Old World is a brand new historic strategy game created by the lead developer of Civilization IV and Offworld Trading Company, Soren Johnson, under Mohawk Games. At first glance, it does resemble a Civilization title, with the classic 4x map style, but if you delve deeper into the game it’s easy to see that Old World is trying to take the genre in a different direction.
The most important aspect of Old World is the power of your dynasty, and to survive the test of time, your family must be happy, healthy and wealthy. You are placed in control of an ancient superpower, such as Greece, Rome or Babylon, and every turn a year passes, which means your characters are mortal.
While the game has its strategic elements – and you can tell from the mix and match HUD that it’s going to take a few hours to get to grips with it all, like any good strategy game – the developers have also wanted to focus on the storytelling behind the grand strategy.
There are many dialogue options and choices you must make over the course of your dynasty’s lifespan, ranging from problems within society (such as labor laws) to more personal relationship matters in your family circle. As a ruler you must take these choices into your own hands. With over 1000 unique events, it will take a while before you see the same messages again.
The new, and quite innovative, orders system intends to speed up movement on a 4X map while also giving you the classic feel of turn-based strategy. Every turn you are granted a set number of orders, and you can use these to move just a single unit multiple tiles or spread them evenly over your empire.
From the first 30 minutes to an hour of gameplay, the decisions feel important and do have an impact on your gameplay, but in a rather scripted fashion. You are told what rewards, benefits and impacts these decisions have on the game when you choose them. It also seems like these games will take just as long as Civilization game to complete, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Despite the new features, it still very much resembles a Civilization game, perhaps mashed up with Crusader Kings. If this is something that interests you, the game is currently available on the Epic Games Store. The game is still in Alpha, and with a $40 price tag, it might be worth waiting for more gameplay reviews before jumping in.
