By Alec Meer on October 29th, 2008 at 9:58 pm.
(Clearly I’m in a tautological headline mood today).
They’ve only just put out Hinterland, but already Tilted Mill have released a rosy-cheeked new baby into the world: a free to play, in-browser rethink of their much-adored historical management/society simulator Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile. The rethink being, specifically, that this previously singleplayer game is now a full-blown MMO.
Which is fantastic news – as any MMO that’s about something other than goblin-twatting and experience points is worthy of praise as far as I’m concerned. Much of the game works similarly to as it did before, by the sound of it – you initially concentrate on developing your ancient Egyptian city by your lonesome, but turn to neighbouring players for trading and, later, competition for Pharoah-hood.
A beta is up and running already – have a crack at getting on it over yonder.
Incidentally, Hinterland’s had a pretty significant update since its divisive launch, which is supposed to address a fair few complaints. There’s also a Halloween pack turning up soon, which should be fun. I really must play Hinterland actually – Jim and Kieron have, but I’ve not had the chance yet. Too many gun-related games released in quick succession, sadly. It strikes me as a good’un for an RPS Verdict, though.
Sounds excellent! Gotta give it a try.
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Those who’ve played Immortal Cities: is it anything like Pharaoh, the awesome Egyptian-themed city builder from back in the day?
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Oh shit. This is good news. I still play CotN every few months. Wheeee.
Also, wot no πr8 version of Hinterland? BAD PIRATES. NAUGHTY.
@RichPowers
Dunno, I’ve not played Pharoh. /helpful
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Warning: You’ll be deeply disappointed by Hinterland.
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@RichPowers
I have no idea what Immortal Cities is like, but I know Pharoah was ruddy awesome. Put me and Reid together and you might even have a proper answer for your question… might…
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Initial report from the beta:
Wow this game is really slow. 15m to construct a building and I can’t start anymore till it’s done. Definitely one to leave running in the background and come back to.
Also, it doesn’t seem to have any music as of yet, which for me was 90% of the charm of Pharoah. (That and the phrases the hunters would say, “Ostriches are nearly invisible if they stick their heads in the sand.”)
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Yeah, this is nothing compared to the single player. It’s just your run-of-the-Mill browser game. I fail to see how people can enjoy these things.
OH WELL.
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What, there’s a Halloween pack for Hinterland? Any further details on that?
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Goddam it… I had a problem with Travian when I got hooked into and there I was thinking this wont be as bad – lets give it a go.
2 hours or so later and I’ve yet to close to browser having patiently built 4 or 5 new buildings and already working out how long and when I need to instigate new works so I can continue expanding :(
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Sounds very Ikariam. Does this have more of an endgame?
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I miss Impression Games.
Signed up for the beta, I hope it’s fun :)
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Interesting, sounds a bit like Tribalwars/Cybernations.
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