Old World

Old World is a 4X turn-based strategy in which we take control of an ancient country and try to turn it into a real empire. The production, originally known as 10 Crowns, was developed by independent studio Mohawk Games. Its main designer was Soren Johnson, who previously held the same position on such titles as Offworld Trading Company and Sid Meier's Civilization IV.

Mechanics

Most of the time in Old World we spend over a world map covered with a hexagonal grid. The game is played in turn-based mode, and as one turn here means one year in the game world, we do not play as a single ruler, but we take control over an entire dynasty, which strengthens its position with each generation. The condition of victory is fulfilling ten so-called Ambitions, which are special tasks set before the dynasty. They are procedurally generated, based on our previous achievements, the personality of the currently lead character, as well as the events in which we took part. The latter are more than a thousand, and the source of inspiration for them were events known from the pages of ancient history; events often create a domino effect (one causes another, this in turn is the cause of the next, and so on). Just like in the Civilization series, it is also possible to achieve a point victory, here in two ways: gaining more points after a certain number of turns or collecting twice as many points as any other nation.

During the game we build and expand the cities (along with the adjacent countryside), constructing various buildings, among which the leading ones are the wonders of the world, sanctuaries, amphitheaters and garrisons. The number of actions we can perform in a given turn is determined by the system of orders, the number of which can be increased by gaining so-called legitimacy (and thus - strengthening our position on the throne). This applies both to the construction of buildings, participation in events and conducting diplomatic activities, as well as waging wars.

Of course, to do all this we need resources, such as food, wood, stone and iron, which we obtain on our own or acquire through trade. What's interesting, the developers have implemented here a system known from the game Offworld Trading Company, which makes sure that prices on the market fluctuate depending on supply and demand. In addition, an important role in Old World plays the development of technology, which is based on mechanics borrowed from card games. Thus, as we progress, we build a deck of cards related to specific technological discoveries, which leads to the need to make difficult choices about which research to discard at any given time and which to prioritize.

Technical issues

The graphic design of Old World does not deviate too much from the level known from many other 4X strategies. The whole thing is maintained in a style reminiscent of the fifth part of Sid Meier's Civilization series.