Thea 2: The Shattering

Sad to say, this fixes few of the problems with the first game and adds a few of its own. While the ability to choose your village placement and get multiple villages is welcome, the game setting options are fewer, the card game is much less intuitive and fun, events bombard you even more than in the first, and the art is less diverse and charming.

Let's get this out of the way: If you are after a game that you can learn and/or finish in 30min, then this is not for you. Yes, even for a seasoned Thea 1 player it may take some time to get used to it (e.g. having to use a Ritual to build your first city), but once you do, you will enjoy having more resources to gather, build new buildings and craft a larger variety of items. I love that you can now build two cities, the different biomes for different resources, that exploration/story was extended to the water area and the different factions was a brilliant addition. I hope they expand on this by e.g. by adding faster flow for the faction approval/disapproval (both ways, and that you one action will make one faction happy and the other unhappy). The tactical battleplay is also great, being able to add one care twice (or more) adds so much variety to it. What could be improved is to extend the story (you won't get to craft many good items by the time one story is finished), moving through ages/building upgrades, possibly build more than two cities. The reason why I am not giving five stars is because the game is very power-hungry and here and there crashes or you get this weird graphic bugs. Hopefully we will see Thea 3!

The good: Excellent replayability-factor. Slavic-themed fantasy is a huge+ Nice and interesting character portraits, arts etc in the game. Good variety in Gods, possible caracter combinations, starting settings, etc. You can cook! Moonshine too :D Fighting is not always the best solution. Well written dialogues. A lot of free dlc-s and content. Good difficulty customization options. The game is very stable . I have experienced 2-3 freezes or crashes during the 400h i put in this game... The bad: Specific events or combinations can be somewhat too RNG-dependent (you can brute force or avoid some through save-scumming tho...). Somewhat dated graphics. Sometimes resource-gathering and crafting can be grindy. Some parts would need some polishing...like ,,mating" and childbirth...blood lineages and relations doesnt get tracked in your gang, which can result in funny situations...like when my undead companion ungabunga-d my witch chick, who then gave birt to a half undead-half human boy, who became a warrior after 40-something turns, then his undead father ungabunga-d him too, resulting another half-undead child...luckily, later on the game, I have managed to fed this undead habsburg-wannabe to a zmey (some big polish godzilla). If i remember correctly, the game's developement is basically over, so there will be no more dlc-s or updates. Overall, i got value and a lot of fun for my money with this game.

So I loved the first game. Have it on multiple platforms and unlocked all the achievements. on the ps4 version. I feel this version is a game out of time. It's user interface is something out of the late 90's, but in a good way. It allows for the player to optimize their peoples output. Muti-player with my wife is very fun, although the random seen issues that plagued the first games muti-player are still there. As of 5/17/19 there are still some bugs, but as long as the build is solid I'm fine with that. I think if you loved the first one, you'll love this more. I wish I could sell it better, but it's a niche game. If you like strategy, and risk/reward gambles give it a go.

I've only been introduced to Thea with this 2nd installement and I have to admit I love this game! The concept and mechanics are so unique that it leaves an impression long after you've finished a playthrough and set it aside. At least that was the case with me. The game blends elements of fantasy RPG and strategy in a way I have never seen before. I'm now playing my 2nd playthrough a year after I finished the 1st one and I remembered why I loved it the first time. Fair warning: if you have never played Thea before, I suggest you watch a tutorial online and see how it's played. Some of the rules that usually apply to most other games (like settling down and starting a village early) don't apply here.