Old World

I grew up playing civilization games. Civ 2 was the first game I ever played. I have sunk endless hours into the following Civ games. I really liked Civ 3 and 4, 5 was a let down (though I still have 600 hours on it), and 6 was better, but not the same as the glory days. Aside from that I've played a plethora of other 4x games. (Masters of Magic is another classic favorite) Now, I generally play Paradox Grand Strategy games. (Mostly CK II and EU IV) I've been wanting a game that contains the fun gameplay of the Civ games, with the narrative and mechanical depth of the Paradox Grand Strategy games. This is certainly it. This game has been a joy to play, and one that I see becoming a fast favorite of mine. My only complaint is that I want more!!! I hope the developer sees great success and is able to develop more content. I would love to see the same concept expanded to further ages, and I would love to see more civilizations.

I've played all the 4X games since Civ I and I can say that Old World has absolutely hit the right balance between everything to make such an immersive and rewarding game experience. If you like strategy, or if you like historical or if you just like brilliant built games with 100s of hours of gameplay, then this is the game for you. BTW no DLC is required for this game to be great, if fact I prefer the game without any DLC it is that good.

This game, of the Civilization lineage/style (and lead by the designer of Civs 3 and 4) is great. Every play is different. There's no single strategy that always works. The addition of families/characters is a good layer, adding to the game without becoming overwhelming -- though you can optionally disable it. The game's economic layers are deep but approachable. Everything is a trade-off with high opportunity costs. Some of the innovations are: * Orders. Your ruling class only has so much capacity to manage things per turn. If you declare a war, you might not have enough orders to keep up with your domestic works projects. This is MAJOR. * City sites. You can only build cities at map-generated spots. Early game is conquering additional sites from barbarians or small tribes so you can spread out. This fixes the "city on every square" problem of its predecessors. * Leader type succession. As your ruler dies, you'll have an heir that you've developed to be just the right set of skills your nation needs. Maybe your Scholar lead your empire to now feel ready to wage war. Make sure your heir is sent to tactics school and becomes a great general. There's a strange paradox about your units (which are "one unit per tile" rather than stacking) in this game. Simultaneously, every unit matters. But don't get attached to any of them, because any unit could fall during war. AI is decent at it. It can use naval support well (like anchoring ships to go around a coastal mountain range rather than going the long land route). The game also largely avoids the typical "rock paper scissors", with every unit type having strengths and weaknesses. It will immediately feel familiar to fans of 4X games, but definitely play through and pay attention the tutorials. It has enough new going on that you'll need them to get comfortable with the innovations. I would also be remiss for me not to mention the game's amazing sound and music, which includes some new Christopher Tin compositions too.

This game is sometimes compared to Civ or is called Civ+CK3. None are accurate assessments. This is probably the best 4X game that you have ever played. It has a lot of depth in terms of character-building, strategy, war, etc. It brings so much more to the table that I hesitate to compare this with Civ games. As a big fan of the Civ series, I can no longer go back to any of the Civ series, because they do not have the depth and fun of this game. Not even close. Do yourself a favor and give this a try. The game takes you in. When I play this game, I am no longer in the real world. I do not know how to put it in words. It engages you in every possible way. I have never played a game this deep and at the same time this much fun to play. If you are not a big fan of being beaten by the AI, do not play at higher difficulty levels. The AI is smart and mean. It also knows how to play (unlike later Civ series where AI is just a joke). I sincerely thank the creators for this game. Wow.

I've no real prior experience with either the Civilization or Crusader Kings series, the series which comprise the parentage that gave us Old World, so, I'm still doing the tutorials, as of the writing of this review. Every now and then, I'd look into purchasing the former, but I wasn't interested in reaching the present day or future, and it seemed like the win condition was to be just like the modern United States. I was interested in something more constrained and focused. I found it here. I love that the time and region represented is so tight and cohesive. It's exactly what I wanted. It's overwhelming, but it's what I wanted. Presently, my people gossip that my wife is a schemer and my son sleeps around instead of studying. I'll have their heads when/if I'm given the option. Might not happen in the tutorial, though. Anyhow, back to ruling.