[i]Silk Roads: Caravan Kings[/i] is a relaxing blend of trading game and walking simulator. The journey to Cathay and back is laden with pleasant music and flavorful events. Nothing complex here. No competition either. You've got five goods, and one of them is supplies. A basic health and morale system for your merchant. Five religious factions whose opinions influence your prices. There's a smattering of other items you may gain, use, or lose through the events. You control your route and when you leave settlements, but once you're on the road, you can't stop. That's it. My first trip took two and a half hours.
I wouldn't recommend this game to you if you want business strategy (like [i]Gazillionaire[/i]). The primary focus here is on the "journey through a foreign world scarcely explored in popular media." It does well in that regard. I felt a connection to my character and some desire to roleplay my decisions. Does this game have intricate layers of choices and consequences (like [i]King of Dragon Pass[/i])? No, again, nothing complex here. There's some variance in what a choice determines, but there are choices that are obviously better than others.
[strike]Gripes about the game? Well, there's an Agility stat which determines travel time length, but moving from Venice to Cathay takes [b]real life time[/b]. I'd have appreciated a fast forward button for at least 2x speed. Also, for a game that revolves around events, there's a number of repeats with seemingly little delay. My lute kept breaking, I kept misplacing my bow, and flies kept haunting me. The immersion suffers a bit for it.[/strike]
[i][b]EDIT: As of the Jan. 20 update,[/b] there's a game speed toggle for up to 4x, and the events repeat less.[/i]
Immersion also suffers from the ending message when you finally deliver your payload to Venice (though, admittedly, I... generously violated the time length of my contract). One more thing: I like the game's map, but there's no ability to zoom out during the trip. It'd be nice to get a sense of how distant the settlements are along the route without using a search engine.
Final verdict? Game's worth the price of admission because of its focus, not its nuance. With [i]Silk Roads: Caravan Kings[/i], you can kick back and enjoy a relatively carefree trip. Odd to say that for what would have historically been a harrowing journey... Ah, well. Now suck the poison out of my foot so I can armor up and face the Genoans!
