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Watch trailer on Steam ↗The First Explorers®
Buchwald Interactive · Published by Buchwald Interactive · Official site ↗
Last updated 27 Sept 2026
The First Explorers® is a settlers-like game, that offers the perfect mix of organic city-building and RTS in a bustling world. Set in the time of antiquity in Europe, you will play as the Romans, Carthaginians or Gauls. Are you ready to raise an army backed by a thriving economy?
Simulation, Strategy, Early Access · More free games
As a Roman settler in The First Explorers®, you'll balance resource management and military tactics to expand your empire. Build cities, train troops, and face challenges from rival civilizations in this unique blend of strategy and simulation.
About this game
The First Explorers® is a Settlers-like game, that offers the perfect mix of organic city-building and RTS in a bustling world. Set in the time of antiquity in Europe, you will play as the Romans, Carthaginians or Gauls. Are you ready to raise an army backed by a thriving economy?
Every building is assembled piece by piece.
In what kind of world is The First Explorers® set?
The game is set in the time of antiquity in Europe. The antiquity and late antiquity serve as a template for the factions, the game world, artstyle and goods. However, historical accuracy is not a focus of the game.
What is special about The First Explorers®?
You'll experience an atmospheric, Settlers-like game that offers the perfect mix between building and real-time strategy. Look forward to a bustling world with an aquarium effect, which means every good and every inhabitant is graphically represented and you can follow every production step. Only by observing the game world you will be able to see where your fortunes are needed.
Will there be fantasy elements?
No. Fantasy elements are not planned. There will be no fantasy peoples, wizards, werewolves or anything like that.
What is the objective in the game?
You will land with your ship and your crew on an island and have to build a thriving settlement from scratch using the available resources on the map. To successfully complete your game, you must defeat all opponents on the map.
What will be the victory conditions?
Victory by military success is firmly planned. However, there will also be other victory variants, which depend on the map or game mode. Friends of peaceful victories should not miss out here. There are plans for victory through economic success or through the construction of special building-projects.
How long will a game last?
A game can last between 1.5 hours and 4-5 hours and depends on how the players play. The game mechanics offer a lot of flexibility here.
What game modes are planned?
Currently, the focus is on skirmish against the AI and human opponents, i.e. PvE and PvP. There is also a story campaign planned, but that depends somewhat on the development process.
How will building work?
Buildings and roads can only be placed within your territory.
There will also be hilly terrain that will increase the construction time of your buildings, so the properly chosen building site is golden.
Can civilian buildings or civilian settlers be attacked?
No, civilian buildings or civilian settlers cannot be attacked by any unit. Only military buildings like watchtowers can be captured.
Do civilian settlers flee from enemy units?
No, civilian settlers will continue to transport goods and will not flee.
Is there a direct unit control?
Civilian residents such as carriers or construction workers are indirectly controlled by your construction orders and production tasks.
Soldiers, geologists, etc. are controlled directly. Look forward to raising huge armies and commanding them in battle!
How do I expand my territory?
The territory is delimited with border stones. The border can be expanded by placing military buildings like watchtowers.
Will there be settlement upgrades?
Yes, by building special landmarks the settlement will level up and unlock new buildings and units in the game. The settlement will start at the hamlet level. Currently, 3 settlement levels are planned: the hamlet, village and town level.
Will there be mines and mining?
Yes, and there will be real mountains where you can build mines!
How does the food system work?
Miners work only when they get their basic food.
Production buildings basically work without meals. However, production efficiency can be massively increased with meals and new carriers can be recruited in the tavern with delicous meals.
Meals are prepared in cookhouses by cooks. The cooks get the food from market stalls. The higher the settlement tier, the higher quality meals are required.
How to get new inhabitants?
Currently, it is planned to recruit them via a port. The inhabitants will then come by ship from the homeland. It is also planned to be able to get new settlers by land.
Will there be walls?
Yes, wooden palisades and stone walls are planned.
Can soldiers be positioned on towers and stone walls?
Absolutely.
Will there be a combat power system?
Definitely, especially at the beginning of a game the soldiers on their home territory will have a massive combat power bonus over opponents. This effectively prevents rush tactics. In the course of a game you will be able to influence the combat power.
Is mod support planned?
Modsupport is planned.
How extensive this will be, will be decided in the further development.
Will there be interaction with the community?
Absolutely. I'm looking forward to a lively exchange here on Steam and on the official Discord server.
Development progress will be shared at regular intervals and will be discussed with the community.
I’m looking forward to your ideas and feedback!
Which engine is used to develop the game?
Unreal Engine 5 is used for development.
Will there be handcrafted or procedural maps?
Currently, the focus is on creating hand-crafted maps for the time being. However, since the beginning of the development, it has been ensured that the use of procedural elements is possible for later. So procedural maps are definitely in the realm of possibility.
Who is behind "The First Explorers®"?
The project is a solo project by Buchwald.Interactive. Behind the nickname is Sebastian, who lives in Germany and develops the project in his spare time.
For which platforms will the game be released?
Currently a release for Windows is planned. Other platforms may be added in the course of development.
System Requirements
Will my PC run this? →Minimum
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: Intel Core i7-4790K / AMD Ryzen 5 1600
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1070 / AMD Vega 56
- DirectX: Version 12
Recommended
- OS: Windows 11
- Processor: Intel Core i5-12600KF / AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 TI / AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
- DirectX: Version 12
Supported Languages
*languages with full audio support
Latest news
AnnouncementsOfficial
Development Summary - August 2026
Hey Explorers,The Monthly Summary for August is here!I managed to make solid progress this month, even if things were a bit lighter than usual between some summer vacation and preparing for and attending Gamescom. August was all about finishing the ore distribution system, implementing little ore signs aaand adding the Geologist! 🙂Before we can build mines on the mountains to gather ore, we need to know where it is hidden. This month, the main focus was implementing the new Geologist Class. You can now recruit Geologists directly from the global menu. To make sure you can easily spot them running around your settlement, I gave them distinct character visuals, with a backpack and a helmet.Their mechanics are now fully operational: they start searching from an initial search location, find the next possible ore deposit and move there. Once they examine a deposit, they mark it with an Ore Sign, complete with the classic "Yippee!" celebration. Keep them protected, though, as Geologists have very low attack and health stats.To make the Geologist's job possible, the backend terrain and procedural generation needed significant updates. I have now successfully distributed ore over all the mountains on the map. To keep level design flexible, I implemented a Vein Override system for tailored placement. The mountain base actors now have an ore config and any mountain overlaps are intelligently handled via priority settings. Meanwhile, the Geologist's logic is powered efficiently by a new, robust StateTree Trait.TFE Development Summary - August 2026Monthly SummaryThe Geologist Implementation🛠️ Implemented Geologist Class & StateTree Trait🛠️ Geologists can be recruited from the global menu🛠️ Character Visuals with backpack & helmet🛠️ Search starts from initial Search Location🛠️ Geologist searches for next possible ore deposit location and moves there🛠️ Geologist examine and mark deposit with ore sign incl. Yippee!🛠️ Geologist has low attack & health stats🛠️ Fixed a bug, that Geo...Read full article on Community Announcements (buchwald.interactive)Patch NotesOfficial
Development Summary - July 2026 & Patreon Update!
Hi Explorers,The Monthly Summary for July is here!It’s been a great month of development for TFE. I've implemented the pause & resume mechanic, the ore distribution on mineable mountains system and invested some more time in improving character movement.This time I also got a Patreon status update for you! 🙂TFE Development Summary - July 2026 & Patreon UpdateMonthly SummaryPause & Resume System Implementation🛠️ Implemented Pausable & Resumable logic for Construction Sites, Farms, Taverns, Cookhouses, Marketstalls, Harvest, Production and Recruitment buildings🛠️ Refactored logic flow for pausing and resuming to make it robust🛠️ Fixed a bug, that output stacks of paused buildings do not count down🛠️ Fixed, that road construction fails after pause/resume logic was implemented🪟 Pause/Resume Button click triggers corresponding core logic and shows an animation if pending🪟 Header of Building Widget shows paused state and building widget greys out if paused🪟 Flags on buildings indicate if paused or not🎨 Added bigger & nicer building flagsCharacter Optimization & Movement🛠️ Improvement - Controllable Characters accelerate and decelerate when moving🛠️ Improvement - Implement slope aware Navigation Mesh costs, so that settlers prefer flat paths🛠️ Implemented blendspaces via Character DataAsset🛠️ Refactoring - Make striking logic more robust and bullet proof🛠️ Fixed, that carrier walks on spot when they just went into strike state🛠️ Fixed, that worker walks on his idle spot if he's idling🛠️ Fixed, that Sawmill Worker walks against Navigation Mesh island after sawing🛠️ Fixed, that Sawmill Worker gets stuck at work when picking up softwoodOre Distribution System & Minor Stuff🛠️ Defined Ore & Ore Veins classes and implemented Vein PCG Logic🛠️ Ore System populates empty GridPoints and distributes different density ore within ore veins (configurable)🛠️ Improvement - Urgency got increased for loose stack bundles🛠️ Fixed, that Small Storage counts don't reflect the actual stack in th...Read full article on Community Announcements (buchwald.interactive)AnnouncementsOfficial
Development Summary - June 2026
Hi Explorers,The Monthly Summary for June is here!It’s been an intense month of development for TFE and I've made some good progress on the logistic side of things, movement systems and some general improvements 🙂TFE Development Summary - June 2026Storage System Implementation🛠️ Implemented Building Class and Store functionality for the Small Storage Building🛠️ Good types are correctly assigned and unassigned + demanded and canceled for storages🛠️ Tools are stored correctly in storage (edge case)🛠️ Added automatic tests for storage functionality🛠️ Fixed a bug, that goods are delivered even during the construction phase🪟 Twofold good selection and Resource Storage Selectors implemented as a widget🪟 Alert Storage Mismatch and act accordingly if assigned good type differs from actual🪟 Improved storage popup window so it's less confusing to which slot it refersCharacter Optimization & Movement🛠️ Improvement - Settler movement now uses heartbeat logic to track timeouts more efficiently🛠️ Improvement - Soldiers are not clipping so much into each other anymore🛠️ Fixed occasions, that soldiers loose ground contact in crowd situations🛠️ Fixed, that settlers keep walking into the void if waypoint gets invalidated on Navigation Mesh🛠️ Fixed settlers walking onto a sharp Navigation Mesh corner can get stuck🛠️ Fixed, that settlers (especially soldiers) can end up on Navigation Mesh islands and get permanently stuckMinor Stuff & Community and Game Update🛠️ Improvement - Stay in construction mode if Shift key is held when placing down buildings🛠️ Improvement - Workarea can also be set via building widget on the right now🛠️ Improvement - Show source ressource icon in building cost tooltip🛠️ Improvement - Hide "Processes" section in Building Costs Tooltip if not needed🛠️ Fixed an async crash between ABuoyancyManager physics delegate and Navigation Mesh🪟 Fixed size of good icons in tooltip for tools and weapons production⚖️ Balancing - Roman Sawmill Level1 - Adjust construction costs...Read full article on Community Announcements (buchwald.interactive)AnnouncementsOfficial
48 Hours In: You are incredible! 🏰
Hi Explorers,It has only been 48 hours since I launched the Pre-Alpha and the new Patreon tiers, and I am honestly blown away. In just two days, this amazing community has managed to double the monthly income on Patreon!A massive thank you to all the existing supporters who have been backing me and trusting the process for a long time. And a huge, warm welcome to our newest Patrons who just joined the ranks:T. L., Antonio EU, KaZHooeL, Klaus, Lion., Shaun V., Patrick B., GR3ML1N, Heinz F., Thomas K., UncleMoradin, KorbSchmid, Luutzen, Billy, scrabbylous, mrsheep heed, Daniel A., Alex, Alex, Sebastian, Alex, Andre, Florian S., Bleibaum, Louis11101997, David K., Pongy, ElCazador & Danny J.You are awesome! Every single subscription brings me a massive step closer to working on The First Explorers full-time.Want to see your name on the next list and join the journey? The doors are always open, and you can check out the new tiers right here.Development UpdateThe Pre-Alpha is in full swing! I have already pushed a first bug fix update, which went live today. Thank you for the great initial feedback! The next major feature update for the Pre-Alpha is planned for Friday, June 26th.In Case You Missed It: The New Trailer!If you haven't seen it yet (or want to watch it again to get hyped for the weekend), make sure to check out the brand-new Support Trailer that dropped on Tuesday. Every view, like, and comment helps immensely to push the game in the YouTube algorithm!The Big Coverage is Yet to Come!The craziest part about this milestone? The main coverage hasn't even started yet! We have an absolutely packed weekend ahead of us. Tune in on Twitch to see the Pre-Alpha live in action:Today, 20:00 CEST: Live Stream with (3 hours)Tomorrow, 18:00 CEST: Live Stream with (4 hours)Saturday, 21:30 CEST: \ Live Stream with (2 hours)On top of that, we have some press coverage lined up for next week!Thank you all again for this monumental start. Have a great weekend and enjoy the streams...Read full article on Community Announcements (buchwald.interactive)AnnouncementsOfficial
Pre-Alpha Access, Patreon Relaunch & New Trailer!
Hi Explorers,Today is a massive milestone for The First Explorers and its development. I have decided to open up the development process even further and give my Patreon supporters Pre-Alpha access, starting TODAY.Support the development at the Praefectus tier or higher on Patreon to get your hands on the game right now!Pre-Alpha AccessWhat can I expect from the Pre-Alpha access today and beyond?I'm very happy and proud to present the current state of the game, what's next, and what is planned as we approach the Early Access release together:Why this step now?I will go deeper into this in the FAQ below, but here is the TL;DR: Over the last two years, I have negotiated with several publishers and investors regarding a possible cooperation. For various reasons, it never turned into an actual deal where both sides were perfectly happy. I explored several other ways to fund the project, and I ultimately realized that Patreon is the best option for me to stay independent. Bottom line: I need your support to continue developing the game at the pace and quality it deserves!Transparency DisclaimerVAT: Patreon automatically adds local VAT percentages at checkout based on your country (e.g., in Germany, a €9 Praefectus monthly subscription becomes €9 + €1.71 = €10.71).Steam Key: This specific Pre-Alpha Steam key is linked to your tier. It remains valid only for as long as your Patreon subscription is active, up until the Early Access Release.Patreon RelaunchNew Benefits & A Brand-New Tier!To celebrate this big news I'm excited to announce a complete Patreon Relaunch.I have redesigned the benefits and added a much-requested intermediate tier between Praefectus and Tribunus.Centurio Tier: Upgraded! You now get access to the VIP Gameprogress channels (previously only available for Praefectus and higher).Praefectus Tier: This tier now officially includes the Pre-Alpha Access!\ Senator Tier: This brand-new tier comes with amazing interactive benefits, such as voting rights on game...Read full article on Community Announcements (buchwald.interactive)
