Sovereign Tea

Criminally underrated, especially for a free-to-play game (absolutely deserves to be charging). Great strategy game with a depth to characters and story that is completely unexpected but incredibly appreciated. Let's commit war crimes!

I first heard of Sovereign Tea when it went from paid to free. It seemed like an interesting game with a meme-y premise and a somewhat cartoon-y art style, so I went into it expecting something light and unserious; in a word, "cutesy". I was not prepared for the political and interpersonal [i]drama[/i]. In a game about "Tea Princesses" fighting something called the "Coffee Empire" I was [i]not[/i] expecting entrenched classism, personal betrayal, deep introspection, accusations between Tea Princesses of being sent on missions to their death, or a debate about executing a political prisoner of war whom everyone agreed had done nothing wrong but who was worth nothing as leverage and potentially too dangerous to leave alive. I was not expecting Tea Princesses wrestling with the concept of just war theory, the limits of pacifistic isolationism as a normative theory of ethics, or the unfolding of a complicated historical drama as Tea Princesses and Coffee Regents alike struggled with the all-too-human legacy of a dark and painful past that some of them had participated in and others were inheriting. I also wasn't prepared for how it ended. But as the writing got me deeply invested in…

This game was pretty enjoyable, grindy at the end but this is normal due to the different mechanics. It is quite normal for a fight to take 40+ minutes by the end of the game but the fact that strategy is involved and it isn't mindless unit spam makes it bearable . All an all A good experience would recommend.

LET ME GIVE YOU MONEY PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD TAKE MY MONEY

Great little strategy game, especially for free. It's not Total War, but that's a good thing if you just want something that requires some thinking without taxing the brain cells too much. The story is a bit corny (the Coffee Empire vs the Tea Reals), but it works. My experience with free, single player games has been "meh" at best, but this one has managed to hold my attention. My only negative is that the game does not allow you to save during battles. This is very frustrating, as some of the battles can be quite lengthy. So if something comes up, your only choices are to abandon the battle and replay the entire thing later, or leave it running (which jacks up the play time when you aren't really playing). I'm sure this would not be difficult to implement, so the lack of this quality-of-life feature is disappointing. But for the cost, you can't go wrong.

That's a hidden gem! i admit, i wouldn't discover that game unless it were made free. the main selling point here even not game play mechanic which i like - turn based tactics. it's princesses! they are living characters, cute, lovely, sharp, smart, well versed and running cool jokes. i really read dialogs here unlike in other games (my last game was disco elysium so i couldn't be bothered to read dialogs there and eventually abandoned the game). it's also connecting to my other hobby - Chinese historical dramas. this game plays just like one of these. game play is also cool. you capture resource generating nodes and summon units near nodes or near wandering princesses. princesses also give units some skill boost. absolutely recommend!