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Watch trailer on Steam ↗Mercatoria
Dinkel Games · Published by Dinkel Games
3 user reviews — 33% positive (3 reviews) · 24 achievements
Last updated 28 Sept 2026
Turn-based grand strategy in the Age of Discovery. Develop a transport network, industrialise your economy, colonise the New World, and compete with five rival powers. Inspired by Imperialism 2. Early Access — built by one developer in his spare time.
Early AccessDJCTQ 10Co-opPvP
£12.79
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£12.79
Price history
5 Sept 2026Lowest: £12.79 · Highest: £12.793 Oct 2026
Simulation, Strategy, Early Access · 2026 · More £5 - £15 games
About this game
[h1]Mercatoria[/h1]
A hex-grid, turn-based grand strategy game set in the Age of Discovery,
inspired by the 1999 classic Imperialism 2.
The year is 1492. You take command of one of six European powers — England,
France, Spain, Holland, Portugal, or Sweden — and compete for dominance of
the Old World through trade, industry, colonisation, and war. Across the
Atlantic, the New World lies mostly unexplored: sugarcane, tobacco, fur,
and diamonds await the nation bold enough to reach them first.
Every turn is a year. Every map is new. No two games play the same.
Build a transport network. Resources don't appear in your stockpile
by magic. Send Engineers out to build roads, connect your iron ore mines
and timber clusters to your capital, lay down a harbour, and watch your
industrial base come to life. Rivers give free transport. Roads take 1–3
turns to build depending on terrain. Every hex matters.
Industrialise. Raw materials become finished goods in your capital:
timber becomes lumber and paper; iron ore and coal become steel; wool
becomes fabric for training your workforce. Lock your production batches
manually or let auto-production handle the grind.
Grow your workforce. Level 1 workers produce 1 Labour per turn.
Upgrade them through four tiers using luxury goods — sugar at tier 2,
cigars at tier 3, fur hats at tier 4 — and a single worker can do the
output of eight. But luxuries need to come from somewhere, which usually
means the New World, which usually means you need a navy.
Explore, colonise, and conquer. Send Explorers out to prospect for
hidden minerals. Build fleets. Establish bridgeheads. Land armies on
indigenous territory and claim new colonies — or leave the natives in
peace and trade with them instead.
Wage war, or avoid it. Combat plays out over up to six rounds of
simultaneous fire: artillery first, cavalry second, infantry and warriors
in melee. Units earn medals that stick with them across battles.
Generals automatically emerge in every garrison of 10+ units and boost
morale and deployment. Forts reduce incoming damage. Terrain matters.
Encirclement matters.
Trade and diplomacy. The World Market is a shared auction house —
your order gets matched with nations that like you more than your
competitors. Subsidise allies. Boycott rivals. Form Non-Aggression Pacts
and Alliances. When an ally gets attacked, you'll get a war request
popup. Decline it and your alliance breaks, and your relations sink.
Research a deep tech tree. Over 80 technologies covering farming,
mining, transport, military tactics (four eras of infantry, cavalry, and
artillery), and extraction — the techs you need to upgrade your resource
hexes beyond Level 1. Only one research slot at a time. Choose carefully.
Win the Old World. Control 70% of Old World provinces and you win.
The New World doesn't count toward victory — but its wealth can fund
your conquest.
Hi. I'm Dennis, the one person working on Mercatoria. I'm not a studio.
There's no marketing team, no publisher, no second developer. Mercatoria
is what I build in my evenings and weekends because I love strategy games
and because nobody has made a proper Imperialism 2 successor in 25 years.
Mercatoria is in Early Access. That means:
I want Mercatoria to be a game strategy fans actually enjoy playing for
years. I can't promise I'll implement every request, but I can promise
I'll read every one and take them seriously. If you loved Imperialism 2
and have been waiting a long time for something in the same spirit —
welcome aboard. Let's build this together.
— Dennis, Groundwork Studio
A hex-grid, turn-based grand strategy game set in the Age of Discovery,
inspired by the 1999 classic Imperialism 2.
The year is 1492. You take command of one of six European powers — England,
France, Spain, Holland, Portugal, or Sweden — and compete for dominance of
the Old World through trade, industry, colonisation, and war. Across the
Atlantic, the New World lies mostly unexplored: sugarcane, tobacco, fur,
and diamonds await the nation bold enough to reach them first.
Every turn is a year. Every map is new. No two games play the same.
What you actually do in Mercatoria
Build a transport network. Resources don't appear in your stockpile
by magic. Send Engineers out to build roads, connect your iron ore mines
and timber clusters to your capital, lay down a harbour, and watch your
industrial base come to life. Rivers give free transport. Roads take 1–3
turns to build depending on terrain. Every hex matters.
Industrialise. Raw materials become finished goods in your capital:
timber becomes lumber and paper; iron ore and coal become steel; wool
becomes fabric for training your workforce. Lock your production batches
manually or let auto-production handle the grind.
Grow your workforce. Level 1 workers produce 1 Labour per turn.
Upgrade them through four tiers using luxury goods — sugar at tier 2,
cigars at tier 3, fur hats at tier 4 — and a single worker can do the
output of eight. But luxuries need to come from somewhere, which usually
means the New World, which usually means you need a navy.
Explore, colonise, and conquer. Send Explorers out to prospect for
hidden minerals. Build fleets. Establish bridgeheads. Land armies on
indigenous territory and claim new colonies — or leave the natives in
peace and trade with them instead.
Wage war, or avoid it. Combat plays out over up to six rounds of
simultaneous fire: artillery first, cavalry second, infantry and warriors
in melee. Units earn medals that stick with them across battles.
Generals automatically emerge in every garrison of 10+ units and boost
morale and deployment. Forts reduce incoming damage. Terrain matters.
Encirclement matters.
Trade and diplomacy. The World Market is a shared auction house —
your order gets matched with nations that like you more than your
competitors. Subsidise allies. Boycott rivals. Form Non-Aggression Pacts
and Alliances. When an ally gets attacked, you'll get a war request
popup. Decline it and your alliance breaks, and your relations sink.
Research a deep tech tree. Over 80 technologies covering farming,
mining, transport, military tactics (four eras of infantry, cavalry, and
artillery), and extraction — the techs you need to upgrade your resource
hexes beyond Level 1. Only one research slot at a time. Choose carefully.
Win the Old World. Control 70% of Old World provinces and you win.
The New World doesn't count toward victory — but its wealth can fund
your conquest.
Features
- Procedural maps — every game is a fresh world of 180×110 hexes
- 6 playable major powers with distinct AI personalities (Militarist,
Trader, Expansionist) - 6 neutral minor nations and 8 passive indigenous peoples in the New World
- 20+ resources, recipes, and manufactured goods
- Over 80 technologies across 7 research categories
- Four eras of military units — Infantry, Pikemen, Musketeers, Grenadiers,
and their Cavalry and Artillery equivalents - Three classes of warship — Sloop, Frigate, Man-of-War
- Veteran units that earn medals and improve over time
- Full fog of war with exploration and scouting
- Singleplayer vs AI
- Multiplayer — LAN TCP/IP and Steam P2P, lock-step turns
- English and Dutch language support
- Save slots (8 manual + 1 autosave)
A word from the developer
Hi. I'm Dennis, the one person working on Mercatoria. I'm not a studio.
There's no marketing team, no publisher, no second developer. Mercatoria
is what I build in my evenings and weekends because I love strategy games
and because nobody has made a proper Imperialism 2 successor in 25 years.
Mercatoria is in Early Access. That means:
- The game is playable, stable, and has hundreds of hours of content
today — I wouldn't release it if it wasn't. - Some rough edges still exist. A few UI elements are placeholders, some
balance numbers are being tuned, and I'm still adding features. - Your feedback matters. If something is unclear, unbalanced, or
buggy, tell me. Steam forums, Discussions, reviews — I read all of it. - I update when I can. Sometimes that's weekly, sometimes life gets in
the way. I'll always be honest about where the game stands.
I want Mercatoria to be a game strategy fans actually enjoy playing for
years. I can't promise I'll implement every request, but I can promise
I'll read every one and take them seriously. If you loved Imperialism 2
and have been waiting a long time for something in the same spirit —
welcome aboard. Let's build this together.
— Dennis, Groundwork Studio
Join the community
Talk to the developer, report bugs, find multiplayer partners, and shape what comes next.System Requirements
Will my PC run this? →Minimum
Minimum:
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit
- Processor: Intel Core i5 2.0 GHz
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000
- Storage: 500 MB available space
Supported Languages
English
Latest news
Patch NotesOfficial
Patch 0.8.3 — Town Growth & Steam Achievements
New Features Town Growth Inspired by Imperialism 2's National Bureaucracy mechanic. Research the new National Bureaucracy technology (Governance branch) to unlock city-to-town upgrades. Towns produce a +1 finished material per turn from raw materials within their province (4:1 ratio), provided they have a working transport connection. A town upgrade costs 2 lumber, 2 iron, 200 gold, and takes 3 turns to complete. Capitals start as towns; conquered upgraded towns retain their status. The new tech sits in a fresh Governance research branch alongside the existing trees. 24 Steam Achievements A full set of hidden achievements covering every aspect of the game — beginner milestones, economic mastery, exploration, military conquest, diplomacy, and special victory conditions. Unlock them at your own pace; details stay hidden until earned. Multiplayer Lock-step synchronization extended to support town upgrade actions, so host and client stay in sync. Achievement tracking is per-account — both players in a co-op session can unlock achievements independently. Community Join the Discord — report bugs, find multiplayer partners, and shape what comes next: Mercatoria Discord Thanks for playing — and if you're enjoying Mercatoria, a Steam review helps more than you'd think for a solo dev. — DennisRead full article on Community Announcements (Denniis)Patch NotesOfficial
UX improvements: animations, settings, and Esc-to-go-back
Settings, Esc-to-go-back, and windowed-mode fixes New settings UI scale — choose 90% / 100% / 110% / 125% to make menus and buttons larger or smaller. Takes effect after restarting the game. Edge scrolling — toggle on/off and adjust speed from 50% to 200%. Autosave frequency — choose every turn, every 3 turns, every 5 turns, every 10 turns, or off. Controls Press Esc to go back to the previous screen from anywhere outside the game: from Settings, New Game, the multiplayer lobby, and load screens. Inside the game, Esc still closes any open overlay or opens the Options menu as before. Visual improvements The new-game preview map is now centered and scaled on the Old World, with a cleaner look that matches the multiplayer lobby. Bug fixes Switching to windowed mode and starting a new game now correctly scales the UI to fit the window. Previously parts of the interface would be cut off. The new-game preview no longer shows confusing torus-wrap tiles with black fog around the edges. Keep the feedback coming.Read full article on Community Announcements (Denniis)Patch NotesOfficial
Performance & bug fix patch
Thanks to everyone who's been sharing feedback about performance — we've spent some time under the hood addressing it. Performance Smoother gameplay: less delay when issuing orders to engineers, builders and explorers Faster fleet selection and map zoom Faster AI turns in mid- and late-game, especially with multiple colonies Reduced memory pressure and GC pauses during long sessions JavaFX rendering now guaranteed to use hardware acceleration Polish Citizens now glide smoothly to their destination instead of teleporting, with a subtle hop along the way. Duration scales with the distance traveled. The camera and selection now wait for a citizen's move animation to finish before jumping to the next idle civilian, so you can actually see what you just ordered. Saving a game now shows a clear "✓ Saved" confirmation on the slot button itself for 1.5 seconds — no more wondering whether your save went through. Bug fixes Engineer building a port stayed busy after save/load (was incorrectly free before) Roads weren't always rendered as completed after ending the turn Spacebar could stack multiple end-turn warnings on top of each other Annexing a minor didn't immediately update harbour colours Various cache issues during conquest Fixed black "fog" patches that could appear in sea tiles inside your own Old World territory Under the hood Save format extended — old saves remain fully compatible Removed unused code Keep the feedback coming.Read full article on Community Announcements (Denniis)Patch NotesOfficial
Update 0.8.2 — Empire Update
New features Voluntary annexation — build relations with a minor European nation to +90 and peacefully take it over for 5,000 gold. No war, no occupation, no army needed. Inspired by the merchant-empire mechanic from Imperialism 2. Adjustable research speed — fund each technology at 25%, 50%, 100%, 150%, or 200%. Higher funding means proportionally faster completion at proportionally higher cost. Quality of life Tutorial tips for new players, with the option to replay them from settings End-turn warnings when you have idle builders or no active research F5/F9 quicksave and quickload (singleplayer) Autosave indicator confirms after each turn that your progress is saved In-game text and explanations corrected where they didn't match actual mechanicsRead full article on Community Announcements (Denniis)AnnouncementsOfficial
Welcome to Mercatoria
Welcome to Mercatoria Mercatoria is a turn-based grand strategy game set in the Age of Discovery, built in the spirit of *Imperialism II: The Age of Exploration*. If you remember Imperialism 2 — the maps divided into provinces with their own resources, the satisfaction of connecting a new copper deposit to your foundries, the slow build from raw wool to finished cloth to overseas trade, the rivalries with five other Old World powers all racing for the New World — then you already understand the heart of Mercatoria. It's a love letter to that game's design philosophy, brought into a modern engine with quality-of-life improvements, multiplayer, and a few new ideas of its own. The pitch You lead one of six major nations competing across Europe and the New World. You'll grow your economy by extracting resources from your provinces, connecting them with roads and shipping lanes, and turning raw materials into finished goods. You'll raise armies and fleets, found colonies overseas, and navigate alliances and rivalries with other empires. Mercatoria is fundamentally about **trade and production**. Most of your decisions come down to what to make, where to move it, and how to protect the routes that keep your empire running. Battles matter, but they're won or lost long before the first shot — by whichever empire built the stronger economy. What's in the game right now - Six major nations, each with their own starting position and AI personality (some focus on military expansion, others on trade, exploration, or diplomacy) - A full economy with resource gathering, transport networks, and production chains - Land and naval combat with morale, terrain, and combined-arms tactics - Diplomacy with relationships, treaties, and wars - Multiplayer with friends over Steam, or on a local network - Full Dutch and English language support Why Early Access? The foundation is solid, but a strategy game like this gets meaningfully better with real players testing it — balance, smarter AI, ...Read full article on Community Announcements (Denniis)
