Experience the legendary adventures of a brave courier rider! Bond with your horse and tame the open wilds of 13th century Mongolia.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Spirit Combat & Corrupted Zones
7 months ago
– Wed, Feb 11, 2026 at 05:15:56 AM
Dear Backers,
This is a big one!
We received a lot of feedback from our Alpha Playtesters, and one of the most common requests was to expand the use of Naraa’s bow and arrows, as well as to dig deeper into the myths and spirituality of 13th‑century Mongolia that heavily inspired our game.
Yes, we do have hunting in the game, but as stated in the past, it will be presented in a respectful way and true to historical Mongolian culture. So, no spamming arrows or ruthless hunting.
The other aspect is the huge potential that Mongolian spirituality has to offer. So, please welcome: Spirit Combat & Corrupted Zones!
Spirit Combat in a Corrupted Zone
Spirit Combat & Corrupted Zones
In Mongolian culture, gods and spirits are understood to be associated with specific geographical locations, animals or even objects (more on this exciting topic below). With that in mind, we decided to feature Blessed Locations as well as Corrupted Zones.
Blessed Locations are usually ancient ruins that are considered sacred. Corrupted Zones, on the other hand, are areas near Ovoos (Mongolian shrines) that have been damaged by people, thus angering the spirits.
These areas will be marked on the map and will be haunted by spirits at night. The light of the scenery will change and the spirits frighten your horse (scare buff). You can choose to ride around them or confront them with your bow and arrow! This means that Spirit Combat is optional. However, the rewards can be significant if you choose to confront them!
Not only will your level of Prestige (our experience points) increase, but if you succeed, Starflowers will begin to grow in the area. These can then be used at Blessed Locations to craft improved items, such as a Blessed Health Syrup, which is more effective than the regular one.
On top of that, you can craft special items that will assist you in your Spirit Combat.
Corrupted Zones also have a cooldown, meaning that after a few days they will become haunted again, ready to offer a fresh portion of risk and reward!
Check out the GIF below for a first impression of a corrupted zone that will return to normal once all spirits have been defeated:
Spirit Combat GIF
Inspired by Mongolian Spirituality
As you know, we strive to deliver an experience that feels authentic to 13th‑century Mongolia and not a 100% historically accurate one: our take on Mongolian spirituality is fantastical, partially inspired by ancient myths and folklore.
So, let’s get started. Mongolian spirituality is not based on a strict binary of good/bad or even heaven/hell. Spirits are part of the world - they share it with humans. Some are vicious and mischievous, while others are friendly and helpful, and sometimes they’re even both.
1.) Gods
Mongolian Tengrism is an animist faith which focuses on the worship of spirits and the various Mongolian gods. Gods are understood to be associated with geographical locations. A mountain or a river was a minor god, and you made offerings to them for protection and fortune. Finally, there are 99 deities (tengri): 55 White (beneficent) and 44 Black (terrible to evildoers and enemies of the Mongol Nation).
As Tibetan Buddhism enters the upper classes in the 13th century, entities called the four Dignities (Gurada, Snow Leopard, Tiger, and Dragon), and Khiimori are introduced. Each represents the four winds, virtues, and elements. Khiimori isn’t just an entity, but also your soul or the breath of the soul, and it’s depicted as your wind horse.
2.) Mongolian Cosmology: Corruption and Imbalance
The universe is divided into three worlds, or realms (Upper, Middle, and Lower), and these worlds are both separate and sort of overlap:
Upper Realm: A pure, beautiful, and compassionate world that is the home of the high deities and is typically not inhabited by human souls. Legends say it has seven suns and Tengri, The Eternal Blue Sky rules as the supreme deity.
Middle Realm: Our world where humans and animals reside. High places are seen as close to the Upper Realm, and Ovoos are placed there. Low places are seen as close to the lower realm. Sometimes deer stones were at “thin places”.
Lower Realm: An underworld more than a hell, but it is an abode of wicked souls, devils, and evil deities. It’s a dark place where the sun and moon are half orbs, rather than full orbs. It is the source of malevolent entities that cause disease and mental illness in Middle World.
3.) Sacred Thinking
Ancient Mongolian sacred thinking was landscape-focused rather than monument-focused, spirit-presence oriented rather than artifact oriented, and maintained through ritual rather than preserved through time.
So, ruins aren't sacred because they are old, and even looting ruins might be an act of preservation. It would all be about the relationship to the space. New things can be sacred, old things can be sacred.
For example, trees possess a certain spiritual power, and according to legend, Genghis Khan kept a collection of special trees in his palace to which shamans would pay homage, as it was believed that a tree represented the “center of the universe.”
Early, partly unused Spirit Combat Concept Art
To cozy, or not to cozy, that is the question
Once again, the Spirit Combat is completely optional. On top of that we will already have various difficulty settings available at Early Access, reducing the damage taken from the attack of a spirit.
However, we do hope that the Spirit Combat and Corrupted Zones add another layer of excitement to our system-driven open world, further enabling YOU to write your own stories in 13th century Mongolia :)
Explore our system-driven open world
Win a 200 EUR Mifcom PC Voucher
As mentioned before, a decent PC is required to run The Legend of Khiimori (see Minimum Specs below).
So, just in case you want to upgrade your hardware, we have partnered up with amazing Mifcom once again to give away 30 Mifcom vouchers worth €200 each for getting one of their hot gaming PCs. Enter the contest via Instagram, Facebook, or X:
Courier Video & New Key Art
7 months ago
– Thu, Feb 05, 2026 at 01:32:19 AM
Dear Backers,
We are excited to share something truly special with you this week! Enjoy our new five‑minute gameplay walkthrough video, “A Day in the Life of a Courier”, captured directly from the current build.
A Day in the Life of a Courier
The video features commentary from our experienced Design Director, Steve, who guides you through a full gameplay loop.
You’ll follow Naraa through one complete, eventful day in 13th‑century Mongolia, from preparing her deliveries as a thriving Yam courier to facing the many challenges of the open wilds.
We are quite happy of how everything is coming together, and we can’t wait for you to experience it! What did you think of the video above? Did you enjoy it? Any feedback? Please let us know below, or join our Discord for in‑depth discussions and everything The Legend of Khiimori.
New Key Artwork Revealed
We are also proud to unveil our new Key Artwork today!
It showcases the tone and atmosphere of The Legend of Khiimori, from the vast Mongolian landscapes, to the bond between Naraa and her horse, as well as the spirit and challenges of the Yam courier tradition.
We hope it gives you a good sense of the world that we are building for you.
New Key Artwork
Reminder: BackerKit Survey and Shop
Once again, we are using BackerKit for the fulfillment (sending out all rewards) of this Kickstarter campaign. So, have you answered the BackerKit Survey we sent out in January 2026 yet?
If not, please do now, so that we can send you the required game key in time for the Early Access launch on Steam and the Epic Games Store on March 3rd, 2026!
More information can be found in our Kickstarter Update #36:
EA Roadmap & Intro Video
8 months ago
– Thu, Jan 29, 2026 at 04:59:01 AM
Dear Backers,
Our Early Access release date on March 3rd, 2026 is inching closer and closer, and our team is working hard to fit the most valuable improvements into the bit of time we have left to make the best first impression we can.
For today’s dev log, we want to dive more deeper into what you can expect from Early Access now that we’ve spent additional time on it, which updates to expect after the initial launch and which aspects of the game will take longer still.
System-Driven Gameplay
We already talked a bit about systems and story in our Update #35, but we’ll reiterate it here because this is an important topic we want our players to be aware of: Do not expect a main story in our Early Access release. The initial version of the game will have plenty of missions and things to do, but our focus is on discovery through exploration, and the hundreds of small personal stories that emerge from the gameplay itself, depending on the routes you take and the paths you go down. This also means that what a “playthrough” of the available content will look like can vary a great deal between players!
Intro Cutscene
With above being said, we do have a special narration-related treat for you today, and that is an exclusive first look at our Intro Cutscene, featuring Mongolian VO and English subtitles.
Did you enjoy the intro cutscene of our system-driven Early Access version of The Legend of Khiimori - please let us know in the comments below :)
Voice Acting
As you can hear in the video above, we are incredibly proud to introduce Erica Baatarbold as the voice of Naraa! Erica is a native speaker of both English and Mongolian, and we’re beyond thrilled to have her on board.
For the Early Access release, voice-over will only be available in English and Mongolian. Our focus is on conversations featuring Naraa herself, and we’re working with eight voice actors per language to give life to our most important side characters as well as generic NPC dialogue. However, not all dialogue will be voiced over at Early Access launch, since many texts are still subject to change.
We’re particularly happy to offer Mongolian language support, both in the voice over as well as in all dialogues and UI: Mongolian is often a low priority in localizing video games, and very few games come in Mongolian at all. Since Mongolian people’s roles are often limited to enemy hordes shouting commands, hearing regular dialogue in the language is rarer still.
Facial animations are already in(n) as well
Recent Additions
With the extra time we’ve had since moving our release back a few months after the successful Next Fest Demo, we’ve tried to improve on the most urgent fronts, based on the feedback we’ve gotten from people who played the public demo, as well as from you, our Alpha Playtesters!
Exciting recent additions and updates include the following:
We overhauled various aspects of the the horse riding controls, as explained in more detail in our Update #35. The changes include animation reworks, physics-based movement and iterating on controls while keeping what was already working well.
We added new items to craft and use, such as additional arrow types, powder pouches and other recipes
We created additional mission types and updated our cargo missions
We added Outpost Stables that allow for the player to change horses while on a long journey, including options to upgrade them
We added places where your hard-earned in-game resources can be invested for permanent upgrades such as building bridges or upgrading certain locations.
The map now contains more points of interests with specific rewards and challenges – we won’t spoil the details on this one though!
You got an interesting point there
Upcoming Updates
As you all know by now, Early Access is not the end of the road. We’ll absolutely keep our eyes and ears open for urgent feedback and reports, but we also have a lot of specific improvements already planned for the coming months:
For example, we plan to:
Overhaul portions of the user interface for better looks and easier understanding, such as the Horse Overview, Merchants, Crafting and parts of the HUD
Improve direct player feedback on things that are affecting your horse, e.g. what is causing its stamina/health conditions
Add more NPCs for the player to interact with, and making those NPCs feel more alive by making them busier and more emotive
Improve animal behavior AI for both horses and wildlife
Add more prominent wind and weather effects that affect you while riding, e.g. with the wind at your back giving you a speed boost
Further planned changes on our immediate to-do-list are iterating on cargo balancing, active item collecting and powder pouch gameplay feel.
Note that most of the Stretch Goals unlocked during our Kickstarter campaign will not yet be available in the Early Access release but are planned for later down the road, in time for the full-release of the game!
For a closer look at what’s planned, we recommend keeping an eye on our Trello Board:
When discussing our Early Access expectations, our Game Design Director recently put it best: “Early Access is a process.”
There’s the game that we have, and there’s the game that our audience wants. Even after months of playtesting and improving, there will inevitably be a gap in between those two things. Early Access is the tool that allows us – through your reviews, feedback and discussions – to find out precisely where that gap is, and to fix it in time.
For that, we hugely appreciate your patience and your passion, so we can together shape The Legend of Khiimori into the best game possible.
13th century Mongolia and its diverse landscape
BackerKit Survey and Shop
For the fulfillment of our campaign (sending out all rewards), we are using BackerKit. Have you answered the BackerKit Survey we sent out in January 2026 yet?
If not, please do so now, as we cannot send you the rewards or the required game key otherwise!
Selecting your preferred version of the game: PC or Console (answer can NOT be edited, see below)
Update your shipping address, in case it has changed (answer can be edited, see below)
Specify what name exactly you want to use for being mentioned in the credits of the game (answer can be edited, see below)
Input your personal 100-character message for the credits of the game (answer can be edited, see below)
IMPORTANT: Editing Answers & Deadlines
The answers to 2.), 3.) and 4.) can be edited later on. Currently the deadline for when you can make changes to your orders is set for October 2026. However, we recommend putting the data in asap in case you already know it, please.
Answer 1.) on the other hand can NOT be edited later on. Please make sure to answer it as soon as possible as we will launch into Early Access on March 3rd, 2026, and need to know if you want a PC or console version beforehand!
B: BackerKit Survey - PC or Console
If you choose PC (Steam or Epic Games Store) as you preferred version of the game, you will receive an Early Access key on March 3rd, 2026. The Early Access will automatically convert into the full game and will NOT be able to “opt out” of the PC version afterward.
If you go for a console version, you will need to wait until the full-release of the game until you will receive your key. We have a wide list of regions and platforms to choose from - please take your time to select the ones you desire. To ease the wait for the full-release, please do not forget that all Backers can already play the game in the Alpha Playtest on Steam, more info below.
IMPORTANT: PC Minimum Specs
Please keep in mind that a decent PC is required to run The Legend of Khiimori. The Minimum Specs are:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10 64 bit or later (Windows 11 recommended for Intel 12th and 13th gen CPUs)
Additional Notes: SSD required. Full Shader Model 6.6 (with Atomics) support is required
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C: Physical Game Versions
As clearly specified in our Kickstarter campaign, please keep in mind that we only offer physical versions for PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2. No matter what physical Reward tier you backed: if you choose Steam (Windows), Epic Games Store (Windows) or Xbox Series S|X you will get the game as a digital key via email.
D: Physical Rewards
The physical items will all be sent out with the full-release of the game. Game development is a constant process of exploration, and taking the time to listen, refine, and improve. The extra time will ultimately help us deliver a more rewarding and memorable experience for everyone, as specified in Update 29.
Don’t tell us you are NOT wondering what these mysterious structures are about?
All Backers can already play The Legend of Khiimori
Having issues joining the Alpha Playtest, reclaiming your exclusive Discord role or you simply can’t find the according email we sent out last year on Thursday the 15th of May, 2025, from the account [email protected]? No worries! Just write us a direct message on Kickstarter and we will help you out :)
Let’s go Shopping
As you may have noticed, our BackerKit Shop has opened as well and some hot items are already available! Make sure to stay tuned for more and even a few upcoming surprises…
The BackerKit Shop is opened to the public, everyone can buy The Legend of Khiimori merch there! However, you can be sure that most Kickstarter items will remain exclusive to our backers ;)
Please note that the items from the BackerKit Shop will not be sent out until the full-release of the game, just as it is the case with the physical Kickstarter Rewards.
Feel free to spread the news as this is a direct way to support the development of our game for those who have missed out on the original Kickstarter:
Taming the Open Wilds of 13th Century Mongolia
8 months ago
– Wed, Jan 14, 2026 at 08:24:38 AM
Dear Backers,
We hope you had a nice holiday and we wish you all a “Happy New Year 2026” - the year of our Early Access launch!
As you can image the team is super excited (and super busy) to make sure the Early Access launch of The Legend of Khiimori on March 3rd, 2026 on Steam and the Epic Games Store will be successful.
We will send out the BackerKit Survey soon, so that you will be able to select your system of choice, updated your details, and much more!
The Road to Early Access
As described in Update 33 “The Road to Early Access“, the priorities we set ourselves are about adding new features as well as polishing what’s already there:
Performance & Optimization: For optimized graphics and a smoother experience.
CCC: For better gameplay when it comes to the camera, the character, and the controls.
World & Design: To make the world feel more alive and add/polish content and features.
Basically, we want to make sure that the four main pillars of the game are already fun and accessible once we launch into Early Access: Authentic Horses, Believable Setting, Vivid Open World, Enjoyable Mechanics.
New CCC and Balancing in the upcoming Alpha Playtest
As promised, we worked on camera, character, and controls in the past months and you will be able to get your hooves on it in the upcoming Alpha Playtest update that is planned for next week!
We made quite a few changes to the horse movement, such as quicker turns, as you can see in “Rethinking Horse Movement” below.
Game Balancing is also an ongoing thing, especially when it comes to the game’s economy, so we are looking forward for your feedback on:
Is the game presenting you with problems that you don’t know how to solve?
Does the game’s economy feel balanced, or do you have too much or too little money?
Is the availability of resources too high or too low?
Thanks to your feedback from the Kickstarter-exclusive Alpha Playtest, we have revamped the CCC!
A: The Challenge
Horses are at the heart of The Legend of Khiimori. We want them to feel alive and authentic: powerful when galloping, precise when navigating tight spaces, and responsive to player input. Our initial custom movement system achieved much of this, but as development progressed, we hit some walls. After many discussions, we decided to take a leap of faith and rebuild parts of the movement from scratch, striving to ensure that the new movement will be more responsive and fun to ride!
We took our playtester’s feedback to heart, which repeatedly mentioned the following issues:
Horse Behaviour & Controls Especially turning, jumping, and brakingdid not feel dynamic enough.
Invisible Walls Player movement was restricted to ensure the horse only went where it makes sense. But what makes sense to us is not always what players like to do, right? ;)
Animation Stuttering Animations sometimes glitched. Thus, we decided to overhaul the animation system as well.
On top of that, the old system grew more and more complex and harder to maintain: any rebalancing would take longer than intended. So we took a jump into the unknown and decided to rebuild it from scratch, with the potential to bring the movement to the next level!
B: The Consequence
After prototyping and testing a completely new approach, relying more on the Unreal Engine physics simulation, we decided to take the leap for a full migration. Both, the movement controls and animations are being rebuild.
Of course, scope is still a challenge. Games like Read Dead Redemption 2 have over 6.000 motion matched animations, which would blow our budget. So we have to decide where to focus our efforts, and where to make compromises.
Not everything will work perfectly right away, and we need your feedback once the Alpha Playtest has been updated and during Early Access to get the most out of the new system.
C: The Outcome
Once migration is complete, you will notice:
Smoother riding
More responsive controls
Natural obstacle handling
Greater freedom to go where you like
Larger horse variety
Better performance
Horses are the soul of our game, and getting their movement right is non‑negotiable. This wasn’t just a technical refactor: it was about delivering the experience players deserve.
The new system is cleaner, faster, and unlocks many new possibilities, up to level designers being able to introduce more movement‑related challenges, making you rely more on your riding skills… and face more severe consequences if you fail.
We are not 100% done yet, and things will still need to be polished, but ultimately, this opens up a more realistic and fun riding experience. And at the end of the day, that’s what matters most!
First impressions of new CCC
Systems vs. Story
Did the headline grab your attention? Great, because it is an important topic for the Early Access version of The Legend of Khiimori that will be a system-driven rather than a story-driven experience (for now). So, why is that a good thing?
Generally speaking, story-driven games carefully guide players through a predefined narrative, offering powerful authored moments.
System-driven games, however, hand over that authorship to the player. Instead of being told what the story is, players create their own through interacting systems: movement, survival, traversal, consequences, and choice. Every decision, mistake, and unexpected outcome becomes part of a personal journey that exists only because you played the game the way you did.
This is what makes system-driven games so compelling: no two, self-written stories are the same, and the most memorable moments aren’t scripted cutscenes, but (in a best-case scenario) hard-earned triumphs, near-failures, and exciting journeys that emerge naturally from the world itself.
We hope that you will play an active part of this journey, giving us feedback (ideally via Discord), commenting on the game and thus creating a mutual success story!
System-driven: “Ride” your own stories!
Early Access Pricing & Backer Value
We want to be fully transparent about pricing and the Early Access Price will be 29.99 EUR/USD. As you know the “Game: Digital” Reward was priced at 39 EUR/USD on Kickstarter (Early Birds got it for 29 EUR/USD). Please keep in mind that every Backer doesn’t just get the game, but also…
READY FOR EARLY ACCESS / ALREADY RECEIVED:
Alpha Playtest Access (including the chance to actively participate in the creation of the game very early on)
Exclusive Discord Role
Digital Wallpapers
READY FOR THE FULL RELEASE IN 2027:
Kickstarter-exclusive Game Content (Avatar Warrior Skin and Warrior Horse)
Your Name & Personal Message in the Credits
Digital World Map
Your belief in the project made all of this possible, and these rewards are our way of honoring that support. Thank You!
Avatar Warrior Skin & Warrior Horse, exclusive for our Backers and ready for the full release of the game
Rest assured, we are listening to all your feedback from the Alpha Playtest - to tame the fascinating, wild world of 13th Century Mongolia together. We cannot wait for you to fully ride across it! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post a comment below…
