Got this in a cereal box back in 2004, if you can believe that. Used to play it in the morning before school. Made me late on more than one occasion. Worth it. More than 20 years later I'm in the hospital bored out of my mind with a laptop and no mouse. It's the steam fall sale and I download a few city builders but they just don't quite hit. All I want is that ancient china game but couldn't remember what it was called. I combed reddit until I saw it amidst all the other civilisation and ancient china themed names and it jumped out at me right away - Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom. When I fired it up the beats transported me back to a Y2K computer room. Lute and flute. Gong and sheng. It was everything I remembered and more. More, because I'm not 10 anymore and don't suck at it. If you were thinking of developing a historical city builder, don't. Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom is forever GOAT'd.
