Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind

Never in my wildest dreams did I think there would be a sequel to King of Dragon Pass! Six Ages takes all of the lessons learned from porting KODP to iOS and streamlines a lot of the more fiddly bits of the original game. The game casts you as an entire tribe of horse riding barbarians who have to struggle to establish themselves in a land where the rules are different from Earth and everything is alive. This game will challenge you to think like a barbarian and guide your tribe to wealth or ruin (and perhaps even more!) The game is turn based, with you choosing actions for your tribe and resolving situations that occur as time passes. There is combat, trading, diplomacy, magic, rituals, and more as you learn about the weird and wonderful world of Glorantha. The music, visuals, and gameplay are a step up over the original and it is a worthy successor. I found a play through took about three days of concerted effort which is shorter than the original “long game” from KODP but in general I found it to be very rewarding with lots of opportunities for alternative approaches in subsequent playthroughs. Additionally, the developer has committed to introducing new scenarios into the game for no additional IAP charge. In general this is a very promising and exciting continuation of one the most unique and immersive roleplaying/simulation games ever made!

While I was never a big fan of King of Dragon Pass, Six Ages really sucked me in. Improvements to the combat system and the changes to simplify/abstract a few systems (particularly food) have really made the core stories shine. And it’s hard to overstate how ambitious this game is compared to most others I have played on the iPhone. While I have a lot of things that I wish could be different, I think most of them make the game better. For instance, I really wish I could wipe out other clans, particularly my smug, conniving, weak, and stupid Wheel neighbors. The game is not without flaws however. The game seems to have a time limit that cannot be changed and gives no warning. Events and outcomes can be very random. Even when it feels like there’s a reason you lost a battle or a party of explorers never returned, the game gives you no information or clue on why. Being able to restore definitely helps with this but I don’t think players should have to do that just to get a new dice roll on an event. I am definitely looking forward to the next few chapters and hope this game does well.

<edit> I have changed the rating from three stars to four. Even though the smaller font issue still exists, it is obvious the developer is active with the community, and it is not a bug. </edit> This is a five star game that I have dropped to four stars for only one reason. The text font size is significantly smaller than their earlier game, KoDP. For a title so reliant on text, this is borderline unforgivable. Either the 'larger font' option is currently bugged, or the developer has made a design decision that has reduced the quality-of-life over their previous game. Opening the games 'side-by-side' shows this dramatic difference in text scale. Hopefully this can be addressed in a patch, and I can improve the rating. I was a huge fan of the first game, and I find myself struggling to play this one. Other than that, fans of KoDP should immediately purchase the title. Anyone else looking for a text-heavy immersive experience is likewise urged to try the game. But if you are a potential customer who is frustrated when games feature small text- I advise caution on your decision.

It's a miracle that this exists at all - King Of Dragon Pass was a hidden gem almost 20 years ago and never really got the recognition it deserved. This game retains the core of what made that game great - learning the way of life and outlook of a richly-imagined culture with an imaginative system of myths and laws, in one of my favorite fantasy settings ever dreamt up. There's quibbles - I'm maybe not as enamored with the prose or music, and some sentences could use an editing pass. It exceeds KODP in other areas, though; visual art and quality of life in particular. Really though, don't let that discourage you - if you loved KODP, this has the same magic. If you didn't play KODP, buy both. I'm writing this review because it'll help this game's discoverability on the dreaded app store. I'm never moved to do that. This series is essential.

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Fun, interesting, yes... but it gets very frustrating very fast, since there is basically no way of gaging your progress. There is no way of knowing if you are growing, or wasting your time. Everything seems to be completely random, and when you think you are progressing and doing well in one field, all of a sudden it turns out you are not. I wish there were graphs or progress bars or percentages, anything showing what my status is in, for example, war, or rituals, or food, or diplomacy. It’s just frustrating to play something for many hours and out of nowhere, when everything seems to be progressing nicely, the clan disbands and you loose. It keeps happening to me over and over again and it’s just not fun, and I loose interest. Why should I keep playing a game where I keep loosing, and I never know why? Why would I keep playing a game where everything seems to be random and I never get feedback on my actions?