Game: The Guild 1 Remake: Europa 1410
Developer: Ashborne Games
Publisher: THQ Nordic
Genre: Medieval Economic & Dynasty Sim
Released: September 17, 2026 — Early Access
Price: $29.99 · 34% off to $19.79 until Oct 1
1.0 Target: Summer 2027
Reviews: Mostly Positive (565)
Steam Deck: Unsupported
📋 This Is Early Access, and It’s Early
Ashborne are targeting summer 2027 for 1.0 — roughly nine months away. Right now you get 6 cities and 8 professions, and some systems are labelled “WIP” or “not functioning” inside the game itself. One player went as far as calling the current build an alpha.
The price will also rise for the full version — Ashborne say so explicitly. Everything below reviews the game as it stands today.
6Cities
8Professions
13Professions at 1.0
12Players (Planned)
8Accessibility Features
⚒️ Know this first: the dynasty systems already work, and they’re the reason to buy. Everything around them — the UI, the city, the character interactions — is still under construction. If generational storytelling is what you want from this series, it’s here. If you want a finished game, wait.
⚖️ The Best Argument for This Game Is One Player’s Blacksmith
We read a lot of Steam reviews. This one is the single most persuasive piece of evidence we’ve seen for an unfinished game all year, and it’s worth relaying in full.
A player started as a simple blacksmith named August Adler. He built a smithy, expanded it into a business empire, climbed the nobility to become a Duke, and grew the family fortune past 1.4 million.
Then the good part. August lived to 112. He outlived his wife, all of his children, and multiple heirs. He lived long enough to meet his great-great-great-grandchildren, and had a statue raised in his honour while he was still alive to see it.
Their conclusion: “I came to run a blacksmith shop. I stayed to see if Duke August Adler would ever die.”
No scripted campaign produced that. It came out of business, dynasty, inheritance and family systems interacting — and it happened in a build the same community describes as bare bones. That’s what a strong foundation looks like.
Build a dynasty. Outlive everyone.
“An old wish finally came true.” — a returning Guild player on the remake
The Guild 1 Remake: Europa 1410 is a medieval economic and dynasty simulation from Ashborne Games, published by THQ Nordic. It entered Early Access on September 17 and sits at Mostly Positive across 565 reviews.
Our verdict: This medieval dynasty sim rewards ambitious players who enjoy deep economic systems and generational storytelling across multiple playstyles. The foundation is genuinely excellent. The building on top of it is nowhere near finished.
What You’re Actually Playing
You start at the head of a fledgling dynasty with one modest business. Choose from professions like blacksmith, alchemist or tailor, each with its own production chain, and grow it into the most influential enterprise in the city. But trade alone doesn’t get you a voice in the town hall — you also need politics, which means popularity, bribes and, when useful, blackmail.
⚒️ Craft & Trade
Eight professions at Early Access start, each with a distinct production chain to master.
🏛️ Politics
Win office, sway the law, and blackmail rival office holders when persuasion won’t do.
🗡️ Crime or Order
Send thugs to waylay carts and kidnap for ransom — or have mercenaries patrol and keep the peace.
👨👩👧 Dynasty
Secure a succession and watch your choices ripple through generations.
Crucially, every criminal act can leave evidence behind — which may later be used against you in court. That’s the kind of connective tissue that makes these systems feel like a world rather than a spreadsheet.
The Menu Problem
🖱️ “This Honestly Feels Like a Menu Clicker”
The sharpest criticism in the community is structural, and it deserves to be taken seriously.
As one player put it, this is nothing like the old Guild titles — you have no control over where your character physically goes, and everything you do happens in a menu: politics, romance, building, crafting, buying.
Their example is damning. Romance is a screen with two options — buy a gift, or woo her with words — each with a fixed success chance. No cutscene, no character customisation. As they asked: why can’t these basic things be here to make it feel more alive?
They extended that to the city itself: “what’s the point in zooming into the city?” Events and citizens are predetermined, with no real traffic beyond rival carts moving about. The 3D world is, for now, largely a backdrop.
And yet the same player recommends it. They called it entertaining, and suggested it as the ideal “it’s 9pm, I’m winding down, let’s play something I don’t have to think about” game. That tension runs through nearly every review of this build.
The Quality-of-Life Wishlist
🛒 What Players Are Asking For
1. Cart automation — by far the loudest request. One player put it bluntly: there has to be some working automation for carts. The current workaround is handing a business to your heir so they manage carts too, and it doesn’t work well. Their suggested fix is sensible — dedicate specific carts to an heir’s business so they stop touching yours.
2. A market dashboard. Another player wants one screen showing prices across all venues plus cart control in the same place, noting the game currently takes too many clicks to do anything.
3. More depth in the soft systems — deeper political intrigue, richer character interactions, and more complex economic mechanics.
4. Series-specific requests, like sending family members to schools and universities — a returning long-time fan’s ask.
5. Optimisation and balance passes. Several reviews praise how smooth it runs, while others want performance smoothed out further.
⭐ Good news on the first one: automation is explicitly listed on Ashborne’s roadmap among the monthly update content. The community’s biggest complaint is already scheduled.
The Roadmap Is Unusually Specific
🗺️ What’s Coming, and When
Ashborne have published a clear roadmap with named updates rather than vague promises:
Early Access start (now): 6 cities, 8 professions each with their own production chain, politics and intrigue, and the first iteration of interactive dioramas.
The “Stabby” Update: a big combat overhaul with new interactions, the Thief, Guard and Robber professions, more customisation options, and additional languages.
The “Backstabby” Update: Multiplayer, dynasty rivalry and alliances, cooperative and competitive challenges, economy improvements and new mechanics, plus a new city chosen by community vote.
1.0 Release: 13 professions including Trader and Moneylender, another community-voted city, Guilds gameplay, improvements to crimes and punishments, and family interactions.
Between all of those: monthly updates adding items, gameplay interactions, sequences, automation, and — in Ashborne’s own words — cheese toasts and cannon towers.
Two cities will be picked by community vote, and the roadmap states plainly that it’ll be shaped by player feedback, with dates subject to change. Full multiplayer is planned for up to 12 players.
Things to Know Going In
📋 Setting Expectations
• $29.99, currently 34% off at $19.79 — the introductory offer ends October 1
• The price will increase for the full version, so buying during Early Access locks in the lower price
• Mostly Positive across 565 reviews in its first week
• Single-player only for now. Multiplayer for up to 12 is planned for the Backstabby update
• Only two languages at present — English with full audio, and German with interface and subtitles. German landed at EA launch, and more are promised
• ⚠️ Steam Deck: Unsupported
• ⚠️ Demanding requirements: an RTX 2060 and 16 GB of RAM minimum, with an RTX 4070 recommended. This is not a light sim
• Eight accessibility features are listed
• There’s a free demo — and given how early the build is, it’s the right first step
• Some systems are labelled WIP or non-functioning in-game, including building upgrades and items
• The back catalogue is on Steam too if you want the originals — The Guild II, Renaissance, Gold Edition and The Guild 3
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
| The Good |
The Bad |
The Ugly |
| The Dynasty Systems Genuinely WorkBusiness, inheritance and family interlock well enough to produce stories nobody wrote — a blacksmith who became a Duke, lived to 112 and outlived three generations of his own heirs. In an unfinished build, that’s remarkable. |
It’s Bare BonesSix cities, eight professions, and several systems flagged as WIP or non-functioning inside the game. One player reasonably calls the current state an alpha. |
Everything Happens in a MenuPolitics, romance, building, buying — all menu screens. Romance is two buttons with fixed success rates. For a remake of a series people remember walking around in, that’s a real loss of life. |
| A Faithful RevivalLong-time fans call it a worthy successor that captures the original’s atmosphere while adding depth. One summed it up as an old wish finally coming true. |
Too Many ClicksPlayers want a market dashboard showing prices across venues and cart control in one screen. Right now, routine tasks take more clicking than they should. |
No Cart AutomationThe loudest complaint by far. The heir workaround doesn’t work well, and managing carts manually becomes a chore as your empire grows. It’s on the roadmap, but it isn’t here. |
| A Detailed, Honest RoadmapNamed updates with specific contents, two cities chosen by community vote, 13 professions and multiplayer for 12 at 1.0, and an upfront note that dates may change. That’s how to run Early Access. |
The City Is Mostly SceneryEvents and citizens are predetermined with little traffic beyond rival carts, which leaves players asking what zooming in actually achieves. |
Deck Unsupported, Specs Are SteepAn RTX 2060 minimum and 16 GB of RAM for a medieval business sim, with no Steam Deck support — a shame for a genre that suits handheld play perfectly. |
| It Runs Well for an EA LaunchMultiple players describe it as smooth and “not too buggy,” which is not a given a week into Early Access. Some still want optimisation work. |
Two Languages OnlyEnglish and German at launch. More are promised in the Stabby update, but international players are waiting. |
—Nothing else recurs. The complaints are about absence rather than anything broken — which is the better problem to have this early. |
The Verdict
The Guild 1 Remake is in an unusual position: the hard part already works, and the easy parts don’t yet exist. Simulating a family business across generations, with inheritance, politics and crime feeding into each other convincingly, is the difficult thing to build — and Ashborne have built it. Duke August Adler is the proof.
What’s missing is everything that would make it feel alive. The city is scenery, the character interactions are two-button menus, and routine management takes more clicking than it should. The “menu clicker” criticism is fair, and returning fans who remember walking their character through a medieval town will feel that absence most.
But the roadmap is specific, the community’s biggest ask is already scheduled, and the studio is putting two city choices to a public vote. For a game targeting summer 2027, this is a healthy place to be nine months out.
The honest read: if you love medieval economy sims and want to shape one as it’s built, $19.79 before October 1 is a good deal — especially since the price rises at 1.0. If you want a complete game, play the demo, wishlist it, and check back after the Stabby and Backstabby updates, when combat, multiplayer and more professions arrive.
We’ll revisit as the roadmap lands.
For more game reviews, check out our full reviews section.
Score Breakdown
Dynasty & Generational Systems9.0/10
Economic Simulation Depth8.0/10
Faithfulness to the Series8.0/10
Value at Early Access Price8.0/10
Platform & Language Support4.5/10
Character Interaction Depth4.0/10
Final Score — Early Access
7.0/10
The Guild 1 Remake: Europa 1410 — Ashborne Games
The hard part works. Everything else is still being built.
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