King of Dragon Pass

I have friends who have loved this game for years and I can see how great it can be. Unfortunately, it doesn't run on high DPI systems on Windows, so a game that would be perfect for laptops isn't usable on recent systems. I don't know how it works or doesn't work with touch; the display problems stopped me from getting there. If you find a machine with an older DPI setting, it's loads of fun as a mellow world building game with multiple choose-your-own-adventure setups chained within (and bath affecting and being affected by your world). A nice one to leave open and get back to when you have time or to sit with for a while as a break. It has the roguelike "try things out and it's ok if I die" mentality, which is a good (occasional) change from the "save and try it" space of most games. But not for me, even on my older Surface 3. Much of the text is offscreen, even in windowed mode. Setting high DPI compatibility on the exe doesn't help, sadly.

Love politics? Love stabbing people in the back? Do you read or watch "Game of Thrones?" Then you'll love this. A timeless game worth playing over & over & over & over...

This game has lots of potential, but it fails to deliver on it. Miserably. There's not enough information, so you stumble in the dark. This would be good, if not for the assumption that you're running an already established clan. Moreover, some crucial information about your farming and population is missing, plus alliances and tribes are more or less useless, as no one will EVER help you, when you get attacked. Add some terribly designed random events and you have a recipe for a disaster.

Timeless Magic! http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/915594-king-of-dragon-pass/faqs/36997

The storyline, the pseudo-Norse setting and the writing are quite stellar -- for instance, the comments of your advisors in particular are pleasantly varied -- and the art is very good as well. Unfortunately, the gameplay is uninviting and unfriendly to new players. Right off the start there's too many things to keep track of, and events just keep happening seemingly at random. There's little feedback -- you don't have any clear idea what you have done wrong, how should you have managed your tribe, or what would have improved your chances. Perhaps the game gets better later on, but personally, I tried playing it twice and both times bounced off. It's a pity the game doesn't have some kind of a "simplified mode" where there's not quite as many things to micromanage.