation yet, and many of the systems planned for the remake are still missing.
This alpha is primarily intended for existing owners who want to experiment with the remake's development progress, not as the main experience for new customers purchasing the game. Expect bugs, incomplete features, and potentially incompatible saves as development continues.
That said, the remake has made considerable progress since the last update, particularly with the addition of functional multiplayer and experimental modding support.
How to Access the Alpha
If you already own Of Crowns and Chains, you can try the remake at no additional cost:
Open your Steam Library.
Right-click Of Crowns and Chains and select Properties.
Navigate to the Betas tab.
Under Beta Participation, select remake-alpha.
Wait for Steam to download the build, then launch the game.
You can return to the original version at any time by selecting None under Beta Participation.
What's Included?
Multiplayer
The remake now features functional multiplayer powered by Photon Fusion 3, with support for hosting and joining sessions, selecting countries, and playing together in the same campaign.
Multiplayer uses room codes, so players can connect without manually sharing their IP addresses.
Current multiplayer limitations:
Sessions are limited to two players.
Both players must select the same server region to connect.
Players cannot join a campaign already in progress. Both players must join before the campaign begins.
Multiplayer has been successfully tested between players in different geographic locations, although it remains an early implementation and may have bugs or synchronization issues.
Modding Support
The remake now has an experimental local modding system, with content-pack loading, validation, load ordering, and enable/disable controls in the Mods panel.
A modding kit can be exported directly from the Mods panel to help players create their own content. Modding currently supports data and content modifications, rather than arbitrary scripted gameplay systems or replacement map geometry.
Given how limited the current alpha is, there isn't much content worth modding just yet. The system has primarily been implemented early so that new features and content can be made moddable as development progresses, rather than having to retrofit modding support later.
Steam Workshop integration is planned for the future but is not currently available.
Basic Gameplay Systems
The current alpha includes:
Basic land units and movement
Basic navies, naval movement, and invasions
Basic warfare, occupation, and peace negotiations
Basic diplomacy and country selection
Dynamic territorial ownership and borders
Basic campaign saving and loading (currently limited to one save slot)
These are early foundations, not fully developed strategy systems.
Visual Improvements
The remake's interactive 3D globe now includes ownership-based country labels, national heraldry, improved borders, and map details that adjust with zoom level.
The interface has also received a substantial redesign, using an ink-and-gold visual style across the campaign, diplomacy, and peace treaty screens.
A Short Campaign: England Invades Wales
The following screenshots demonstrate a short campaign played as England, beginning with the two-country map and ending with the annexation of Wales.
1. Starting Campaign
England and Wales are the two playable nations in the current alpha.
2. Province Map
Zooming in reveals the individual provinces that make up each country.
3. Starting Armies
Both countries begin with military units that can be selected and ordered across the map.
4. Invasion of Wales
English forces advance into Welsh territory. Occupied and contested provinces are displayed on the map.
5. Peace Negotiations
Following Wales's defeat, the peace treaty interface allows England to select provinces for annexation or negotiate a white peace.
6. After the War
England annexes Wales, and the political map updates to reflect the new territorial ownership.
What's Next?
Development will continue with expanding the map beyond England and Wales, adding AI-controlled countries, and building out the economic, political, military, and diplomatic systems.
The long-term goal remains a much larger and deeper grand-strategy experience. This alpha is simply an opportunity to see and test some of the foundations being built toward that goal.
The remake will remain a free update for everyone who owns Of Crowns and Chains.
If you try the alpha, feedback and bug reports are appreciated. Thank you for following development and supporting the game!