This game plays like an art piece. Wonderful visuals, music, UI design. There is alot of audio and art content to enjoy here. Gameplay is simple but refined. You manage 4 kingdom resources, but the individual stories of petitioners and couriers feel impactful to the rest of the game. You'll find yourself making hard or difficult decisions regularly(on the 1st playthrough).
The game can be completed in 8-12 hours depending on your reading speed. You'll likely want to play it once over to get the best possible ending or explore alternatives. The autosave system lets you go back about 6 turns. The game lasts about 50 turns. There isn't alot of content to see outside the good ending AFAIK.
There is no voice acting, but characters speak in an unintelligible but uniquely personable burble. To my surprise, I was actually able to distinguish between various cultures within the game though no words words were audibly spoken. The writing is easy to process, so young audiences/non-native English speakers should have an easy time following along.
Gameplay also is just clicking, no keyboard input required generally one handed.
The hard recommend comes from the second game, which I have not played yet but am excited to have my story continue.
Cautions before buying the game:
Those looking for a sandbox/choose your own adventure experience will be left wanting. The narrative generally has 1 good ending and the rest subpar IMO. The game is a low fantasy environment. The world is compelling, just know you're getting historical fantasy. The gameplay, while challenging the first playthrough, pushes you
towards a neutral good type ending. So dark roleplayers will find little for them in gameplay.
Note for parents: This game features the tragic loss of a child which seems impossible to prevent. It shocked me the first time around and I was appropriately upset. While it was strong storybuilding, those going through loss of family may take if differently. I didn't get much story closure from the event, but that's just one guys perspective.
tldr; Linear but good story. Art beautiful. Difficult story based management game about finding happiness for your family and maybe your kingdom. Would recommend easily.
