What if you were to mix together management simulation, sandbox mechanics and the history of Chinese Empire? You can find out in House of Legacy, an open-world game from developer S3 Studio and publisher Thermite Games. After playing a demo during this year’s Steam Next Fest, it is safe to say that this title offers many possibilities to climb up the social ladder and become the most powerful clan in a county.
In House of Legacy we found ourselves at the helm of our surviving kin. Since rebel forces breached the city walls, we decide to embark on an arduous journey to seek refuge. After arriving in a county seat untarnished by chaos, it’s time to use tactical skills to ignite the flames of a nascent dynasty. Your choices will fashion a new empire from the very stones of your vision.
Even though it was only a demo version, there are many things to unpack regarding the story, the gameplay and the general feel of this game. Since House of Legacy fits into the category of 4X games, where the players main goals are to „explore, expand, exploit and exterminate”, we can use those components to analyse sandbox potential of this title.
Exploration
We can explore the game’s story and mechanics in many ways – by visiting places marked on a map, completing tasks from the list or simply finding out more about the county and its residents. I was pleasantly surprised by how elaborate is the mix of business and dyplomacy – not only you can decide what kind of shops you build and who you’ll hire, but also you have a chance to get rid of the competition for example by busting illegal gambling. Even the interactions with civilians are quite complex – flattering, granting marriage, poisoning or cursing are just a few examples of many steps you can take to reach your goal.
Expansion
Kako igrači napreduju, sama igra se također širi. Predstavljene su nam prekrasne ručno crtane animacije koje objašnjavaju sukob s pobunjenicima i njegove posljedice. Tijekom dijelova izgradnje i upravljanja gradom, u pozadini svira i divna tradicionalna glazba. Želim također naglasiti da naš utjecaj nije ograničen na jednu lokaciju, možemo kupovati farme, boriti se s drugim okruzima i obnoviti naš rodni grad nakon napada. Proširenje se također odnosi na naš vlastiti klan, odnosno na nama je tko će biti prihvaćen kao novi član klana i tko će postati naš najveći neprijatelj.
Eksploatacija
Exploitation in this case doesn’t necessairly have a negative meaning – it can refer to getting to know the local market and using this knowledge to increase your profit. We can learn this trick from the guide at the beginning of the game – after completing various tasks, we are rewarded with money and more tasks to do. I found it exhausting and a bit overwhelming to complete every position from the list, as it kept adding more quests, which sometimes lacked proper explanation. At times you are not even sure where you are supposed to carry out these missions or how you can achieve your goals. On the other hand, sometimes I got a reward for finishing a task that I didn’t try to do – elements like those make the gameplay a little unbalanced.
Extermination
While this game is not a brutal one, there are definitely ways to increase the significance of your clan by force – like sending your members to battles. Moreover, the characters can just die… I don’t know if it was supposed to happen as a randomized event, or it was due to my mistake, but again, the game didn’t explain to me what lead to that and if I could aviod it. Moments like these were especially frustrating since they required a sudden change of plans.
To sum up, House of Legacy as for now is quite mediocre to me – it has some extraordinary and enjoyable ideas, however their execution needs more polish. While graphics, soundtrack and customization elements work to its advantage, management and instructions feel undercooked. Altough I wouldn’t be too hard on this game – it doesn’t have a release date yet, and the potential is already here, so I’ll be cheering for the devs to improve this game with more balanced and fun to play elements.
You can play free demo of House of Legacy on Steam.
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