An exploration and strategy game

Terra Incognita

Sail west, chart the unknown, and seek the seven cities of gold.

Outfit expeditions in Puerto Celeste, the capital of a mythical kingdom. Cross an ocean no chart has crossed, march inland across a new world drawn only as you walk it, and build a career for the Crown, voyage after voyage.

Download the beta Read the player’s manual

Version 0.53.0 beta · Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit)

An engraving of three ships with red-star sails leaving a walled harbor town at sunset, watched by a crowd on the quay — The fleet leaves Puerto Celeste. Every great moment of the game is drawn as an engraving.

A new world on every career

Terra Incognita is an original game in the spirit of the 1980s classic Seven Cities of Gold. You are a young captain of the Crown with a grant, a few ships and an empty chart.

A world no one has charted

Each career makes its own world: coasts and islands, rivers and mountains, deserts, jungles and snowfields, the peoples who live there, eight natural wonders and seven cities of gold. Share the world code, and a friend can sail the same world.

A career, not one voyage

Your captain starts out at 25. Sail for the Crown voyage after voyage, rise from Captain to Grandee of the Realm, grow a fortune and retire to an estate from 45, or keep sailing until the Crown retires you at 60.

Peoples who remember

Trade, give gifts, hire guides and bearers, ask for warriors, or take what you want by force. Word of what you do spreads from region to region, and the Crown weighs your conduct.

At your own pace

The days pass as your ships sail and your party marches. Stop to think, and the world waits. Easy careers offer a walk-through of the basics, and the player’s manual covers every rule.

What you do

A closer look at the game. The player’s manual explains every part in detail.

Voyages and the wind

The winds blow by latitude, as they did for the first navigators: steady trade winds in the warm south, westerlies farther north, and calms between. Heed the old pilot’s advice: run south to the trade winds to cross, and come home on the westerlies.

Point at any place to see the days to get there, the food it costs and the days home from there
Storms at sea, harder ones on a lee shore, and the choice of how to meet them
Food at sea, and scurvy after about five months without fresh food
Caravels, carracks and galleons, as many as you can pay for and man

The fleet off a coast of the New World, with a course shown: 10 days there, 41 days home — A course along the coast: 10 days there and 41 days home.

The peoples and their towns

Camps, villages, towns and great cities, each drawn from above in its own country. Every place has its own attitude toward you, from hostile to devoted, and remembers what you did there.

Trade, give a gift, ask for a guide and news, hire bearers, or ask for warriors
Friendly towns feed you once a season and ask favors in return
Demand tribute, seize the ruler or attack, and pay for it in trust and conduct
Rumors grow sharper as you gather them, and lead inland

A visit to Funaoe, a city of gold: an engraving of the city from above, the attitude bar, their warriors and wealth, and the choices of the visit — A visit to Funaoe, one of the seven cities of gold.

Trade and barter

Trade goods from home fetch gold among the peoples, more in rich cities and ten times as much in a city of gold. Beside gold, the New World yields 33 commodities, from salt cod and deerskins to cacao, pearls and unicorn horn, each from its own land and season.

Barter goods and commodities for food, gold and wares
Many places seek a commodity they don’t make and pay three times as much for it
Each voyage, the court hints in a riddle at what the Crown longs for
The Crown’s factors buy every commodity when you come home

The trade tab of a visit to Funaoe: trade goods offered for gold and food, with sliders and the totals — Trading goods for gold in Funaoe.

Settlements and the embassies of the Wayfinding

The kingdom’s philosophy, the Wayfinding, teaches peaceful coexistence with all beings, and its sign, the navigator’s star, flies on every sail. Leave people behind for good: a fort, a trading post, an embassy in a town that invites you, and in time a capital with its own market and shipyard.

Settlers farm the land around them; rivers and grassland feed the most
Hire emissaries, governors and traders in Puerto Celeste
Storehouses gather the land’s commodities while you are home
Hostile neighbors and brigands may attack a settlement that is poorly held

The screen of Centinela, a capital: its people, food, defenses and stores, with rows for moving people and supplies — Centinela, a capital in the New World.

The Crown and a career

Every homecoming ends at court. The King or the Queen hears what you found, weighs your favor, and grants the next voyage. Rise through eight ranks, from Captain to Grandee of the Realm, carry out the Crown’s orders, and earn its gifts, from a purse of gold to a lordship.

Up to two orders a voyage, and from Captain-General the Crown’s commission
Invest your own gold in a voyage for a bigger share
Choose up to two ambitions, and retire in glory when you fulfill them
Your finished careers take their place in the hall of fame

An audience at court: the King, engraved, raises the captain to Grandee of the Realm, with the voyage's favor and the next grant — The King raises Isabel Vela to Grandee of the Realm.

Islands, continents and rivers

Chart an island’s whole coast to find it, follow a land’s coast far enough to know it for a continent, and trace rivers from their mouths to their sources. You name what you find, and the Crown rewards it.

Eight natural wonders, from the Sea of Grass to the Thundering Falls
Seven cities of gold, deep inland, found by following rumors
Chart a whole continent’s coast for the Crown’s prize
Your discoveries on the Crown’s parchment chart

The Records, Discoveries, Rivers tab: a sortable table of every river found, when, how much is explored, its source and mouth, and its length — Every river of a career, with its source, mouth and length.

Seasons

The north is coldest in January and the south in July. Forests turn red and brown in autumn, and snow spreads from the mountains and the far north. In winter a party marches slowly, forages little and loses men to the cold, the peoples have little to spare, and commodities come in their own seasons.

The map can be drawn six ways, from the classic chart in ink and washes on parchment to a watercolor atlas, an engraved chart or a painted relief. Change it at any time.

A party inland, drawn in the watercolor atlas style, marching toward a village, with the village's card showing what is known of it — A party inland, in the watercolor atlas style.

The engraved pictures

The great moments are engravings in the manner of a 1590s book of voyages: every event and tale, a city of gold or a wonder when first seen, founding a settlement, the Crown’s audience in seven moods, the end of a career. The peoples’ towns, the kingdom’s cities and your settlements are engravings too.

The Whales event card: its engraving, the story and the choices — Whales at sea, one of the tales a voyage may meet.

Explorers on a hilltop look out at a golden city in a green valley — A city of gold, first seen

A great waterfall with a rainbow in its spray, and explorers with a red-star banner on the cliff — The Thundering Falls

A ship with red-star sails in a storm, heeling in heavy seas — A storm at sea

A city of the peoples seen from above: red-roofed halls among canals and jungle — A city of the jungle peoples

An embassy of the Wayfinding: a timber hall with a red-star banner beside a native village by the water — An embassy of the Wayfinding

Settlers build a stone hall and a quay, with ships at anchor beyond — Founding a capital

Choose your captain

Eight engraved captains, every one starting out at 25. Each brings a strength and a weakness, and the peoples you meet see this face.

Engraved portrait of a young veteran commander in a steel helmet and breastplate, with a scar on his cheek — **A veteran commander**Parties fight a quarter betterPeoples start a little warier of you

Engraved portrait of a young noble in a plumed cap, a ruff and a blue doublet with a gold chain — **A young noble**The Crown’s grants are a fifth largerThe Crown expects a little more of each voyage

Engraved portrait of a young master navigator with long tied hair, a leather jerkin and a medallion — **A master navigator**Ships sail a tenth faster, and storms do a quarter less damageMarches ashore are a tenth slower

Engraved portrait of a young soldier of fortune in a green head scarf and a green doublet — **A soldier of fortune**Trade goods fetch half again as much goldCruelty costs half again as much favor

Engraved portrait of a young professor of cosmography in a black cap and gown, with round spectacles — **A professor of cosmography**Sees a league farther ashoreParties fight a fifth worse

Engraved portrait of a young privateer in a wide slouch hat and a purple coat, with an earring — **A hard-bitten privateer**Peoples pay tribute more readily, and plunder brings half again as muchPeoples start warier of you

Engraved portrait of a young woman captain with long red hair, a red doublet and an earring — **A daring captain**Crews sail in higher spirits, and marches are a tenth quickerFever strikes more often

Engraved portrait of a young woman explorer in a plumed, broad-brimmed hat, a ruff and a green doublet — **A bold explorer**Food goes a tenth furtherThe Crown’s grants are a tenth smaller

Screenshots

From one career on a medium world, played with the daring captain on the classic chart. Select a picture to see it full size.

The title screen: the engraving of the fleet leaving port, with the choices to continue, start a new career or load a game — The title screen.

A new career: the captain's name and the eight captains, with the daring captain chosen — A new career: your captain and your world.

The outfitter in Puerto Celeste: tabs for crew and stores, ships and specialists, the load-outs, the sliders and a column of figures — Outfitting a voyage in Puerto Celeste.

The Crown's parchment chart of the New World after seventeen voyages, with names, a compass rose and a cartouche — The Crown’s chart after seventeen voyages.

The Records, Discoveries, Islands tab: the islands found in a career, in a table sortable by any column — The islands of a career.

The end of a career, retired by the Crown: an engraving and the career summed up voyage by voyage — Retired by the Crown: the career summed up.

Download the beta

The whole game is there, from the first voyage to retirement; we are still balancing and polishing it.

Terra Incognita for Windows

Version 0.53.0 betaBuilt October 25, 2026Size 120 MBWindows 10 and 11 (64-bit)

Download for Windows Player’s manual

SHA-256 of Terra-Incognita-Setup-0.53.0.exe (125,480,402 bytes):408af835ac909ca7cb187f0e1eddbbff66683e98fd868ce3a8e892d386d72813

System requirements

Windows 10 or Windows 11, 64-bit
About 400 MB of free disk space (500 MB while installing)
A mouse or touchpad and a keyboard
No internet connection, account or sign-in

Installing

Run the downloaded Terra-Incognita-Setup-0.53.0.exe.
The beta is not code-signed yet, so Windows may show “Windows protected your PC”. Choose More info, then Run anyway.
The installer installs Terra Incognita for you alone, with no administrator needed. You can choose the folder, and it adds Start menu and desktop shortcuts.
Open Terra Incognita from the Start menu. The first time, Easy is chosen for you, and an Easy career offers a walk-through of the basics.

Your careers and saves stay on your computer. Export a career to a file to keep a copy or to play it on another computer. F11 switches full screen on and off. Remove the game in Windows Settings, Apps.

In plain words

What does “beta” mean here?

The game is complete: a career plays from the first voyage to retirement or death. We are still tuning the balance and polishing the details, so later versions will change things. Please send problems and ideas to info@xn3tech.com, with the version from the title screen.

Why does Windows warn me before it runs?

The beta installer is not code-signed yet, and Windows SmartScreen warns about new programs it does not know. Choose More info, then Run anyway. You can check the file against the SHA-256 above.

Do I need an account or the internet?

No. There is no account and nothing to sign in to, and the game plays entirely offline. It sends nothing anywhere.

Where are my saves?

On your computer, inside the game: an autosave and three save slots. The game menu exports a career to a file, which you can keep as a backup or import on another computer.

Is it history?

No. The kingdom, its philosophy, the Wayfinding, and the peoples of the New World are invented, and every career makes a new world to explore. The game takes its spirit from the age of exploration and from Seven Cities of Gold, but it is an original game, not connected with the makers of that one.

Does it run on a Mac or on Linux?

Not yet. The beta is for Windows 10 and 11.

How hard is it?

Choose Easy, Normal or Hard for each career. Easy forgives more and offers a walk-through, and on Easy and Normal your captain cannot die on the first two voyages: what would have killed them becomes a narrow escape.