A new gold standard.
This series just keeps degenerating. They've kept the outward appearances, the music and improved the graphics, but everything about the city building and managing aspect is dumbed down, streamlined or just plain made more boring. It's not even a question of difficulty, all the Tropico games are easy. But there's simply less to do here and less control you have over everything. Why would I play a city builder if I wasn't interested in managing my city? Now they've even gotten rid of the concept of time.
Only for the thinking man.
I understand now why HoMM3 is considered one of the best games of all time.
It's beautiful, it sounds great, it's short enough where you don't grow tired of the simple premise. Is it some puzzle platforming gauntlet that will test your gamer skills? No. But there are hundreds of games designed to do just that. If finger dexterity and reaction time are the only things you care about and you absolutely NEED them tested, just play something else. I'm tired of seeing people play this one-of-a-kind gem and insist it should be more like a thousand other platrofmers that already exist. If you have 4 hours to spend on a serene and unique gaming experience, GRIS is among the best.
Without any reservations and caveats, the best 4X game. Sure, it's not perfect, and there are places where a bigger budget would've allowed for some streamlined UI. But everything works and is easy enough to learn. And once you do learn the game, there is nothing else like it. The things the game is good at are done so well they easily make up for any lack in polish and presentation. Games this detailed don't get made by big studios and million-dollar budgets, so in the end it doesn't really matter "what if" a big studio made it. Because they won't.
Don't get me wrong, it's fun, but is it just me or is it really short and easy? Winning 1/3 of games feels really high for a roguelite, and that isn't even "in the endgame" when I have everything unlocked and know all the strategies. I mean that me, a complete newbie starting a new game, was able to win the game on ALL 4 CHARACTERS within three attempts without looking up any tutorials, walkthroughs or guides. That's really easy, right? I don't really get how so many people in the GoG/Steam reviews are talking about how there's "endless content" and "one more run" etc. What endless content? I have 20 hours in the game and aside from imposing self-restrictions to get some achievements (which I don't care about) I seem to have unlocked and seen everything there is in the game. Am I missing something? It's a shame because what little there is does feel fun and intuitive and bug-free despite the ridiculous amount of different interactions with all the items and cards.
