Eldrem Kingdoms Brings Dragon Riding and Creature Companions to PC Early Access in 2027

Eldrem Kingdoms, a new fantasy role-playing game from Bucharest-based independent team Eldrem Studios, has been announced for PC. The studio plans to bring the game to Steam Early Access in 2027, positioning it as a premium, companion-focused single-player adventure built around dragonback travel, magical creatures, combat, crafting and the creation of a floating stronghold.

The reveal arrives alongside a Kickstarter campaign that cleared its initial funding target within five hours of launching. Eldrem Studios says the project is being made by a 13-person team whose members have previously worked on franchises including Assassin's Creed and Ghost Recon. The studio's first details paint Eldrem Kingdoms as a colorful open-world RPG where the creatures players raise are not just collectibles, but the foundation of movement, combat and character progression.

Rather than centering progression entirely on a traditional party of heroes, Eldrem Kingdoms places its companions at the heart of nearly every major system. Players will raise creatures from hatchlings, train them, develop their powers and eventually ride suitable companions across the game's airborne world. Those creatures can also be bred, with offspring intended to inherit traits and unusual abilities from their parents.

A fantasy world built for flight

Free-flying exploration is one of the project's defining ideas. Eldrem Kingdoms will feature dragon riding and a world made up of floating islands, varied biomes and distant locations designed to be approached from the air. This gives traversal a more active role than simply moving from one quest marker to another: a trained flying companion should be both a transport option and an important expression of a player's chosen creature lineup.

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The announcement describes a world where exploration, resource gathering and fortress development feed into each other. Flying through the environment will allow players to seek out new territory and creatures, while the materials collected during their travels can support crafting and construction. The exact size of the world, the number of biomes and the structure of quests have not yet been detailed, but the emphasis on open-world travel suggests that discovering new islands will be a major part of the experience.

Dragonback traversal also helps set Eldrem Kingdoms apart from RPGs where mounts exist mainly as a speed boost. Here, a rideable companion is part of the broader creature-raising loop. Players are expected to begin with young hatchlings and nurture them into partners capable of joining battles or carrying them across the sky. How individual species differ in speed, flight handling or exploration utility has not been outlined so far, though the studio has made clear that companions are meant to fulfill distinct roles.

Companions determine combat style

Combat in Eldrem Kingdoms is described as fast-paced, with magical abilities tied directly to the active creature accompanying the player. Switching companions is intended to alter the spells available and change a player's overall approach to fights. That could make lineup management central to dealing with different enemy types and encounters, rather than treating creature collection as a separate side activity.

The system appears to blend the flexibility of a creature-collecting game with action-RPG combat. A player's choice of companion can define their immediate role, potentially favoring certain magical attacks, tactical effects or playstyles. Eldrem Studios has not specified a complete list of combat archetypes, weapon systems or enemy factions, so there is still plenty to learn about the moment-to-moment action. Still, the stated goal is clear: creatures should be meaningful battle partners with powers that materially affect how encounters play out.

Breeding and evolution are expected to deepen that strategic layer. Players will be able to breed creatures in pursuit of new traits and powers, creating stronger or more specialized companions over time. Inheritance systems can often become a major long-term pursuit in games built around creature teams, especially when players are seeking a particular combination of abilities. Eldrem Kingdoms is promising that same sense of experimentation, although the studio has not yet shared the full rules governing genetics, evolution requirements or the range of possible traits.

"Everyone on the team is massively excited to share Eldrem Kingdoms with the world," said George Cercheaza, co-founder of Eldrem Studios.

The companion system's potential appeal lies in how many parts of the game it touches. A creature might begin life as a hatchling, become an important part of a combat build, evolve into a capable mount, and later contribute specific advantages to exploration or fortress management. If the final game realizes that interconnected design, players will have reasons to care about their companions beyond completing a collection.

Build, craft and defend a fortress in the clouds

Outside of exploration and combat, Eldrem Kingdoms will include fortress building. Players will establish and expand a floating base, using resources and crafting to develop it into a more capable home. The studio also plans for NPC automation, suggesting that residents or workers can take on parts of the fortress's ongoing operation as it grows.

Base construction is paired with defense, meaning the fortress is not intended to be a purely decorative build space. Players will need to protect it, though Eldrem Studios has not yet confirmed what kinds of threats will attack, how often defenses will be tested, or whether companions can be assigned to defensive tasks. Those details will likely be important in determining whether the fortress serves as a light management layer or a more substantial strategic element.

The crafting loop should provide another connection between the game's systems. Exploration supplies materials, those materials can be used to create items and improve the fortress, and a better-developed base may in turn support further adventures. This framework has become familiar in survival and open-world games, but Eldrem Kingdoms is aiming to present it through a more structured, story-driven single-player RPG format rather than as an always-online sandbox.

A premium single-player focus at launch

Eldrem Studios has stressed that Eldrem Kingdoms is being developed as a complete premium single-player game. The team says it will not include pay-to-win mechanics. That distinction is especially notable for a game with breeding, collectible creatures, progression and base upgrades, systems sometimes connected to monetization-heavy models elsewhere in the genre.

The studio has left the door open for optional cosmetic content and expansions after launch. At this stage, however, it has not announced details about what those additions could include, when they might arrive or how they would be priced. Players looking at the project should therefore treat those plans as possibilities rather than a confirmed post-launch roadmap.

Co-op and competitive multiplayer are also planned for future updates. Neither mode is presented as part of the initial Steam Early Access offering, and no timetable has been given for their arrival. For now, the core promise is a solo campaign and progression experience. That makes the eventual multiplayer additions a potential expansion of the game's creature combat and fortress systems, rather than a replacement for its single-player identity.

What the 2027 Early Access launch means

Steam Early Access is currently targeted for 2027, but Eldrem Studios has not announced a more specific launch window. It has also not detailed how long the game may remain in Early Access, which content will be playable on day one, or what the planned path to a full release will look like. Those are key questions for any game entering an in-development release program, particularly one combining an open world, a breeding system, combat, crafting and base construction.

The successful Kickstarter start gives the team a visible early show of community interest, while the Early Access approach should give players a chance to follow the game's evolution as its systems are expanded and refined. Community feedback may be especially valuable for balancing companion abilities, breeding outcomes, combat switching and the demands of fortress defense.

For now, Eldrem Kingdoms stands as an ambitious blend of familiar fantasy-RPG ingredients arranged around a central creature-companion concept. Its floating-island setting and dragon flight offer a strong visual hook, while its promised breeding, evolution and combat systems could provide the long-term depth. The key challenge for Eldrem Studios will be making each element feel connected: raising a creature should matter when flying, flying should matter when exploring, exploration should feed building, and building should support the next stage of adventure.

Players will have a considerable wait before that design can be tested in public. With Steam Early Access planned for 2027 and several major details still to be announced, Eldrem Kingdoms remains an early look at a project with broad ambitions. Its initial pitch, however, is easy to understand: build a bond with magical creatures, take to the skies on dragonback, carve out a home among the clouds, and shape a personal approach to a story-driven fantasy world.