FreeHolder

Early Access review Year 100 BC It Is The year of the birth of Julius Caesar. The Roman Republic is giving its last rales with rampant corruption provoked by the territorial conquests that have turned Rome into an Empire. Caesar will do nothing but give him the final poke. In This environment three slaves manage to flee the Roman claws but an unscrupulous landowner discovers them. In exchange for his silence offers them a deal: he will lease some parcels of land for them to work and if they meet a quota of 16 units of wheat at the end of the first year it'll seal his mouth. What I ask later depends on many things. If I say that the game costs less than 10 euros and that would be quite a surprise, I would hesitate. With Retro Graphics and a story set in a time that fascinates me, the game surprises the player with a depth of options and cross genres that augurs vice. That's right. Almost four hours of jerking and what I have left. We Have three characters and the main one we can personalize giving him a profession of a quite wide variety: Ranger, soldier, "Mage-Druid", Agent (thief, smuggler), farmer, rancher... And then, once the profession is chosen, we have to choose a specific skill from another cast of options. We Have here an RPG component where the experience will allow you to level up and opt for new skills improvements. The game works by turns, with a hexagonal board generated in a procedural way in each game. Around we have farmland, a forest, a lake or swamp, a mountain, a prairie to raise animals and then a multitude of hexagons to explore that can bring new territories to our project. The shifts are monthly, with changes of climate, events (groups of bandits, game of hungry wolves, etc). Around The villa we find Roman cities and villas, black market and other places like taverns to visit and perform all kinds of operations. Denarii allows to buy crops: beets, radishes, cabbages, wheat, etc. Each crop is better suited to a particular type of soil and to a specific station. Wheat is best planted in summer and in fertile, moist soil. But as in real life the soil wears out, the nutrients lose their strength and you have to leave the Terro fallow. You Have to water and trust that time is good, storms or fires can play a trick. If It does not rain you have to water but if you irrigate spending points and these do not abound. Each character has some action points to use deciding what action to undertake: hunting, fishing, gathering stones, wood, firewood, clay, visit the market, Craftear, build... how to distribute all that and survive the events and the weather? I can Also buy animals and expand the farm, buy animals to produce elaborated products, etc. The Villa can also be improved. I Can build workshops like a butcher shop, an oven to bake bread, improve warehouses, cook, improve recipes, a pellery, a silo, a warehouse for firewood, a mine, a quarry... A long etcetera. I Also have to craftear, from a fishing rod to a cane to withstand better fatigue, melee weapons, arrows, Carjaj, brushes to comb the animals... Endless objects. Also items to craftear and sell. The one you realize you're flipping, the options multiply. And The best thing is that the game is difficult. It'S a survival roguelike. Time affects, your characters get sick from the cold or a plague, you have to give them more to eat, food gets damaged, rots, lose action points for sickness and you have to build a sauna or let them rest. It Is Necessary to look to salt/smoke the food and the fish so that they do not rot but you have no resources for everything, or enough actions. The disease causes loss of action points, you have to cook more elaborate dishes or take herbs to heal or increase your chances of recovery. You spend a few denarii to buy an animal, it has cost you expensive and you had to spend a lot of time just to see how in winter a game of wolves eats the mule. Fruit Children. You survive the first year to see that the second the Roman landowner asks you 4 denarii plus 16 units of wheat. Where do I get the money From? My characters Luckily improve and I turn it into a crafteador. I put It to fabricate objects made of wicker and cane but sold badly. I Have to build a pelletería and turn furs into leather. My Crafteadora improves his skills and now he can forge jewels but it's too late, I don't have 4 denarii. The Roman gives me to the authorities, I have lost and I have only arrived at the end of the 2nd year. Roguelike, management, shifts, strategy, Romans, events, procedural. DIFFICULT, MASOCA. God exists, is Roman, landowner and hears the prayers of the geeks.