SOMETHING NEW…
OLD WORLD is a historical 4X that feels like the future.
The story of my first campaign in Old World, where I led my Greek civilisation to global domination, is equally the story of Rome, my nemesis. When I first encountered the Romans, they were friendly, offering us goodies and hospitality, but it was a poisoned chalice – quite literally. A sickness spread, and Roman gifts were the source. I demanded justice and compensation; Rome only wanted war. It would take nearly 200 years until I got my revenge.
It was not a single continuous war, but rather an eternal grudge. The first conflict ended without much resolution, with the distance between our empires and the massive mountain chain that separated us creating some logistical difficulties. There were still battles, certainly, costing both of us more than soldiers. Family members, revered generals and close friends also lost their lives. Between the wars were heated diplomatic meetings and espionage, which again cost lives. RIP Confucius, philosopher-turned-spy.
Despite using the language of Civilization – from workers to wonders – it should be starting to become clear that Soren Johnson and Mohawk Games’ take on the historical 4X formula is quite different to Firaxis’s approach. There are many similarities, which should not be a surprise given that Johnson was also the lead designer of Civ 4, but Old World feels like a meaningful evolution. And a welcome one.
The most notable advancement is the importance placed on people. Like Crusader Kings, you are not an immortal ruler… Your famous starting ruler will eventually die. When Philip II left this mortal coil, the empire passed to his son, Alexander, who’d become known as Alexander the Noble – sadly he didn’t do enough to earn the ‘Great’ moniker. You’ve got heirs and succession laws to worry about, as well as a court full of potential friends and enemies.
COURTING TROUBLE
These courtiers, generals and other folk grow and react, increasing their attributes to become more disciplined or charismatic while also picking up traits like ‘wanton’ and ‘schemer.’ They have affairs, illegitimate children, and can plot the demise of other characters, including the ruler. In the mid-game, I found myself playing a talented king, beloved by his people and the triumvirate of influential families constantly vying for power and attention. His uncle, however, was not a fan. Years before, when I was playing as his father, I encouraged certain unpleasant traits in my son, which benefited me at the time. I had no idea I was creating a nephew-killer. When it came time to reap what I’d sowed, I had some regrets.
Much of this plays out through event pop-ups, typically giving you multiple options that depend on your traits and resources. You get to decide how children are educated, how you react to a diplomatic insult, or what to do with the possibly magical sword that was just dug up – I opted for starting a cult and charging them admission to see the fancy blade.
Often, you won’t see the impact for years, so there’s always a surprise around the corner. This contributes to a sense that you are truly shaping your own civilisation, and in ways that go beyond changing some stats.
If only the UI did a good job of keeping track of this. It can be jarring to go from the flavourful event text to the abstract, soulless numbers that the UI boils them down to. Every interaction is made a bit worse because it requires faffing around in counter-intuitive menus that drag you all over the screen. Even after winning my first campaign, I still found myself getting lost, and I still don’t know how to find crucial information on things like the spread of religion. The tutorial and
Old World feels like a meaningful evolution, and a welcome one
encyclopedia are of little help, choosing brevity and vagueness over clear instructions. There’s much more context and clarity in the event text, so I wish Old World’s writers were more involved in designing the interface, which could definitely benefit from their skills.
Alone, the events and characters would have been enough to grab my attention. Civilization and Crusader Kings are two of the greats, and combining their philosophies leads to a game that feels tailor made to my interests. But Old World is filled with new ideas and ways of doing things.
ON THE MARCH
Every unit has a specific movement range and room for one action per turn, but without ‘orders’ they can’t do anything, and those are limited. As you start expanding and fielding more units, you’ll find yourself having to prioritise so that you don’t find your tank is empty right when you’re about to make a critical move. It’s a complication, but sometimes it can actually take the pressure off you.
Orders are tied to legitimacy, another abstract resource. You improve the legitimacy of your reign by mostly being insular, promoting national unity and the people of your civilization above all else. This can mean that you treat foreigners with suspicion and take a ‘strong’ stance that will make the rest of the world rightly think you’re a dickhead. It reflects how real leaders can fan the flames of national fervour and encourage small-minded attitudes.
You can, thankfully, still be an effective ruler without pandering to the worst aspects of national identity. Some buildings – which, I should add, are constructed by workers rather than from the city menu, letting you embark on several construction projects at the same time – generate small amounts of legitimacy that can give you a big boost. That’s something Old World excels at: giving you more ways to achieve objectives. Resource management is another example. On top of the abstract stuff, there’s also more tangible resources like stone, iron, wood, and gold, which are required for trade and, more importantly, construction. It’s a hungry game that demands a healthy stockpile. If you’re running low, however, you can spend gold to buy more; if you’re out of gold, you can sell whatever abundance you have.
When your larder is looking sparse, you can also seek help from fellow rulers. The focus on people benefits the diplomacy system immensely, as these are personal relationships that you’re developing. Friendships with foreign leaders can be undone by the way an event plays out, but as always there are plenty of opportunities to repair the damage.
DO-OVER
The focus on people benefits the diplomacy system immensely
If diplomacy fails, you might find yourself heading to war. Combat is one of the places that feels most evocative of modern Civilization, which is unfortunate, because I’m getting a bit bored of moving all these units around one by one, surrounding cities and battering enemies. That’s not to say it hasn’t been improved… For one, there’s the undo move (or even turn) ability, which is a blessing. You’ll never find yourself making mistakes from a misclick or miscalculation. You can also recruit generals from your court, which may have handy abilities, like being able to heal units even in neutral territory.
Throughout my time with Old World I kept coming across things that made me think, “why hasn’t Civ
done this?” It has solutions to many 4X niggles that have been around for ages. Take research, for instance. When you choose your next research project, the game produces a few offerings from a deck made up of all the stuff you’re ready to discover. So instead of picking from the same list over and over again, it’s slightly randomised, and alongside new techs are bonus cards that give you gifts, like a free unit. If you’re in the middle of a war, do you really care about unlocking the magical power of mills? Instead, you can spend a turn or two on getting a free spearman.
It’s a shame it peters out towards the end. The simplest method of winning is by earning 52 points before 200 years pass, which you do by nurturing your cities and building wonders. If nobody gets to 52, the highest wins. You can also get an early win if you double the points of the next nation, but only if you’re already halfway to 52. Then there’s the Ambition victory, where you win if you manage to complete ten personal goals. If you don’t finish them in your life, they become legacy goals that your heir can complete. Finally, you can wipe everyone out. It’s a bit perfunctory, and quite gamey. I was lucky that my first win happened as I conquered my nemesis Rome, because without that it wouldn’t have been memorable.
Despite its understated victories, Old World is a brilliant 4X, and one that I’d suggest over Civilization. It feels like a step forward for the genre, boasting so many inventive, smart design decisions. And I can’t believe I’ve reached the end of the review before mentioning the soundtrack from composer Christopher Tin. Civ 4’s Baba Yetu might still be my favourite of his pieces, but Old World
is full of evocative orchestral and choral compositions. There’s a lot to love here, and if you’ve got an itch to conquer the ancient world you need to give this a go.
Along with thousands of other galactic migrants, your character in The Ascent pays a small fortune for a ticket to the planet Veles, looking for a better life. The moment you step off the ship, however, the price of the ticket becomes a debt so astronomical that you’ll die before you can pay it off.
Even so, the company that owns the city you now call home, the Ascent Group, wants its pound of flesh. You are now an indent – slang for an indentured servant – working dirty, dangerous jobs to pay it off.
The Ascent’s setting, a mix of neon-flecked ’80s cyberpunk and grimy science fiction, is magnificent. The story takes place in an Arcology – a self-contained city squeezed into an immense skyscraper.
Think Hong Kong’s Kowloon Walled City, crossed with Akira’s Neo Tokyo, and populated by the aliens from the Mos Eisley cantina. It’s an urban crush of tight-knit markets, bustling plazas, and concrete valleys buzzing with streams of flying cars.
It’s a hell of a setting, and one of the most compelling cyberpunk worlds on PC. But what do you
actually do in it? Well, The Ascent is an action-RPG, with an emphasis on the action, that you can play alone or with up to three friends in co-op.
It’s a gloriously chunky, brutal isometric shooter where you run around that gorgeous city blowing enemies away with shotguns and churning them into a fine bloody mist with rattly machineguns. Loot, money, and power-ups sprinkle out of their corpses, and scooping these up provides a constant stream of tiny, pleasing dopamine hits.
Loot comes in the form of weapons and various bits of cyberpunk-themed armour to play dress-up with, including glowing visors and mechanical limbs.
Playing with a mouse and keyboard, it’s WASD to move, mouse to aim. With a gamepad, it’s a twin-stick shooter. Both work well, but the extra precision of the mouse aiming just clinched it for me.
Crouch behind something and you can raise your gun with the left trigger or the right mouse button, shooting over the top of whichever chunk of debris you happen to be squatting near. If you double tap the spacebar (or A button) you can evade enemies with a fast roll. All these elements combine to create a really great-feeling shooter that involves more than just pointing and blasting.
UP AND COMING
Don’t be fooled by the existence of a cover system: the relentless rhythm of The Ascent’s combat forces you to be in near-constant motion. Guntoting enemies are accompanied by large groups of melee grunts. They push forward aggressively, never giving you a chance to get settled or get too comfortable behind cover.
When you begin the game, your lowly indent is working a job in the Deepstink, the lowest part of the city. But as you make a name for yourself, working as a mercenary for an influential crime boss, you find yourself rising to the top – literally.
One of the most compelling cyberpunk worlds on PC
The story takes you from the stinking depths of the Arcology to increasingly higher, more opulent levels, all of which have a very different aesthetic and vibe.
This is fundamentally a game about shooting lots of people dead, including gangsters, corporate soldiers, and hulking mechs. But there are some quiet moments too. In crowded social hubs you can shop, talk to NPCs, and pick up sidequests without fear of being attacked.
I had issues with sudden, sharp difficulty spikes, some of which forced me to break off from the story and grind sidequests to level up. I wouldn’t mind this if the sidequests were consistently good, but I found them pretty hit and miss.
Some keep you hooked with a good story. But others feel a little like busywork, with a lot of walking long distances between districts.
But whenever the game does something to disappoint me, the world always wins me back. From the lavish Golden Satori casino to the bleak Black Lake slums, this is a masterclass in creating a sense of place. The Ascent is a superb shooter elevated by a great setting.