Secrets of the Past: Dion
Culturplay · 2018 · Casual, Simulation, Puzzle, Education, Indie
PC
8 user reviews100% · 8 📉 Recent reviews down 87%
This game is free to play. Get it on Steam →
Screenshots
About Secrets of the Past: Dion
Secrets of the Past: Dion is a casual simulation game that follows the journey of an archaeological artifact, from its discovery to its museum exhibition. It is a first point of contact with the work of archaeologists and possibly a next generation museum app.
You run the excavation of the ancient Villa of Dionysus, unearth its thousands of years old treasures, join together artifact fragments and host your very own exhibition. In the process, you inspect up close and interactively the 3D models of the real artifacts found in the ancient site and you learn about the glorious millennium of ancient Dion, the City of Zeus, situated at the foothills of Mount Olympus.
Gear up for the challenges of managing an archaeological excavation project!
The stories and artifact descriptions in the game are based on the following publications:
A free prototype version of this game was published for mobile platforms in 2016. That version was commissioned by the Onassis Foundation USA in conjunction with the 2016 exhibition Gods and Mortals at Olympus: Ancient Dion, City of Zeus. The exhibition brought a selection from the thousands of artifacts that attest to the vibrant daily, cultural and religious life in ancient Dion for the first time to the USA. The mobile game aimed to attract New York youth and introduce them to the world of ancient history and archaeological excavation. The more challenging, more replayable and visually enhanced multilingual PC version of this game is now available on Steam.
You run the excavation of the ancient Villa of Dionysus, unearth its thousands of years old treasures, join together artifact fragments and host your very own exhibition. In the process, you inspect up close and interactively the 3D models of the real artifacts found in the ancient site and you learn about the glorious millennium of ancient Dion, the City of Zeus, situated at the foothills of Mount Olympus.
Gear up for the challenges of managing an archaeological excavation project!
FEATURES
- A unique grid excavation mechanic – reveal instead of build.
- A mix of exploration, worker placement and puzzle.
- Unlimited replayability using the random artifact locations mode.
- A portrayal of archaeology with a learning effect created to inspire young and old.
- A faithful reproduction of the architectural remains of the luxurious ancient Villa of Dionysus.
- The ancient artifacts discovered in the game are 3D models of the real artifacts exhibited at the Archaeological Museum of Dion.
- The music is an original composition based on the ancient Greek harp song of Seikilos.
- Multilingual: English, Greek
REFERENCES
The stories and artifact descriptions in the game are based on the following publications:
- PANDERMALIS, D. (ed) (2000), “Discovering Dion”, Adam Editions (Athens)
- PANDERMALIS, D. (ed) (2016), “Gods and Mortals at Olympus: Ancient Dion, City of Zeus”, Onassis Foundation USA (New York)
NOTE ABOUT THE MOBILE VERSION
A free prototype version of this game was published for mobile platforms in 2016. That version was commissioned by the Onassis Foundation USA in conjunction with the 2016 exhibition Gods and Mortals at Olympus: Ancient Dion, City of Zeus. The exhibition brought a selection from the thousands of artifacts that attest to the vibrant daily, cultural and religious life in ancient Dion for the first time to the USA. The mobile game aimed to attract New York youth and introduce them to the world of ancient history and archaeological excavation. The more challenging, more replayable and visually enhanced multilingual PC version of this game is now available on Steam.
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
⠀8 found this helpful
"Secrets of the Past: Dion" is a simple but genuinely made educational game where you do a little "archaeology" themed digging on small isometric maps. The game works a bit like a tycoon game where you allocate staff to different jobs and uncover historical artifacts from the dig. The graphics in this game are passable, but could be better. And while it's vital for any game to have impressive visuals (gaming is a visual medium, after all), there's more to a game than just the graphics. To be worth a gamers time, the game must match top tier visuals with top tier gameplay, and that's not happening here. It's free... now, but it wasn't before. The developer was charging $1 USD for this. Price barriers, especially on low quality products, can be a direct cause of failure. It's a nice gesture for the game to be given away for free, but it also tells us that the game wasn't good enough to succeed as a paid product. Even though this is "free", it failed to appeal to the 120 million+ gamers on Steam. SteamDB showed the game peaked at only 14 concurrent players... this is a dismal public reception. This was so bad they couldn't even give it away. Bearing in mind that free games…1 found this helpful
why is this on steam it should be on the app store
Игра 'Secrets of the Past: Dion' оказалась приятным сюрпризом. Изначально, я не ожидал многого от очередной визуальной новеллы, но сюжет зацепил с первых минут. История о расследовании таинственных событий в старинном городе Дион, полна неожиданных поворотов и интриг. Персонажи хорошо проработаны, у каждого своя мотивация и секреты, что делает диалоги живыми и интересными. Особенно понравилось, как решения игрока влияют на развитие сюжета и концовку. Нелинейность действительно добавляет реиграбельности. Визуальный стиль выполнен в приятной, немного мрачной, но атмосферной манере, удачно передающей дух старого Диона. Музыкальное сопровождение отлично дополняет визуальную составляющую, создавая нужное настроение в каждой сцене. Из минусов могу отметить некоторую монотонность в геймплее, свойственную жанру. Хотелось бы больше интерактивных элементов, помимо выбора реплик в диалогах. Однако, в целом, 'Secrets of the Past: Dion' - это увлекательная визуальная новелла, которая заслуживает внимания любителей жанра и тех, кто ищет интересную историю с элементами детектива.
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