Raw Power Games presented a full-scale live demo of Chronicles Medieval at Gamescom 2026, revealing real-time battles with hundreds of troops and a hybrid action-strategy RPG system ahead of its Early Access launch in early 2027
Raw Power Games has put its ambitions on display with a Gamescom 2026 demo of Chronicles: Medieval, featuring a live, uninterrupted battle between 900 soldiers in the hills of Burgundy. The Copenhagen-based studio, which has grown to around 100 developers, is aiming to push technical and design boundaries for large-scale medieval warfare in a hybrid action-strategy RPG. The demonstration was not a cinematic trailer or a carefully edited montage, but a real-time session showing the game's current state and the scale it intends to reach for Early Access.
Gameplay demonstration and technical targets
The centrepiece of the Gamescom showing was a clash between the Holy Roman Empire and the House of Valois, each fielding approximately 450 troops. According to Raw Power Games, this is considered a mid-sized engagement, with the studio targeting up to 2,000 units on a single battlefield for the Early Access release. The demo highlighted the game's third-person mounted combat, with the player commanding from horseback and wielding a poleaxe-a weapon choice grounded in historical artwork, even if it appears unconventional by modern standards.
Combat is not the only focus. The overworld exploration map serves as the campaign's backbone, where players begin as unlanded individuals and shape their rise through exploration, trade, diplomacy, and questing. Not every encounter leads to battle, and the studio has emphasised that the RPG layer is as important as the tactical warfare. Players can auto-resolve battles or issue broad commands if they prefer to avoid micromanagement, but the demo made clear that direct involvement in combat and strategy is fully supported.
Army structure and battlefield systems
Units are divided by social class: Household troops (nobles), mercenaries, and levies (peasants conscripted into service). Cohesion, representing training and skill rather than morale, directly affects tactical outcomes. The Holy Roman Empire's force in the demo was infantry-heavy, relying on polearms, spears, and halberds, while the French side fielded shock cavalry with long lances and heavy armour. Before combat, players enter a planning phase to set formations, stances (defensive, adaptive, aggressive), and initial orders, which are then executed automatically unless overridden.
During the battle, the AI demonstrated variable behaviour, with French units breaking and fleeing rather than fighting to the last man. Enemy champions such as the Duke of Valois appear with enhanced stats, adding a layer of challenge and unpredictability. The player character's presence on the field influences morale, and experience unlocks new combat abilities, combos, and special attacks. The developers confirmed that siege battles are planned, though only the siege process on the exploration map will be available at Early Access launch.
Development status and release plans
Chronicles: Medieval is currently in active development, with Early Access now scheduled for early 2027 following a minor delay from the original late 2026 target. The demo build remains a work in progress, and the studio is prioritising performance optimisation to ensure that large-scale battles remain accessible to a wide range of players. The first chapter of the campaign covers the years 1313 to 1348, with all technology, weapons, and armour grounded in the historical period. The world is designed to be dynamic, with other lords and NPCs recruiting, trading, and fighting independently of the player's actions.
Raw Power Games has not yet confirmed final PC requirements or platform availability beyond PC, and pricing details remain unannounced. The studio's focus on technical scale and historical authenticity sets a high bar, but the Early Access window gives time for further refinement and player feedback. According to Wccftech's Gamescom 2026 coverage, the team is aware of the challenges in balancing RPG depth with large-scale strategy, and is building systems to accommodate both hands-on and hands-off playstyles.
What remains uncertain
While the Gamescom demo provided a rare look at uninterrupted, real-time gameplay, several key questions remain. The final maximum unit count per battle is still a target rather than a guarantee, and performance on lower-end hardware has not been demonstrated. Details on multiplayer, mod support, and long-term content plans are absent, and the extent of siege mechanics at launch is limited. The studio's commitment to a living world and dynamic AI is promising, but the complexity of these systems means that actual player experience may differ from the controlled demo environment.
Chronicles: Medieval's Gamescom showing is a statement of intent rather than a finished product. The technical ambition is clear, but the real test will come when Early Access opens and players can judge the scale, depth, and stability for themselves. Until then, the project stands as one of the more technically ambitious medieval strategy RPGs in development, but it will need to deliver on both performance and gameplay variety to justify its scope.
Early Access is a release model where players can purchase and play a game before its full launch, often while development is ongoing. This approach allows developers to gather feedback, fix issues, and add features based on real player experience. However, it also means that features, performance, and content may change significantly before the final release, and not all planned systems are guaranteed to appear in the initial build. Players considering Early Access titles should be aware that the experience may be incomplete or unstable compared to a finished game.
