Realms Unwritten

Real footage, not a trailer: the Siege of Frostwatch, fought on the city's own streets. Captured from a test run; the war started on its own.

The realm was here before you, and it doesn't wait for you. By the time you take your first step, the world has already lived its history: Houses have risen and fallen, borders have shifted, and old feuds are still unsettled. While you hunt wolves outside the city walls, a king three provinces away is losing a war, and his own court is sharpening its knives.

Realms Unwritten is a turn-based dark-fantasy RPG built on a living simulation. You are one mortal thread in it. What you do with that is up to you.

What's in the realm

Factions run their own economies, raise their own armies and pick their own wars.
Hosts march down real roads, clash on the way, and besiege cities on their actual streets.
Rulers fall to coups, provinces rebel, and empires overreach and collapse.
Be born into one of the realm's real Houses, with its coin, its standing and its enemies.
Fight turn-based battles on a tactical grid with blades, bows and 54 spells across nine schools of magic.
Read every creature's level before you fight it. Death is permanent.
Hunt rabbits, deer, wolf packs, boar and the rare bear by day. Raid the goblin camp in the woods.
Hold the gates at night, when the dead climb out of the graveyards and march on the city.
Walk cities of real people: about 975 in a Medium world, each with a name, family, job, home and purse.
Watch a city live its day: keepers open shop, the inn fills at dusk, the streets empty by midnight.
Hunt four roaming Legends, and maybe the fifth no chronicle will name.
Break a Legend to the saddle, or ride a horse, courser, riding drake, giant eagle or dragon.
Play as a human, elf, dwarf, orc, goblin or wolfman. Every race builds its own kind of city.
Run afoul of the law: city guards, notoriety, capital jails and bounty hunters.
Clear barrows, cult covens, wizards' towers and war-graves, and watch them fill up again.
Seize a throne and rule from the War Council: declare war, direct marches, fortify, watch your court.
When you fall, your heir takes up the name, and the feuds, and the realm you left behind.
Read it all in the Chronicle. Every run writes a history nobody else gets.

The living world

A world that goes to war without you

Every faction runs its own economy, raises its own armies and picks its own fights. Hosts muster and march down real roads, clash on the way, and besiege cities on their actual streets. None of it is scripted, and all of it goes into the Chronicle.

You can ride with a host, lead the defense of a besieged city, or ignore the war entirely. It will happen either way.

The faction map: five realms in colour, their borders, roads and cities — The faction map of a generated world.

Day and night

Hunt by day. Survive the night.

Start in a walled city where you are always safe: sell, eat, drink, rest. By day the countryside belongs to hunters. At night the bells toll from the walls, and zombies, skeletons and skeleton archers climb out of the graveyard and march on the gates. On the worst nights, the Revenant walks.

The city watch holds the line. The dead carry better loot than anything in the woods: real armor, potions, rings and spell tomes.

Night in the graveyard: the dead rise between the headstones as the hero watches — Night falls on the graveyard outside the walls.

The Legends

Slay it, or ride it

The Elder Drake, the Storm Roc, the Mountain Giant and the Lake Hydra roam the realm, and the world remembers who brings them down. Slay one for a named artifact and a title, or break it to the saddle and take to the sky.

Some say there is a fifth Legend that no chronicle will name.

The Elder Drake on the world map, a lone traveller beside it — The Elder Drake, met on the road.

Permadeath and succession

Death is not the end of the story

You are not a stranger from nowhere. You're born into a House of the realm. A noble name opens doors; a lowborn one starts you with a few coins and a borrowed blade.

Death is permanent. When you fall, your heir takes up the name, along with the legacy, the feuds and the realm you left behind.

A siege in progress: the attackers' lines meet the defenders in a city street — The lines clash in the Siege of Frostwatch.

Screenshots

In-game captures. Click to enlarge.

Free demo · Fall 2026

The walled city and its countryside

Start in a walled city where you are always safe, hunt its countryside by day, and hold out against the dead by night. Play up to level 5 while the realm lives on around you. The wider world, its wars and its thrones open in the full game.

Follow on itch.io to hear first

Who's making it

I started this game the day after my daughter was born. She just turned two.

Realms Unwritten is made by Dj, a solo developer. It began on October 5, 2024, in a hospital room at 1:30 in the morning. For about nineteen months the simulation at its heart was designed and built by hand: kingdoms with their own economies, armies, rulers and coups.

One person can't draw a whole world or score it, so since 2026 AI tools have done the art and the music. Everything that makes the world go to war on its own is the developer's.

FAQ

When can I play it?

A free demo is planned for Fall 2026. Follow the game on itch.io to hear the moment it's playable. The full game is in development.

What platforms is it on?

PC (Windows). It's a single-player game.

Will it be on Steam?

Yes. A Steam page is on the way, and a "Wishlist on Steam" button will appear here the day it goes live.

How much will it cost?

The demo is free. The full game's price hasn't been announced yet.

What's in the demo, and what's only in the full game?

The demo is the walled city and its countryside: day hunting, the goblin camp, the dead at night, the city's people, shops and quest board, up to level 5. The world map, the wars, the Legends, mounts, thrones and succession are in the full game.

Is it real-time?

No. Combat is turn-based on a tactical grid, and the world moves forward in turns and weeks. You can stop and think.

Does the game use AI?

Yes, and we'd rather tell you up front. Most of the art (terrain, sprites, props, portraits and key art) and the sound effects, ambience and music were made with generative AI tools, then cut down, recoloured and fitted to the game's 16-pixel palette with the developer's own tooling. The world simulation (factions, wars, economy, Houses, Legends) and the combat and progression systems are the developer's own design, built by hand from October 2024 for a year and a half before any AI tools were used. Nothing is generated by AI while you play.

Is it made by a studio?

No. One developer, Dj. See Who's making it.

Press kit

Title: Realms Unwritten
Developer: Dj (solo)
Genre: Turn-based dark-fantasy RPG, sandbox, simulation
Platform: PC (Windows)
Players: Single-player
Demo: Free, Fall 2026
Status: In development
itch.io: deejmahal831.itch.io/realms-unwritten

Screenshots, key art, the logo and a fact sheet, in one 7 MB download.

Download press kit

For press, creator and partnership inquiries:
hello@playrealmsunwritten.com