FAQs

Does Atheling work offline?

Yes. The whole game runs on your phone. There is no account, no server and no connection needed to play. Saves are kept on the device. You can play it on a plane or on the Underground.

Is it easy on the battery?

Time runs in days at a pace you set, with pause and fast forward, over a flat parchment interface. There is no 3D rendering, no constant animation and nothing running in the background, and the game pauses when you leave it. It is designed to be light on the battery, the kind of game for an hour on a commute.

What does it cost?

The first campaign, England 1066, is free to play and replay as often as you like. One lifetime unlock opens the other campaigns, the sandbox after the first campaign ends, and every campaign added later. There is no subscription, no adverts and no timers.

What kind of strategy game is it?

A text-based dynasty strategy game. One family, its marriages, its succession, its council, and the obligations between named people, set in England in 1066. The story is told in prose and decided one card at a time, character-driven rather than map-painting: you play one house at one moment in English history, and a session fits in ten or twenty minutes. If you have played the big PC grand strategy games about medieval dynasties, such as Crusader Kings, the dynasty half of those is the part this game is about, on a phone, in an afternoon.

What is it about?

England in 1066. You are Harold Godwinson, head of the richest family in the kingdom, and the king is dying without a son. Edgar Ætheling has the blood, William of Normandy has an oath he says you swore, and Harald Hardrada has ships. The game is about keeping the crown, the household and the realm together through the year of three invasions. Further campaigns follow William after Hastings and Henry Tudor after Bosworth.

Which devices does it run on?

iPhone, on iOS 15 or later, from the App Store. An Android version is on its way.

Is it historically accurate?

The people, places and events are historical, and the game follows the known record until your choices change it. Harold, Tostig, Edwin, Morcar, Edgar Ætheling and the rest are built from what contemporary and later sources tell us about their lives, relationships, claims and actions. Where the history is uncertain or disputed, the game records that too.

Once your choices diverge from history, the consequences are the game's. The Chronicle records both what happened in history and what happened in your version of it.

A historical game needs a reliable foundation, so the record Atheling runs on is published openly, person by person and event by event, with dates, uncertainty and the sources behind them.

Every entry has a way to suggest a correction or a better source. Submissions are reviewed against sources before they become part of the record the game uses.

Play can go beyond what happened. The ground it starts from is kept solid.

Is it finished?

No. It is in early access and changes often. Campaigns, systems and text are added and reworked between releases, and saves are carried forward wherever the game can. What is described on this site is the game as it is now.

Does it collect data?

Anonymous usage statistics only, such as which campaigns get played and how far they get, with a switch in Settings to turn them off. No account, no adverts, no advertising identifiers, no IP tracking, no tracking across apps or websites. The privacy policy says exactly what is collected.

Who makes it?

Shane Hudson, in the United Kingdom. Feedback goes straight to him from the Settings screen in the game.