10+ hours played, left unfinished I feel bad taking from the absolutely stunning work that has gone into making this game look and sound as good as it does. The settings are stunning, the colours rich, the sound pitch-perfect. The voice acting, too, is very strong. There are more than a few nods to the original Fallout games, both in aesthetic and in some of the settings, but that's no bad thing. The voice acting is mostly good, too, and it's nice to hear the South African and other accents from the African continent, rather than the typical American-dubbed English-language games. However, the game itself doesn't live up to its beauty. The setting is intriguing (time travel + technology-driven post-apocalyptic ruin) but the characters are just rehashes from other games or movies, with very predictable story-arcs: a male protagonist harbouring vengeance against the technological world for a lost love, his brother a veteran who suffered from a harsh father growing up; the robo-dog companion POOCH actually offers the most interesting back-story. The other characters you interact with throughout the game are also one dimensional, with a few exceptions. The puzzles and travel are also slow and fairly repetitive; I completed many of the tasks by accident, just by wandering around and interacting with things, before I had learned why I was doing so. If the story and characters had been a little more interesting, this could have been forgivable, but they don't hold up, and in the end for all the beauty, the gameplay is a little desolate.
Before beginning this game, I had no experience with Patrician games, old or new. I decided to have a try, and was very pleased with the game. There are a few different adventures to be had, and the mechanics are rewarding and dynamic. The game is ostensibly a trading game, moving goods between northern medieval European towns. But there are many deeper ways to play, including managing the security of a fleet, sending out pirates on your behalf, or building up businesses in different towns (and later automating much of this process). The different scenarios are broad and worth the time they need to figure out winning strategies, and the writing and scenarios are very engaging. In the end, the game keeps you on your toes, and is still both challenging and fresh nearly two decades after its original release.
Nothing looks or feels like this game by Lucas Pope. The aesthetic has a beautiful grain, a perfectly crafted look that matches perfectly the seafaring adventure that tells its story in reverse. The mechanics are perfect - simple to use and a joy to play. It is a gaming treat from start to finish.
