Today is the day!
After a year and a half of development and months of playtesting, Restitutor: Empire Restored is now in Early Access. Thank you to everyone who tested the game, reported bugs, and shared feedback along the way. If you're hearing about it for the first time, here's a little more about the game to help you decide whether it's for you.
What Restitutor Is
Restitutor is a historical incremental grand strategy game set in the Roman Empire. The core gameplay takes inspiration from grand strategy games, but with a twist: each run earns you legacy points that make you stronger in your next run, adding long-term progression to the strategic gameplay. Here are a few other things that set it apart:
- No micromanagement: You focus on high-level decisions. Individual army movements are abstracted away, and wars are resolved through dice rolls influenced by your stats.
- A different playstyle for each province: Each province has its own stats and missions, as well as "provincial spirits" that introduce unique mechanics.
- Mechanics driven by historical narratives: Research isn't the only way to unlock new mechanics. They also emerge through historical narratives. "Rise of Barbarians" and "Ecumenical Councils" are already in the game, with more planned.
- Minimalist visuals and streamlined gameplay: The game is designed to run well on a wide range of hardware, whether you have a potato PC or a beefy build.
- Open source and Steam Workshop support from day one: Like my other games, Restitutor's source code is available under GPL 2.0, giving modders room to explore and build on the game.
What Restitutor Is Not
- It's not an idle game: You may know me from Industry Idle and CivIdle, though there's some debate about whether those are really idle games despite their names. Restitutor isn't idle: you need to actively play to make progress.
- It's not a clicker game: Progress comes from strategic decisions, not just clicking to make numbers go up.
- It's not a linear incremental game: Many popular incremental games on Steam have a skill tree but encourage following a fixed path - this is not one of them. You respec your "Legacy Upgrade Tree" each run. The best upgrades depend on your provincial spirits, missions, events, and what you want to achieve.
- It's not all about rebirth: You can play short runs and rebirth often if you like, but there's a lot of content you'd miss by doing so.
- It isn't without a learning curve: If you're new to grand strategy, there will be things to learn. Still, I think it's easier to pick up than many established titles in the genre. The gameplay is more streamlined, and incremental progression makes it more forgiving.
- It doesn't have the breadth of content found in established grand strategy titles: Many of those games are built by large, talented teams. Realistically, I don't expect Restitutor to reach that scale. Instead, I want to focus on what makes it different: incremental progression, narrative-driven mechanics, and strategy without micromanagement.
What's Next
If you know me from Industry Idle and CivIdle, you know that Early Access is just the beginning. Both games received years of content updates, and I think they're much better for it. My plan for Restitutor is the same. I've attached a roadmap for the rest of this year, and everything on it is planned as a free content update during Early Access. I don't plan to turn this game into an endless series of paid DLCs.
If that sounds like your kind of game, I hope you'll give it a try. Restitutor is priced at $5.99 / €5.99 / CN¥26.00. It's a labor of love, and I want it to be affordable for more people. Playing grand strategy games shouldn't have to break the bank.
There's a 20% launch discount for the first two weeks. Restitutor is also part of the "Presented By Fish Pond Collection," where owners of my other games can get an additional discount.