Fair play

Our fair‑play promises

Lots of games say “not pay‑to‑win”. Here is what it means for us, what is decided and what we will design with you.

Realm Ward is in development. Everything here is a design commitment or goal, not a finished feature.

Promise 1: power cannot be bought

What it means

Nothing that gives a combat advantage will be sold. If something makes you stronger than another player, it will not be for sale.

How it is funded

Free to play. Funded by ads and a seasonal battle pass with cosmetic and style rewards: nothing that gives a combat advantage.

Why

Other games in the genre charge for “convenience” features that end up being an advantage: scouting several cities at once, automatic gear switching or extra expeditions. That is what players in the genre describe on Reddit, for example a second expedition costing 800 sapphires.

Our design intent: if a feature gives an advantage, it should belong to everyone, not to whoever pays. This is not a list of promised features; it is the principle we will decide by.

Sources: public player comments on Reddit (Feb and Apr 2026).

Promise 2: never against someone with triple your power

The problem

In many conquest games, veterans and “whales” end up in the leagues of newcomers. One player put it this way on Google Play: someone has 1 gillion soldiers… wipes your week of progress overnight. Others describe clans rotating between leagues to crush new players and ask for a prestige + gear score system.

Sources: public Google Play review (Jul 2026) and Reddit comments (Sep 2026).

Our goal

You will never face players with about 3 times your stats.

What we don't know yet

The exact mechanism is open. Some options on the table:

How we will decide

With a public survey on fair matchmaking and by sharing the process in the devlog (coming soon).

How you can keep us honest

Frequently asked questions

Will Realm Ward be free?

Yes, it will be free to play. It will be funded by ads and a seasonal battle pass, and it will not be pay‑to‑win.

Will you be able to buy anything?

Nothing that gives power. The seasonal battle pass will only give cosmetic and style rewards.

What if someone has much more experience than me?

Our goal is that you never face players with about 3 times your stats. How that “3 times” is measured (stats, gear score, prestige…) is still undecided, and we want to decide it with the community.

How will you stop veterans from staying in low leagues to farm newcomers?

It is one of the problems we want to solve and we don’t have the mechanism yet. Options we are studying: measuring experience from past seasons (prestige), leagues or servers split by power, or penalties for attacking someone much weaker. Tell us what you would do.

When will we know how matchmaking works?

When we decide it, after analysing the survey. We will publish a summary of the answers and the decision in the devlog (coming soon). There is no fixed date.

Help us design the matchmaking

Three minutes. Your answers literally shape the game.

Take the survey

Join the waitlist

Optional: one quick question
Where would you like to play? (just a poll, not a promise)