Meeting Magni Games
At Gamescom 2025, inside Daedalic Entertainment’s booth, I met Christian Brümmer and Erik Schultz from Magni Games to explore their ambitious new title, Coins, Crown & Cabal (also known as Kreuzer, Krone & Kavale). This year Daedalic didn’t just present its own projects — it acted as a unifying publisher, bringing together several independent studios under one banner. They invited me to join interviews for three titles: the pixelated Bloodgrounds from Exordium Games, the narrative-driven Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown from GameXcite, and now something entirely different — a medieval world of markets, morality, and power. The map is randomly generated and actually grows with player count, with the intent of one shared world (potentially two or three) rather than many small shards.
There isn’t much public history about Magni Games yet. The studio, based in Brunswick, Germany, counts fewer than ten people. Founded in 2022, they’ve quietly spent three years building Coins, Crown & Cabal before announcing a publishing partnership with Daedalic Entertainment in March 2025. That collaboration now gives their vision a stage worthy of its complexity.
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A World of Trade and Power
Schultz opened the presentation with: “It’s an economic, political, and trading online simulation set in medieval Europe.” It’s the kind of statement that sounds modest until you see the everything in motion.
The game begins with a simple premise: you are a lone merchant, and your task is to turn a struggling village into a prospering town and, eventually, a trading empire. As Christian Brümmer told me, the core fantasy is simple: start as a humble merchant and claw your way into power through trade. Yet within minutes it becomes clear this is not another production-chain simulator. Your convoys carrying goods risk ambushes, rival settlements compete for reputation, and every trade decision ripples through an interconnected economy.
And I think this is the biggest selling point for the game. As someone who does trades in EVE Online, I can safely say that this kind of asynchronous PvP always finds its fans — the kind that lets you dominate others not by the sure shot, but with a well-timed deal and a trusty spreadsheet.
BTW, the game’s economy offers 60+ goods feeding production chains, supported by roughly 50 distinct building types, quite decent for finding your own way to the market.
Coins, Crown & Cabal focuses on quiet power — a slower, more cerebral challenge about leadership and trust, not conquest but credibility. As Brümmer summarized, “You can challenge other players online and become an influential governor by making clever economic and political decisions.”
Magni’s game doesn’t demand reflexes or spectacle; it demands judgment. It asks whether influence can be earned, bartered, or merely borrowed — and what kind of person survives in a world built on coin. Let’s unfold what each word in the game’s title means!
The Coins – Foundation of the Future Empire
Every journey in Coins, Crown & Cabal begins small — with a patch of land, a crest, and your trader’s name. Schultz pointed out that the first step is choosing your starting conditions: population size, settlement location, and even the philosophy of your merchant. Each of these shapes how difficult the first hours will be and what kind of economy you’ll inherit. A village near the coast might thrive on trade routes; one deep inland might struggle but enjoy safer roads. It’s a classic risk-reward decision — if you know the game well, you can probably crank up the numbers or pick a more dangerous but profitable spot. Rivers later unlock ship logistics, opening long‑distance routes and higher‑risk, higher‑margin play.
I started to realize how much this opening choice defines the long game. In many city builders, early picks fade into background noise once you unlock upgrades or turn out to be purely cosmetic. Here, geography and reputation persist as long-term variables, influencing who will trade with you, who will trust you, and how fast your town grows. Schultz described it as a constant negotiation with the map itself: every terrain type, from forests to mountains, demands its own risk management.
Convoys are the arteries of that economy. They move goods between settlements, sometimes crossing bandit-infested routes that can drain profits or end runs entirely. “When you go into the mountains, the durability of your vehicles might be affected,” Schultz added. “And if you’re going through the woods, chances of an ambush are higher.” Losing a shipment isn’t just bad luck — it’s a lesson in logistics, and players soon learn to assign guards, balance weight, and time departures.
As settlements expand, the player’s focus shifts from survival to the next phase — governance. The satisfaction of settlers becomes a political currency; every fulfilled need translates into order, and every shortage erodes it. What begins as a business sim slowly morphs into a study of influence — the delicate art of keeping citizens content while pursuing ambition.
That’s where the title’s second word, Crown, starts to matter. Once your merchants grow rich and your city gains renown, politics stop being background noise. Suddenly you’re not just moving goods — you’re managing expectations. Zoom out, and leadership in this world becomes another trade — one where reputation is a valuable resource you learn to use effectively.
The Crown – Beat of the Commerce
Trade sits at the heart of Coins, Crown & Cabal. Every system eventually loops back to the market. Schultz called it “one of the core elements of the game,” and it’s easy to see why. Take, for example, bandit camps, which eventually appear along busy paths and grow if ignored, turning profitable roads into traps.
I jokingly asked if those bandit camps could eventually turn into cities with their own demand and trade ambitions — that’s how places like San Marino or Marseille actually evolved. Erik smiled and said that, in the current design, the camps stay at level one, two, or three, and remain hostile at all stages. Still, the map evolves with player activity: trade too often in one corridor, and you create your own predators. It’s a simple but elegant feedback loop that rewards awareness over automation. You start checking the terrain and thinking twice before sending an unguarded wagon through the woods.
Failure can cascade — empty shelves mean angry settlers, and that leads to lost order and revenue. Losing cargo hurts not just your wallet but the rhythm of your progression.
Eventually, convoys from other players begin to appear on the same map, crossing paths with yours and revealing a living commerce. “We want you to feel the weight of logistics,” Christian Brümmer noted, pointing to convoys other players can see on the 3D map. It’s not the loud kind of multiplayer — more a quiet coexistence, where influence replaces direct combat. A single trade route can become a statement of power. Combat is automated in the current build, with a turn‑based option planned for the future.
What makes this design work is how it turns distance and timing into strategy. Every shipment becomes both a logistical puzzle and a story — a gamble against terrain, fortune, and greed. And when a convoy returns safely, stacked with iron or spices, the reward isn’t just profit; it’s proof that your calculations were right.
The People of Coins, Crown & Cabal
For all its charts and convoys, Coins, Crown & Cabal is ultimately about people — the settlers who haul, craft, gossip, and occasionally… riot. Schultz described them as “the backbone of every production chain,” but the game gives them enough personality that they start to feel like co-workers rather than raw stats.
I asked how deep their individuality really goes. Could a strong settler become famous in town, or a lazy one spark trouble? Schultz laughed and said it depends how much attention you pay. “Every settler has different skills and abilities,” he explained. “A strong settler might chop wood faster, but a dexterous one might produce higher-quality goods.”
That system turns staffing into its own layer of strategy. Assigning the right person to the right building is an optimization game. A blacksmith who loves his craft will work faster if he’s well fed and paid on time. Neglect him, and output drops. Satisfaction links directly to efficiency — a small detail that turns the daily routine of your workers into a reflection of leadership style. It’s a great mechanic for min-maxers.
Then there’s the tavern, which feels almost symbolic. It’s where you buy settlers a beer, learn their stories, and trade bits of rumor for trust. “Once you get to know them, their skills can change,” Schultz said. “You can catch wind of local problems or even personal requests.” It’s a clever mechanic — half morale system, half narrative hub — and one that suggests Magni’s interest lies in social texture as much as economy.
Magni’s goal, as Schultz put it, is to make management feel personal — to replace cold command structures with relationships (with NPCs too) that matter.
The Cabal – The Cabal – Threads of Influence
If Coins and Crown define economy and power, the Cabal is what hides beneath both. It isn’t a faction or a dark cult — it’s the quiet machinery of rivalry and intrigue beneath the trade and governance. Schultz and Brümmer described how politics, corruption, and covert actions add a different kind of tension to the game’s economy.
At first, political influence plays out through elections. Every now and then, players can run for new offices, and getting unique advantages, like short buffs. “You can’t just bribe or threaten everyone,” Schultz noted. “These might be the same people working for you later.” That duality — workers as voters, allies as risks — defines the game’s human layer.
Corruption, too, has a place in this world. When asked how far players could infiltrate the system, Erik smiled: “Yeah, it’s a bit like that — pretty much like real life.” Certain offices even allow morally gray tasks, such as taking quests from the Earl to sabotage another player’s production building. Yet every move carries a cost. Get caught, and you must decide whether to bail your agent out and lose reputation, or let them rot in jail.
The world remains persistent, and even when you’re offline, your city isn’t frozen. As Brümmer explained, “You can be attacked by other players, but only once — the system controls it.” Defensive roles like the gutter watch step in automatically, their effectiveness decided by skill rolls. It’s a restrained form of PvP — asynchronous, monitored, and limited to prevent harassment.
Later in the demo, the developers revealed an espionage layer. Spies can uncover rival agents or expose threats, though direct destruction requires a sanctioned quest. “It’s not possible to just send an agent and burn another player’s building,” Brümmer said. “You have to receive a quest from the Earl.” So, for direct sabotage you need a quest assignment, which essentially gates griefing and ensures stakes are opt‑in.
In that mix of trade, politics, and controlled sabotage lies the essence of the Cabal — power not taken by sword, but through patience, reputation, and the occasional poking in the dark.
Seasons of Power
Lastly, there is a persistent online layer — a living world that renews in cycles. Schultz described it as “a world with seasons rather than saves.” Season length is 5–6 weeks, Christian Brümmer highlighted that some account‑bound items carry across seasons, rewarding mastery without erasing the playing field, so each season is not a complete wipe, more like a roguelite reset. In the season‑based mode, a ‘year’ ticks every ~20 minutes: payroll is executed, goods are consumed, and all automation pauses so you can truly play at your own pace.
Unlike most management sims, you’re not building in isolation. Each server runs as a single growing world, all trading, scheming, and quietly undercutting one another in the same economy. Schultz said. “You might never meet other players face to face, but you’ll definitely feel them in the prices.”
Friends can join the same world, forming trading networks or political blocs. Cooperation is possible; betrayal, inevitable. “It’s a social sandbox disguised as an economy,” Erik explained. “The systems are balanced so that influence and trust matter as much as wealth.”
Each season will also offer special perks or buffs that affect certain production chains or special events, keeping every cycle distinct and unpredictable. These small things help with replayability.
The Next Chapter of Commerce
Coins, Crown & Cabal is currently in development for PC and Steam Deck, with full controller support — a charming decision, considering how most economy simulators lean heavily on complex UI design. That alone is an ambitious challenge to solve elegantly.
There’s no confirmed release date yet, but Magni Games regularly shares updates on their official discord and socials, including dozens of short clips showing the 3D models of production buildings — mills, bakeries, forges, and more. Those brief looks already hint at the level of detail players will be able to zoom into during play.
I’ve never been the type to lose myself fine-tuning markets or managing grain prices, but Coins, Crown & Cabal has something more magnetic beneath its ledgers — a pulse of quiet ambition. If Magni Games can make influence feel as personal as profit, they might just redefine what a strategy game can say about power.
And if you are the kind of player who happily disappears into The Patrician II or the Anno series, this one deserves a spot on your wishlist. Visit the game’s Steam page, follow the project, and keep an eye out as this medieval economy takes its next step toward release.
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