If you enjoy strategy games that focus on planning and resource management over eye candy, this budget-friendly title might just hit the sweet spot. It strips down the genre to its essentials—no flashy graphics or groundbreaking mechanics, just pure strategy.

The game features a single gameplay mode: expand your kingdom while keeping a wary eye on neighboring realms that may or may not be friendly. Before diving in, you choose two followers from a decent roster, each offering unique perks. For example, the Barbarian boosts defense in forests, while the Dwarf amps up ore production. You can tweak difficulty settings too, adjusting the number of rival kingdoms or your initial resources.

Gameplay unfolds on a hex grid, starting with a castle. From there, you grow your domain tile by tile, placing one building per hex. Classic structures like farms, mines, and lumber yards make up the economic backbone, with adjacency bonuses encouraging thoughtful placement. Clustering similar buildings together yields greater production efficiency.

Production requires manpower, and workers expect wages. You'll need to balance your economy through taxes and a growing population. Terrain types like forest and plains affect building placement, but you can alter the land by planting or clearing forests. Action Points dictate how many moves you can make per turn, adding another layer of decision-making. Once you're out of points, simply end your turn and review your projected gains and losses, helpfully marked with intuitive plus and minus signs.

This game may not win any awards for presentation, but it nails the core of what makes a strategy game fun.

There is a steep learning curve here, but very immersive as well. For $3.17 American I have got my money's worth alright! I have played a dozen games in about 4 days, and am FINALLY able to get a kingdom up and running! Unfortunately my last game I was conquered by a neighboring kingdom. Will be back at is though as there is a LOT to digest about his game, and it is quite entertaining and diverting. Like I said, I got my money's worth!