Отзывы

• gamedeal user

  Oct 11, 2022

  It's billed as a simplified 4X game, but it actually reminds me of Dice Wars more than anything. But that's great, because Dice Wars is great. I have played the multiplayer demo for 15 hours prior to release. As someone who enjoys micromanagement and 50-hour campaigns, I wasn't sure if I was in this game's target audience. But Ozymandias offers something those other Civ-like games can't: a genuinely enjoyable multiplayer mode. It's a lot like a board game in many ways. There is no fog of war. The length of a single match is about 90 minutes, which is also comparable to a board game. Each turn takes about a minute or two, and they're simultaneous, so there's very little downtime. The game also has an asynchronous multiplayer mode which is actually the reason I was interested in the first place, but the real-time multiplayer works so well I haven't even tested it. I understand the concerns over the lack of procedurally-generated scenarios. However, I respect the choice to tie the game to real historical factions and real historical locations. I enjoy even the superficial historical references. In any case it's a lot more than Dice Wars ever had. To be fair to the devs; even if I keep bringing up Dice Wars, this game is more complex than that. There has been talk of adding modes and maps in the future, but as of now there seems to be plenty to choose from. Honestly, I don't think this set of game mechanics even needs randomization to be replayable. Chess doesn't have random maps either. Ozymandias really is closer to something like Risk with added depth than it is Hearts of Iron. But I like Risk, too. Luckily the devs seem to have a clear vision they're going for. This isn't a 4X game that has run out of budget and had to be stripped down. The game was designed to be simpler, purpose-built to allow for multiplayer that doesn't require an entire weekend. Of course you can play all weekend if you want. One match after another, a little like grinding the ladder in an RTS game. There is a built-in ELO system included, which I appreciate.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 12, 2022

  It takes a lot for me to write a review, but I feel I need to write one for this game. (The demo alone managed to captivate me for close to 10 hours.) What is Ozymandias? It’s a bite-sized, polished 4x game with smart AI set in the Bronze Age. The nations are asymmetrical in difficulty, meaning some are deliberately designed to be more challenging than others due to their historical starting location and/or bonuses. The goal of the game is to attain ‘crowns.’ These are randomly or custom-set goals that determine the winner. Each game takes roughly around 30-60 min to finish - something unheard of in the 4x genre. The pacing reminds me of Into the Breach, which is perfect for me because I’m pressed for either time or energy. Why is it so remarkable? The underlying design of polish, simplicity, and depth exemplifies “easy to learn, heard to master.” Coupled with an actually non-cheating, competent AI *cough Civ 6 cough*, it scratches an itch that almost none in the genre manage. The soundtrack is also phenomenal - you truly feel immersed in the setting. The devs are very responsive and thoughtful. Those who have found the game, are needless to say, also passionate. What could be improved? It’s nitpicking, but just to be fair to those on the fence - some UI elements seem a bit geared towards aesthetics than practicality. For example, resources are displayed on the default screen, but income is not. Income is within the economics tab. The tabs have quick, forced animations. But again, these are very minor issues largely overshadowed by the game’s accomplishments. The devs have mentioned UI improvements are on the radar for future updates. If the idea of quick, smart, 4x game interests you, I recommend you to give it a try. Go through the tutorials as some elements are slightly atypical among its genre. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised how compelling this is. As for me, this gets a 5/5 stars. And I don’t give 5 stars easily. Other games it reminded me of: Into the Breach Civilization Chess
• gamedeal user

  Oct 12, 2022

  Very nice little game. Plays more like a board game than a "sim" as the title claims, but it's good for what it is. The visuals and soundtrack are very pleasant. The game lacks a bit of balancing (some of the cards are much stronger than others), but for a newly released strategy game, it plays very well. I would have liked to see a longer story mode.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 12, 2022

  Fun little strategy game. Easy enough to learn in one session, and master in two or three. But because of the variety of maps, starting locations, and civ bonuses, there is a decent amount of replayability.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 12, 2022

  Ozymandias is a prime example of how to refine game design and distil an entire genre into its most essential and interesting components. This game is a 4X game in vitamin capsule form: all of the essential elements and none of the fluff that causes other entries in the genre to stumble. Each game is short, but contains all of the choices and resource management of a proper 4X strategy game, and the variety of viable strategies across different maps and civilizations is, oddly enough, on par with many more elaborate and expensive titles on the market. There are many 4X games that are flashier than Ozymandias, but perhaps none that are better at providing the core strategy experience
• gamedeal user

  Oct 12, 2022

  What a sweet little 4X game - you can complete an entire run in between 25-45 minutes and it feels very satisfying. It's also a pretty tough game to win even on Novice difficulty and playing as one of the Easy factions. I've tried to win three times as the Assyrians on the Fertile Crescent map and have been beaten by the Babylonians three times but each time, I got closer and closer. BTW, the Assyrians are an Easy faction. The heart of the game is based on how you expand and how you allocate your money. Early game, you'll be expanding like crazy and it won't matter so much if you're spending all your money each turn. But as the game develops. you need to decide how much of each turn's income is going to be used to buy food, science and, later in the game when you have an army, power for4 the next turn. You can also use money to reduce wastage in those four categories so that you can build up a surplus more rapidly. It's best to do this in the early game as doing it later can hurt your power. You allocate science to improve the food, money or science generated on a particular terrain tile set or towards power from that. So if your empire has a lot of desert tiles, you will want to improve their yields and maybe also their power through science. You use your food to buy free tiles, build and develop your cities and move your armies. Building large cities is one of the ways top earn victory crowns. Each turn, you get a choice of two opportunity cards to pick from which can grant you a bonus to the yields of certain tiles or settle free tiles. Or to buy mercenaries to improve your power for a number of turns. You can hold up to three of these at a time. For power, each turn, you 'buy' power points from your left-over income and your armies and navies project it into adjacent enemy tiles and so you may succeed in capturing the enemy's tile or an enemy city. There are several different factions to play on eight different maps and some of the factions are rated HARD which means that they are going to be much tougher to win with on that map. The Easy factions will be powerhouses so the AI knows how to play this game. It's hardly a great expense to pick up and there's a demo which you can try out to see if it's yuour cup of tea so there's little risk involved. Check it out - if you like 4X games, you'll probably appreciate what this brings to the table.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 12, 2022

  It's more board game than 4x (no fog == no exploration) - but that's not a bad thing. At first glance, the game seems simple but there is a beautiful balance between Research, Gold, and Food. Each resource can help you achieve your goals in multiple ways. For example, food can acquire neutral tiles (increasing total yields of all resources) or grow cities or move armies/fleets to conquer tiles. Gold can be used to make one-off purchases in each resource. Research increases tile yields or decreases costs to acquire tiles or makes it easier to attack/defend tiles of a certain terrain. Timely prioritization of these resources is key to victory. I also appreciate that each game takes ~1hr and seems to end just as I enter the "steamroll slog" of the end game - perfectly timed. There are multiple factions on each map, with pre-set bonuses & starting positions which provides good variety. Ultimately, it's a refreshing take on the traditional 4x genre that triggers that same "one-more-turn" feeling within each ~1hr game.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 12, 2022

  I have played for around 25+ hours already in the previous demos/playtests so I got a good overview of the game by now. By far the biggest selling point of Ozymandias is that it offers you a rewarding 4x game experience in just 40-90 minutes which to my knowledge no other game can currently deliver. I got Civilization 5+6 and Old World, and these games (wile amazing) take DAYS to wrap up and towards the ending turns you usually just wanna shoot yourself. Here you get to scratch that same gaming itch in more or less an hour and the ending is usually a tight race and thus rewarding. I played a couple of multiplayer games as well and it feels good to play against humans (however, the AI also puts up a decent fight so it's not boring to play against the AI either). The best bit about multiplayer though - it's simultaneous turns, so no waiting around for 3+ other players because everyone takes their turn at the same time. The real treat in playing this game is that after you get over the learning hump and you understand how it all interconnects you get to REALLY fine-tune where you spend your money and food and research in a way to get close to optimal results. So it essentially scratches that same itch as the Civ-likes of optimizing small gains that can eventually lead to snowballing and crushing your opponents. A few extra food or research here and there can give big returns of investment if you spend them wisely. There are decent customization options for both multiplayer and single player. There are many difficulty settings (6 or 7 that give either player or AI bonuses) and in addition each Civ also has its own difficulty rating based on where they are located on a map. Each Civ also has unique bonus modifiers based on their "archetype" ("Militarist" can hire armies 20% cheaper etc. etc.). Moreover, you can adapt the win conditions so you can influence how long or short games are... If you are a map painter type and want to win by total conquest then you can set it up so that only the number of won hexes are the win condition. Otherwise there's a random selection of different win conditions that give you "crowns". Example: You need 8 crowns to win and having an army/fleet of at least 9 gives you 3 crowns - so you can mix and match and cobble your crowns together according to the strengths of your Civ and/or map position. So yeah there is quite a bit of variety if you fiddle with the knobs. The price is also very reasonable for what you get. I usually think good value games give you one hour played per 1€ (or if we are harsh then 2€). I already got more than that value easily in the bag without any sign of being bored soon.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 13, 2022

  The game is something that I was looking for for quite some time. I spent hours in beta/playtest versions and even from that early stages, the game was addictive. It's simple, yet complex. It's 4X that doesn't require you to get familiar with millions of rules, exceptions and so on. You can spend on one game from 15 minutes up to 4 hours and it's up to you how would you like to play. Higher difficulties in the game provide a great challenge for people who like to think a lot about their movement and lower difficulties can be better for faster and/or easier games. I highly recommend it for all players who enjoy strategic games.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 14, 2022

  Highly addictive like one of those "one more turn" games. Not a lot of maps, but enough civs and difficulties that each map has decent replayability. I play on the 2nd easiest difficulty and it's still a challenge after 12 hours of game play. Not full of bells and whistles like Civ and EU4, but just as strategic and tactical. Recommended