1849

[i]1849[/i] reminds me of the games of yore. Simplistic in play and charming in style, the game enticed me to give it a go quite easily, given the rare setting of the 19th century gold rush out west, which is one of my favorite periods and settings for anything, and I'm glad I've pulled the trigger — a metaphor which ironically doesn't directly relate to [i]1849,[/i] since guns are barely in the game, only being handled by law enforcement. While part of me had hoped for a little more depth and like an old west version of modern day city builders such as [i]SimCity[/i] or [i]Cities: Skylines,[/i] I've been having an absolute blast grinding through the various scenarios of the game's campaign mode. Unfortunately, I have this feeling replayability and general longevity are limited, seeing as there is no mod support, multiplayer, or really enough space in the sandbox mode to really establish an ever-expanding city like in those aforementioned titles. [i]1849[/i]'s mantra is really more of a "Here are some challenges — go solve them." Still, the formula works. The one caveat I have is that the UI isn't great, and there are [b]no hotkeys,[/b] so you'll find yourself clicking...a lot.…

good fun game

I WANTED to like it. I love the theme, the presentation, the sound and music, even most of the gameplay, but I feel a city-builder should be a casual experience where, if you notice you've veered off course, you gently steer the ship back in the right direction. This is not that! From the second story mission, I already realized that I would be forced to manually conduct trade by regularly opening a certain menu and clicking a certain button. There was no other way to proceed beyond that! Not fun! To make matters worse, There are only three speed settings: Pause, Normal, or Fast. I like a little more variability in the speed because, perhaps I'm not the sharpest player or maybe I've had a couple drinks and I just want to chill! Furthermore, there were no hotkeys that I could find for pause/unpause, rotate, anything like that, and no menu where I could look at the controls. This looks a lot like a mobile game that was ported to Steam with little or no attention paid to improving the UI or quality of life for a PC player. It's a shame, because the theme and presentation are strong. Perhaps I'm missing something. If so, let me know. Comments are open. If I continue playing and …

There is something about this game that keeps bringing me back. The gameplay loop is engaging, easy to understand and the challenge ramps up steadily as you progress through the game. The constraints set out in each level force you to vary your playing style and adopt a different approach. One of my favourite things were the mid level challenges which have the potential to provide a permanent resource boost if achieved within the time limit. I always tried to go for those and when I missed them restarted the level making sure I stock whatever is needed ahead of time to achieve them as the challenges are fixed and not randomised. This is a great game and haven't really found one that scratches a similar itch in this gameplay style. I expect continuing to play this in the meantime.

About 30 minutes of gameplay.

Really great isometric city builder. The limited space to build within presents nice puzzles for how to solve the level. Super satisfying as someone who grew up playing Pharaoh and who now seeks out every iso city builder out there.