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Steve Dubya
United States
Capital-region
New York
Land of the Free, Home of the Slack
Oh, not in Utica, no. It's an Albany expression.
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It's been a long time since a game has hooked me as the Royal Envoys have; I think the last one I can think of was Mario Kart Wii*. Hopefully I'll be able to explain why this particular iteration of the game has me hooked.
The best way I can quickly describe the gameplay of Royal Envoy is to imagine Warcraft II without any fighting; the game is strictly focused on building construction and resource management. To be fair, when I first started playing I was somewhat in doubt as to if the game would be able to hold my interest seeing as how there isn't any particular confrontation. However, the ease of the controls and the strategy of the timing of events has drawn me in.
The plot of the game is that the land of "Islandshire" has been decimated by...a storm or something** and that the king has appointed the player to go and rebuild this particular area. Along the way various characters are introduced via cutscenes to help relay pertinent information; as the cutscenes are skippable (even without watching for the first time) they don't impact being able to get directly to the gameplay, and don't really serve any purpose other than to establish the mood of the game.
The heart of the game is the completion of a given set of achievements for a particular level within the time allotted, which also provides you with a numerical score. Most of these achievements are focused on either the construction/upgrade of a particular set of buildings or the acquiring of a certain type of resource, be it gold, wood or "happiness."
As the game progresses, more building options become available and thus different combinations of achievements.
As I mentioned before, the interface is very reminiscent of Warcraft II - you point and click on either a building space or existing structure and then see what options you may have available for either construction or upgrade.
Gold is acquired from domiciles that are built and collected by "tax collectors" who need to be sent out when a given domicile has generated its allotment. The tax collectors also bargain with the trader at the Market, where wood can be exchanged for gold in varying amounts; additionally, they will go and bribe individuals who may be standing in the way of areas that are inaccesible.
"Workers" provide the grunt labor of the game, building/upgrading various structures as well as running the Sawmill, which provides wood.
Any resources that are generated - wood or gold - needs to be taken from the structure to the main Castle building. As this may take some time for a given unit to go from Point A to Point B, careful timing of when to acquire resources becomes more and more important through the game.
After a few levels the game adds in the concept of "Happiness," where various upgrades to houses provides varying amounts of pleasure to the theoretical inhabitants, and this is yet another resource that must be balanced in the time allotted.
Should time expire, you are still allowed to complete a level - you simply don't get the "star" that you would if you completed it in time. By acquiring all the stars for a given set of levels you obtain various other achievements ("Trophies") and the total score you have achieved also provides various extras.
The interfaces are reasonably intuitive and the fact that you can quit a level at any point and start over is a big plus; if you see that a particular strategy isn't going to give you the results you were anticipating, you can start afresh.
The graphics are whimsical and the music and sound effects have not annoyed me yet to the point where I would shut them off.
Certain levels can be rather tricky in terms of getting the timing just about right, but overall don't expect this to be a real brain burner.
If you're looking for a way to kill some time that isn't going to cost a fortune, you could do worse than Royal Envoy.
*Note: I have yet to put in anywhere near the time I have blown playing Mario Mart.
**Does it really matter?
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Железный комиссар
United States
Madison
Wisconsin
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I just finished the game (gold star on all levels). Wow. This game is a tour de force for economic planning / resource management. I could not believe how much content was. Also could not believe they gave away the game (I got it free) when it provides a polished 12 hours of enjoyment.
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Land of the Free, Home of the Slack
