Developer Diary #18 | Taming the Open Wilds of 13th Century Mongolia
Dear Couriers,
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 will be successful.
[h2]The Road to Early Access[/h2]
As described in Dev Diary #16, the priorities we set ourselves are about adding new features as well as polishing what’s already there:
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:
Ideal spot for a Courier Rider to take a break
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Rethinking Horse Movement[/h2]
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:
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 during Early Access to get the most out of the new system.
C: The Outcome
Once migration is complete, you will notice:
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!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]First impressions of new CCC
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Systems vs. Story[/h2]
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!
Are you looking forward to our Early Access launch? Do you have any questions for us? Please feel free to post a comment below. 🙂
[hr][/hr][h3]Previous Developer Diaries can be found here:[/h3]
[hr][/hr][h2]Join the Community[/h2][p]Bluesky Facebook Instagram Threads TikTok Twitter
Discord Twitch YouTube Website[/p]
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 will be successful.
[h2]The Road to Early Access[/h2]
As described in Dev Diary #16, 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.
- See: The Legend of Khiimori - Developer Diary #16 | Our Updated Roadmap to Early Access - Steam News
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 Mechanic
Ideal spot for a Courier Rider to take a break[hr][/hr]
[h2]Rethinking Horse Movement[/h2]
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 braking did 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 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!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]First impressions of new CCC
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Systems vs. Story[/h2]
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!Are you looking forward to our Early Access launch? Do you have any questions for us? Please feel free to post a comment below. 🙂
[hr][/hr][h3]Previous Developer Diaries can be found here:[/h3]
- [p]#02 | An Open World[/p]
- [p]#03 | PC Early Access[/p]
- [p]#04 | Horse Training and Horse Care[/p]
- [p]#05 | All Eyes on Khiimori[/p]
- [p]#06 | Cantering towards Crowdfunding[/p]
- [p]#07 | Looking Forward to Next Year[/p]
- [p]#08 | Updates from the Steppe[/p]
- [p]#09 | Survival on Horseback[/p]
- [p]#10 | Early Access Expectations[/p]
- [p]#11 | Thousands of Bugfixes and Other Improvements[/p]
- [p]#12 | Join Us at Gamescom! (and Other Updates!)[/p]
- [p]#13 | EA Release Date, Gameplay Trailer & Gamescom Highlights[/p]
- [p]#14 | News about Game’s Title, Languages & Alpha Playtest Survey[/p]
- [p] #15 | Breeding in our Demo, Performance Considerations & More[/p]
- [p]#16 | Our Updated Roadmap to Early Access[/p]
- [p]#17 | 2025: A Year in Review[/p]
[hr][/hr][h2]Join the Community[/h2][p]Bluesky Facebook Instagram Threads TikTok Twitter
Discord Twitch YouTube Website[/p]