The other 1c game that turned up on our gam-o-scopes this week is this rather handsome-looking medieval turn-based strategy game, Empire: Time of Troubles. It comes with the most sedate and unhurried trailer I think I’ve ever seen (posted below) and seems to include a promising-looking 3D campaign map and a whole lot of menus, currently rendered mysterious (to me at least) by their encryption in cyrillic. The game apparently covers the period of 1350-1650AD in Poland, Lithuania and Russia, where dudes get chopped and stuff gets plague and is buried. You take charge one of the twenty six different factions involved in the region and attempt to lead them to victory. Expect micro-management, beards.
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Yeesh, in parts the trailer is so relaxed it’s easy to mistake it for a low framerate. The game does look like a good time though.
Too bad I was expecting a E:TW expansion and was massively disappointed when I actually read the post :/.
I can’t think of many civ management games that could make an awesome trailer out of the most mundane details of their minute-to-minute interface.
This is no exception.
Looks lovely, but that music is all over the place, and why bother showing the start menu and loading?
Still, it could be nice to play a game with a slightly different historical focus to the usual ones.
Looks fun looks really really fun
Is it just me or is Russia becoming a real power in PC gaming, especially in the games I wanna play demographic?
Seems a lot like the total war series except from the fighting…. Anyway not very original is my geuss
Do we also have to micro-manage beards?
I suppose I’d have to spend some time with it to be sure, but that interface looks rather overwhelming.
looks promising…i’ll definitely be growing a beard for it’s release
well its no men of war but i will reserve judgement till reviewtimes
thought this was a pisstake of E:TW’s gameplay troubles lol
looks ok…
Looks good.
Is it just me or is Russia becoming a real power in PC gaming, especially in the games I wanna play demographic?
Yeah, I’m glad someone out there still wants to make games like Men of War and King’s Bounty. Some of the names are awful, though. Men of War? uhhhh. MrBejeebus already pointed out the problem with this game’s name.
But beard micromanagement could revolutionize the 4X genre.
Dull you say?
Well gentlemen I beg you to consider 2:04 in which a 2000′ tall zebra besieges a town.
Actually looks more like a bleaker shade of Fantasy Wars to me. Glad someome still knows how to make interesting looking war games.
Seemed to me like a sort-of hybrid of Empire: Total War and Europa Universalis. In a good way. I especially liked the bit where the man turns into a boat.
looks kinda like civ+HOMM mashup? trailer is boring and confusing
the devs are my neighbours btw
Is that a dude on a zebra? Does Russia have zebras?
Russian zebras? Don’t be silly, that’s clearly the elite quagga cavalry of King Wladislaw II.
Flashbacks to Cryostasis. I saw that “1c Company” countdown and strangely retro red-on-yellow logo so very many times while playing that game … probably because the damn thing crashed every second level load.
(Not that it’s their fault; they’re just the publisher. Unless the crashes were caused by DRM they insisted upon … oooh.)
This definitely takes the award for “most dramatic music for just idly clicking through menus in a trailer”, though.
… a whole lot of menus, currently rendered mysterious (to me at least) by their encryption in cyrillic.
Actually, they’re probably double encrypted — once in Russian, once in cyrillic. They must really not want people understanding what they’re clicking on.
Empire: Time of Dialog Boxes
This looks rather nice. Something about it charms me, and it’s nice to see a trailer that gives an indication of how the game will play, rather than getting a man with a ridiculous voice to deliver some ridiculous narration while things explode and/or people get stabbed. The game itself will probably overwhelm me, given that I’m an idiot who is bad at thinking, but I am tempted all the same. I hope you will give it a play when it comes out and let us know wot you think, Jim!
As much as I like the TW and EU series I would like to see another take on it….keeping my finger crossed that they didnt “borrow” too many elements from the other tbs games. I really like the art tho, it has a very russian feel to it…
Eastern European medieval warfare? Now that would make even our good Dragon Age trailer look quite sedate. :D