Clarus Victoria's games are cool. Simple, but addicting. Heaven for min-maxing/optimization oriented players. I like how there are seemingly not that many options, and the choices look shallow, but when the player actually tries out a different approach, results do vary to a satisfying degree. And the amount of systems is just right. Lightweight, but deep enough at the same time (they could be a bit deeper though). This game is no different. I did play the original, but I'm not a hardcore player that completed it multiple times with total ease with the best score, or anything like it. So, my caveat - although the game is advertised as "rebalanced", proper balancing of the difficulty is really lacking. And the problem is that Clarus Victoria's games feel completely pointless if the difficulty and balancing is not right. And it is not right at all - on my first successful attempt, with Normal difficulty (Athens), I finished the game 14 TURNS BEFORE THE DEADLINE FOR THE BEST SCORE/MARK, while completely skipping turns prior to that (just to end it - I had everything unlocked and built), AND with all Events passed. When I finished a Clarus Victoria's game before, I always started a new playthrough, thinking of a better approach, more fitting my play style, that would allow me to complete stuff that I did not manage well before. I'm not sure I will ever do that here - last 2/5 of the game is just too easy and not satisfying in the least. I would start again on a higher difficulty, but I'm just too scared to get into similar scenario - demanding and fun until it becomes a pointless slog. Dear developers, pretty please, can u rebalance it yet again? Maybe one more pass will do it! :)
Fun, albeit easy and a bit boring (but nonetheless pleasant). Unfortunately only up until mid-end content. When you reach that point, all issues become apparent and jarring. Task prioritization is either random or broken. Default behavior for villagers is atrocious, and there are no controls to legitimately affect it, apart from constant micro Fighting on a larger scale is tedious, constant micro of each villager is a must, and there are no RTS like controls at all, although you can control >10 units with varying equipment - no rally points, no battle orders (just move and attack). It's absurd how much the player has to fight with the interface and AI of villagers to get them equipped (which they are supposed to do automatically) and to actually fight a battle. Battles are easy to win in general, but even easier to botch. The actual amount of content, padding excluded (which is not an unpleasant type of padding if you enjoy management games), is super small. You have a quest log, which is almost always empty. You have factions that you can have very limited and repetitive interactions with. You have skill experience levels that you care about only during first few hours of play - they become irrelevant fast. Social interactions and wishes systems are just means to an end - game still plays exactly the same, you just reach a higher milestone, and can have one more villager, or unlock a trait (only few are really worth the effort). Happiness system is super flat - irritating in some cases, and almost invisible otherwise. I guess house building is cool, feels like Sims 1 with 1/3 the objects (still, many nice objects to play around with!). Game shows promise, but it's ultimately not satisfying in the long run, feels a bit empty and could really use some ease-of-use features. If the developers add more content, and add depth/rework/polish certain systems, this may be worthwhile. Right now, I would not recommend it to anyone.
I love the game, but the additions in the remastered version are silly and unnecessary. Apart from making the game easier, which can be considered as a positive for some players, they add nothing of value. In my opinion, they only detract from the original. Please, if you're going to be playing this game for the first time, just use the original version. It's in Extras.
