Recent reviews by meicus

DO NOT PLAY THIS EXPECTING CIVILIZATION

At it's core, Ara is a production chain management game that uses a civ

There are some really innovative ideas here, and most of them are executed well. First off, the region-based map system is a huge breath of fresh air. It makes city expansion feel much more deliberate and is a better fit for the spread-out 'district' system that Civ 6 popularized than a generic hex grid. Additionally, substitutions in the production management as you unlock new resources keeps even some of your earliest setups relevant and able to be repurposed.

The game does have some notable flaws. While micromanagement itself is no issue, the UI is not well designed to reduce tedium. At minimum, there needs to be some sort of 'change all' button for improvements to reduce the clicking required when you get the next generation of tools available. Additionally, the pacing can feel a bit odd, especially in era 1 on large maps when nearly all space is filled rather quickly. Civilizations disappearing between era transitions helps, but then you have large areas deserted for a long time due to the inherent benefits of rushing your city cap as early as possible.

Ultimately it feels like a respectable 7/10, that can become an 8/10 with some early patches. $60 is a bit much for the current state of the game, but I would recommend the game on sale to any production chain fans.

It has some rough edge as to be expected with early access, but so far the gameplay loop is fun and the city planner does gorgeous work.

If I had to pick any particular flaw that needs addressing ASAP, it would be the road system. As other reviewers have pointed out, once automatically built, roads cannot be destroyed. As your city grows and your initial gathering buildings become obsolete, this can leave you with some pretty funky layouts that make it impossible to place new cultural buildings on. It also seems to confuse the urban planner when building new districts.

Ultimately, I feel the game has potential and the launch sale of $21 is a valid price for how many times I expect to be replaying it as new patches roll out.

At its core, the gameplay loop is mostly fun. "Big number go up" will always be fun in it's own right. But many of the systems simply feel clunky, oversimplified, opaque, or unresponsive to the player's actions. The fact that this game feels worse to play than the undeniable code mess that is Victoria II represents a developmental failure. The current state of the game aside, I commend the dev team for their current and planned efforts to improve the game. Maybe in time the game will be a worthy iteration in the Victoria series, but for now It is disappointing.

OP simulator

Its a sandbox with Hussars

It's alright, obviously my play time reflects I have not put as time into it as one should expect in order to make my opinion about it, but it's just not really worth playing when I have V. Whereas VI is not a bad game by any means, V is better to me in almost all regards (except for the district mechanic which I do prefer), and 60$+DLC for a game that is inferior to it's predecessor is a joke.

Dissapointing.

9/10
Still a better love story than twilight

Everyone hates 7.00 but I am of the opinion that updates like this mean that the game will continue to move forward. If you want a straight port of dota 1, then dammit go play dota 1. There is a 2 for a reason, fanboys.

Do you like Ocs? Yes? Well why dont you go $@*& yourself then?

>Multi thousand star, multi galaxy map is made
>Computer does it
>mycomputerisntapotatoyay.jpeg
>Plays against 5 insane Ai's
>Is first to discover all but 4
>Grudge is held against the filthy Oko for not letting me be the first species to find them
>11 hours and not even a piss break
>Almost all systems colonized
>Frustrating 1 hour stalemate with Mono disease in a mere 3 systems over meat
>Any captured planet is immediately recaptured
>Le Graviton Condenser
>Ifican'thaveitnobodycan.jpeg
>Normally quiet Oko suddenly decides to also declare war
>Captures MY meat planet
>Old grudge is remembered
>Secretly sends Graviton Condenser (Gloriously named Plant Murderer) to the black hole in their homesystem (which has not been colonized because both planets are barren)
>Wait.
>Wait.
>Wait (giggling profusely by this point).
>2 hours later the Bork black hole casually implodes, much to the surprise of the leader of Plant Town
>Galaxy burns
>Entire Oko economy collapses, fleet production is brought to a halt
>Subjugates entire species of sentient plants

10/5 Would destroy entire galaxy over meat again