- August 2026 Dragon Magic Tournament - 18 June 2026
Illyriad is pleased to announce that the August 2026 Fall Tournament will feature a very special prize, with winners having the chance to win the game's first magical military unit. The White Wyrm functions as a siege engine in an attacking army, and it moves at speeds and with accuracy that no catapult can match.However, it isn't its speed or accuracy that makes the White Wyrm unique -- it's the magic associated with the unit. Any time the White Wyrm is attacked, it attempts to cast a spell on the attacking army that can kill one of its commanders -- a powerful defensive ability that could change the game's combat meta forever.Battle magic has been rumored and sought after for the past 15 years in Illyriad. Now, players will truly be able to wield magic on the battlefield.Read all about the tournament and the prize here.
- Siege Warfare Combat Updates - 18 June 2026
Recently, Illyriad made three substantial game updates that impact siege warfare in the game. Terrain Modifiers Update: Cavalry units' attack bonus and spear units' defensive bonus on plains terrain were rebalanced so that siege warfare on plains squares is more balanced. Read about the update here.Siege Engine Speed Increases: After implementing movement speed increases for mounted and unmounted units, the developers finally rolled out significant movement speed increases for siege engines that allow the siege army to reach its target faster. Read about the update here.Increased Concurrent Siege Engine Firing: Since the beginning of Illyriad, a maximum of 30 siege engines were permitted fire concurrently in a siege. Now, a maximum of 40 concurrent siege engines firing is possible. Get all of the details on this update here.We are excited about these changes and believe that they will h…
- Heart of Corruption Quest Finally Completed + Spring Eagle Tournament - 8 February 2026
In a stunning development, the 2025-2026 class of Illyrians have finally manageed to solve the elusive Heart of Corruption quest, a puzzle that has baffled the server for 15 years. A multi-alliance team of game veterans and avid questers worked together tirelessly to trigger "Audrey" and get the complex, multi-faceted quest started again, this time receiving widespread support from a wide range of players to complete the quest.The last time the server had gotten close to its completion was in 2014, though, in retrospect, that class only got about halfway through the HoC. This new attempt revealed never-before-seen phenomena, such as direct Melder attacks on quest cities and the unprecedented de-misting of the Misted Lands. Those who completed the quest won one of 4 exclusive racial discoveries, which allow them to build 1 of 4 pieces of gear: the Elven Spirit Bow, Dwarven Champion's Arm…
- Players Attempt Third Task of Elusive Heart of Corruption Quest - 19 January 2026
Illyriad's class of 2025-2026 have managed to do what many believed was impossible: complete "The Greatest Quest on Illyriad." Yesterday, during the start of the new moon, the everlasting mist from from The Misted Lands -- an enchanted, mountain-flecked forest glade in Kal Tikikan -- mysteriously lifted, revealing its stunning geography . . . namely, the 14 bleak mountain peaks that typically pierce the veil of fog. For the first time ever, armies were able to navigate and encamp in these lands. Those who are still on the Heart of Corruption quest -- as well as fortune-seekers, troublemakers, and other adventurers -- have moved quickly to explore and control the Bleak Mountains of the Misted Lands in hopes of finishing the final task of The Greatest Quest in Illyria!So, what is this "greatest quest?"The greatest quest on Illyriad is the elusive Heart of Corruption quest that has befuddl…
- Illypedia Game Wiki Launch - 28 September 2025
Illyriad is pleased to announce the launch of Illypedia, the game’s first official wiki resource. Illypedia offers players a unique blend of game-oriented content, including a definitive, up-to-date knowledge base of descriptions and stats for all of the game’s units and structures, as well as deep, immersive lore entries that expand Illyriad’s legendarium beyond its in-game features.The launch of Illypedia is the result of 4+ months of steady, behind-the-scenes work to create, assemble, and present the content in a format that is easily searchable and accessible. The site, which is built in a subdomain of the main Illyriad website, features a responsive search field, A-Z navigation, and several menu drop-downs that organizes wiki content for easy user access. Additionally, Illypedia features an extensive list of contextual internal links that allows users to freely navigate related con…
- Illyriad News Update - Summer 2025 - 11 August 2025
It's an understatement to say that it's been a minute since we've updated our Steam profile. That's the bad news. The good news is that we've been updating the game over the past 2 years and making meaningful improvements and content updates on a major scale. Here's a comprehensive update on everything we've done to improve the game:New Designers & ModeratorsIllyriad's DEVS added GMs Jejune, Duran, and Malek to team, with Jejune working on the designs for the upcoming Faction AI release and lore-related content, Duran taking the lead role as game moderator, and Malek bringing his Illy combat experience to designing and updating new combat systems and content. The new GMs -- all three of which are ex-players -- have bridged the gap between players and DEVS, leadiing the game into a new era of crowdsourced, player-inspired updates and a healthier community.Cleaned-up Global ChatGM Duran h…
- Illyriad - Grand Strategy MMO is now free to play! - 21 May 2021
Illyriad is now free-to-play! Jump into this grand strategy game with a huge, persistent fantasy world full of magic, shifting alliances, political intrigue and warfare. Build a city and create an empire with thousands of players in this award-winning, critically-acclaimed MMO. Forge Alliances with thousands of players. Craft and Trade 380+ resources and items in an entirely player driven market, across a vast, varied world. Side with 100+ warring NPC factions and their 700+ unit types. Research 400+ technologies, and build 70+ building types to create your own specialised cities. Gather exotic resources, craft rare items, master mighty magics, command thieves and assassins, explore and settle new lands in the 8.6 million square world of Illyriad. Illyriad is a strategy game of extraordinary depth and variety. With a great community, multiple paths for city specialisation, and frequent…
- We are moving to Free-to-Play! - 14 April 2021
As we continue to support our player community and make it even easier to get involved in the Kingdom of Illyriad, we wanted to let you know that Illyriad will soon be free to play on Steam! If you have previously purchased Illyriad through Steam, just a quick reminder that you would have received 200 Prestige (in-game currency) plus an additional 25 for starting a new account. That Prestige is still good to use, if you have kept an active account, so get in there and get some extra in-game benefits! Going forward, when you join on Steam as FTP, you will still receive 25 free Prestige for starting a new account.
- Fall Tournament - 2020 - 3 August 2020
From one second into the beginning of the tournament month, through to Midnight on the last day of the tournament month, any member of any alliance in occupation of these squares receives credit for holding the square. Occupation credit and details will be shown on the ingame tournament pages, as usual. Credit is based on the length of occupation of each square. Time occupied by an alliance on each square counts towards the Alliance total. This credit is on an alliance basis - individual players cannot receive rewards from participating in these tournaments. You are not allowed to leave your alliance, or be kicked from your alliance _while you have any armies present_ on one of the Tournament Squares. All NAPs, Confeds etc are suspended for the duration of this tournament for any military interaction on the Tournament Squares. The Peace of the Camp rule *will not work* on these Tourname…
- Summer Tournament - 2020 - 29 April 2020
From one second into the beginning of the tournament month, through to Midnight on the last day of the tournament month, any member of any alliance in occupation of these squares receives credit for holding the square. Occupation credit and details will be shown on the ingame tournament pages, as usual. Credit is based on the length of occupation of each square. Time occupied by an alliance on each square counts towards the Alliance total. This credit is on an alliance basis - individual players cannot receive rewards from participating in these tournaments. You are not allowed to leave your alliance, or be kicked from your alliance _while you have any armies present_ on one of the Tournament Squares. All NAPs, Confeds etc are suspended for the duration of this tournament for any military interaction on the Tournament Squares. The Peace of the Camp rule *will not work* on these Tourname…
- Seasonal Tournaments - 7 February 2020
Introducing Regular Seasonal Tournaments & Regional Totems In honour of Illyriad's 10-year anniversary we're extremely excited to introduce regular King of the Hill-style tournaments to Illyriad with a truly worthy reward - Regional Totems. These totems introduce further potential for long-term, alliance-level, inter-regional, military- and production-based strategies. The Seasonal Tournament runs 4 times a year, every year, covering the entire months of: February May August November The tournament squares will randomly move within each region at around 10 minutes after midnight (Server Time - UTC) on: 31st January - for the February (Spring) tournament 30th April - for the May (Summer) tournament 31st July - for an August (Fall) tournament 31st October - for a November (Winter) tournament Tournament Rules These are our signature king-of-the-hill tournaments, one tournament square per r…
- Spring Tournament - 2020 - 31 January 2020
The following rules are the same as they've always been for dev-run tournaments, and you can skip down to the REWARDS section if you're fully aware of how our king-of-the-hill tournaments traditionally run. From one second into the beginning of the tournament month, through to Midnight on the last day of the tournament month, any member of any alliance in occupation of these squares receives credit for holding the square. Occupation credit and details will be shown on the ingame tournament pages, as usual. Credit is based on the length of occupation of each square. Time occupied by an alliance on each square counts towards the Alliance total. This credit is on an alliance basis - individual players cannot receive rewards from participating in these tournaments. You are not allowed to leave your alliance, or be kicked from your alliance _while you have any armies present_ on one of the T…
- Calamity Aftermath - 20 December 2019
Kingdoms across Elgea and the Broken Lands have reported large meteorites falling from the skies, scholars have claimed that the rocks are from the moon above...a result of the impact with the strange blue asteroid. Upon prospecting the fallen moon rocks, a group of cotters discovered peculiar and powerful crystals inside. These "Skysplinters" contain unstable and wild magics that can be harnessed with the right set of skills. Meteorites have begun falling across the lands, a new harvestable object that contains powerful crystals that are used in new crafting recipes. We're excited to announce our newest event that follows the aftermath of the Calamity tournament. Meteorites have begun falling across Elgea and the Broken lands, leaving harvestable objects that contain a number of treasures. Players may now send cotters to harvest these celestial objects wherein they'll discover Skysplin…
- Update 1.1.0 Released - 29 March 2017
Full graphics for all 9 branches of research: City, Diplomacy, Quest, Magic , Military, Trade, Crafting, Sovereignty and Discoveries 54 new Steam Achievements (601 Total) 6 new sound tracks World map x10 times faster Player town names now shown on World map 2 new player designed cities are available: Abyssal and Demon Anvil Resizing bounce when creating mail fixed Resizing bounce when editing profile fixed Resizing bounce when editing alliance profile fixed Faster gfx handling; images should no longer periodically "reload" slowly After leaving an alliance; on relaunching game a zombie alliance chat will no longer block the screen 3rd Illyriad Player Run Tournament runs for the month of April
- Update 1.1.0 Released - 29 March 2017
Full graphics for all 9 branches of research: City, Diplomacy, Quest, Magic , Military, Trade, Crafting, Sovereignty and Discoveries 54 new Steam Achievements (601 Total) 6 new sound tracks World map x10 times faster Player town names now shown on World map 2 new player designed cities are available: Abyssal and Demon Anvil Resizing bounce when creating mail fixed Resizing bounce when editing profile fixed Resizing bounce when editing alliance profile fixed Faster gfx handling; images should no longer periodically "reload" slowly After leaving an alliance; on relaunching game a zombie alliance chat will no longer block the screen 3rd Illyriad Player Run Tournament runs for the month of April
- Update 1.0.1 - 15 January 2017
Its only been out for a few days; but we already have squashed many bugs. Steam Scores and Steam leaderboards now update while you are playing the game; rather than just each time you open the game. Steam Achievements are now awarded while you are playing the game rather than each time you launch the game. Score based Steam Achievements are now properly awarded. Mystery/Discovery Steam Achievements are now properly awarded. Many game window resizing bugs are fixed. In-game music is back in. You can switch it on and off with the button at top left of the UI: Links in game that are external to game, like forums and help now work and will open in your default external browser. Thank you to our players for the feedback and letting us know about them!
- Update 1.0.1 - 15 January 2017
Its only been out for a few days; but we already have squashed many bugs. Steam Scores and Steam leaderboards now update while you are playing the game; rather than just each time you open the game. Steam Achievements are now awarded while you are playing the game rather than each time you launch the game. Score based Steam Achievements are now properly awarded. Mystery/Discovery Steam Achievements are now properly awarded. Many game window resizing bugs are fixed. In-game music is back in. You can switch it on and off with the button at top left of the UI: Links in game that are external to game, like forums and help now work and will open in your default external browser. Thank you to our players for the feedback and letting us know about them!
- Illyriad has launched on Steam! - 13 January 2017
Hello everyone! We are so happy to announce that Illyriad has launched on Steam! What does this mean for you? This means that you can now play Illyriad through Steam and can participate in all of Steam's great social features, gather over 525 Steam Achievements, and obtain Steam Trading cards! The Steam version of Illyriad costs 4.99USD/3.99GBP; for this price you receive an additional starting bonus of 200 Prestige, which is a modest one-off discount on the current price for 200 prestige. We're happy to announce that the price is further discounted 20% for one week, to allow our current and wonderful veteran players a chance to try it out! Also, please leave an honest review for the game! If you have any questions about this, please feel free to leave them here, or on the Steam Store page! Thanks for everything. The Illyriad Team
- Illyriad has launched on Steam! - 13 January 2017
Hello everyone! We are so happy to announce that Illyriad has launched on Steam! What does this mean for you? This means that you can now play Illyriad through Steam and can participate in all of Steam's great social features, gather over 525 Steam Achievements, and obtain Steam Trading cards! The Steam version of Illyriad costs 4.99USD/3.99GBP; for this price you receive an additional starting bonus of 200 Prestige, which is a modest one-off discount on the current price for 200 prestige. We're happy to announce that the price is further discounted 20% for one week, to allow our current and wonderful veteran players a chance to try it out! Also, please leave an honest review for the game! If you have any questions about this, please feel free to leave them here, or on the Steam Store page! Thanks for everything. The Illyriad Team
