Was fortunate enough to win this in a giveaway, and I am so happy to have had the chance to play this game.

If you like managing a family dynasty, heavy emphasis on ROLE-playing, and micromanaging simulation seen in games like the Patrician series, then you will love this one. For me, I can pass so many hours playing without even noticing (very similar to how I play Civilization - "just one more action...").

The aesthetics are great despite being a bit dated - on max settings it is still really nice to watch your characters move around. The music is appropriate and helps immersion into the medieval setting.

The controls are not too challenging to familiarize yourself with, however, the learning curve can range from moderate to quite steep - especially if you are not used to playing resource management games (in particular, buy/sell mechanics in the market). The tutorial is absolutely essential if you haven't played the first Guild, and I strongly recommend you play through the 7 different tutorial scenarios. They are pretty quick, and you can breeze through it if you click the message icon on the left of the screen, which allows you to read the narrator's script and move on to the next bit (if you are a faster reader).

The options in the game are amazing and refreshing for an older game - I wish you could do some of the things in here in newer open-world games like The Elder Scrolls, Witcher, and Fable series.

You start off by choosing which game mode to play - I suggest just leaving it set to "dynasty," where you keep on playing until your family tree ends (last living member dies without an offspring). Set the difficulty closer to easy and the number of dynasties to a lower number like 2 or 4 to help you get a feel for the game.

Before you start, you will make your first playable character. The different classes give you specifc boosts to skills, encouraging you to focus on areas where your role excels in. For example, the scholar is very powerful in politics, so concentrating on upgrading your charisma, rhetoric (used in political intrigue), and empathy (used to break through opponent's rhetoric) will benefit you greatly. The rogue can be extremely difficult to play because many of the things you will do are illegal, so maximizing your dexterity (for dodges) and stealth (less likely to be caught performing illegal actions) will be critical.

After you start the game, you will have enough money to build a starting building that will provide you with income through resource accumulation and management. For example, the scholars can build a church or a specialty shop - both of which can be staffed by workers (priests and conjurers {pretty sure that's what they're called}). These units can collect natural ingredients (holy water by priests; herbs and plants by conjurers) that can then be transformed to more expensive items that you can sell back to the market. Other bonuses are granted by the buildings you choose to build - for example, you can hold sermons in your church to publicly denounce a rival family under the guise of divine favor (or disfavor for the opponent, I guess). You can also create positions in your magic shop to cause people to temporarily like you more (increase favor).

Buildings can be upgraded once your character(s) meet the required level, however, for your houses you must be a certain reputation level. To increase this value, you need to apply for a higher noble standing in the town hall (just have to pay a heavy fee). You start off as a commoner and can pay 500 gold to become a citizen, which allows you to upgrade your modest hut to a nicer house. After that, you can pay 2500 gold to become a patrician (again unlocking the next tier for housing). Be advised, it is difficult (and time-consuming) to amass a large number of gold in the beginning of the game.

There are also upgrade trees for each building, where you can do things like increase storage capacity for items, increase worker count, and increase security of the building (causing thieves to take longer to break into your structures). The game has a slow - fast forward feature, allong you enough time to plan your actions (or accelerate them if you are ready to move on).

As you perform actions, you gain experience points that you can use to upgrade your skills like dexterity, constitution (increases health points and number of items slots you have), martial arts (determines how proficient you are in combat) and bargaining (gives you a larger bonus when you sell items).

You can hire bodyguards from your household to follow you or protect your assets (you can make them patrol around your buildings). On the flip side, you can build rogue buildings like a smuggler's den to recruit thieves (they can break into buildings or pickpocket within an area) or a thug hideout to hire bandits (they can camp on spots to waylay any caravans). Crime is very risky in this game, as witnesses' memories for your actions will slowly decay over time (during this time they can still report you to the guards). Even worse, a competitor can even try to blackmail you with evidence of your illicit activites or take you to court. Depending on the crime and the crime laws, you could be fined or even executed.

The courtship mechanic is fairly simple, but critical to surviving dynasty mode since you need offspring to continue your legacy. You start off with one character, but once you get a spouse you can choose to use her/him as a second character (you can only have 3 active characters at a time). Once you choose to turn an active character to an inactive one, you will be unable to add them to your active party - forcing you to really plan out your long-term goals.

For politics, you can choose to run for office (starting at the lowest available tier). As your town develops (first into a city, then further on), you will unlock more positions that you can run for, with mayor at the very top. When you run for office, you can try to bribe the current council members to help swing votes in your favor. You could also blackmail them with evidence of their illegal activities (perhaps you ordered one of your bodyguards to "spy" on a councilman, following him until he tried to assassinate another competitor), however, they need to have illegal activites in the first place.

The game is absolutely fantastic, and I will provide you with a possible scenario to help show how the game can play out:

Your character is a craftsman, so you built a smithy to start crafting weapons and armor. You buy raw materials from the market, bring them back to your smithy with your wagon, then turn it into basic weapons and armor. Once you have enough money, you hire a few workers to craft the equipment for you. Free of your regular labor, you move on to see a wife.

Once you successfully court a woman, you immediately take her to bed and have a baby boy. With your heir secure, you begin your very long-term preparations to enter the political scene.

You've upgraded both your house and your smithy thanks to your effective craft/sell management. With an excess of gold, you are able to send your child to school, then to an apprenticeship at the local magic shop, and finally to university (you have 3 different opportunites, each costing more gold and providing higher bonuses to your child in preparation for when they turn 16 and you can add them to your party).
Since you have the only fully upgraded smithy in both towns (you can select maps with 1, 2, or 3 towns), all four of your bodyguards are outfitted with the best equipment. You make sure to spend some experience points on leveling up your son's martial arts in case.
You eventually realize that your patriarch will most likely not live long enough to become mayor (life expectancy is represented by the height of a candle on your character portrait), so you change plans and decide to pave the road for your son.
(continued in comments)

Was fortunate enough to win this in a giveaway, and I am so happy to have had the chance to play this game. If you like managing a family dynasty, heavy emphasis on ROLE-playing, and micromanaging simulation seen in games like the Patrician series, then you will love this one. For me, I can pass so many hours playing without even noticing (very similar to how I play Civilization - "just one more action..."). The aesthetics are great despite being a bit dated - on max settings it is still really nice to watch your characters move around. The music is appropriate and helps immersion into the medieval setting. The controls are not too challenging to familiarize yourself with, however, the learning curve can range from moderate to quite steep - especially if you are not used to playing resource management games (in particular, buy/sell mechanics in the market). The tutorial is absolutely essential if you haven't played the first Guild, and I strongly recommend you play through the 7 different tutorial scenarios. They are pretty quick, and you can breeze through it if you click the message icon on the left of the screen, which allows you to read the narrator's script and move on to the next bit (if you are a faster reader). The options in the game are amazing and refreshing for an older game - I wish you could do some of the things in here in newer open-world games like The Elder Scrolls, Witcher, and Fable series. You start off by choosing which game mode to play - I suggest just leaving it set to "dynasty," where you keep on playing until your family tree ends (last living member dies without an offspring). Set the difficulty closer to easy and the number of dynasties to a lower number like 2 or 4 to help you get a feel for the game. Before you start, you will make your first playable character. The different classes give you specifc boosts to skills, encouraging you to focus on areas where your role excels in. For example, the scholar is very powerful in politics, so concentrating on upgrading your charisma, rhetoric (used in political intrigue), and empathy (used to break through opponent's rhetoric) will benefit you greatly. The rogue can be extremely difficult to play because many of the things you will do are illegal, so maximizing your dexterity (for dodges) and stealth (less likely to be caught performing illegal actions) will be critical. After you start the game, you will have enough money to build a starting building that will provide you with income through resource accumulation and management. For example, the scholars can build a church or a specialty shop - both of which can be staffed by workers (priests and conjurers {pretty sure that's what they're called}). These units can collect natural ingredients (holy water by priests; herbs and plants by conjurers) that can then be transformed to more expensive items that you can sell back to the market. Other bonuses are granted by the buildings you choose to build - for example, you can hold sermons in your church to publicly denounce a rival family under the guise of divine favor (or disfavor for the opponent, I guess). You can also create positions in your magic shop to cause people to temporarily like you more (increase favor). Buildings can be upgraded once your character(s) meet the required level, however, for your houses you must be a certain reputation level. To increase this value, you need to apply for a higher noble standing in the town hall (just have to pay a heavy fee). You start off as a commoner and can pay 500 gold to become a citizen, which allows you to upgrade your modest hut to a nicer house. After that, you can pay 2500 gold to become a patrician (again unlocking the next tier for housing). Be advised, it is difficult (and time-consuming) to amass a large number of gold in the beginning of the game. There are also upgrade trees for each building, where you can do things like increase storage capacity for items, increase worker count, and increase security of the building (causing thieves to take longer to break into your structures). The game has a slow - fast forward feature, allong you enough time to plan your actions (or accelerate them if you are ready to move on). As you perform actions, you gain experience points that you can use to upgrade your skills like dexterity, constitution (increases health points and number of items slots you have), martial arts (determines how proficient you are in combat) and bargaining (gives you a larger bonus when you sell items). You can hire bodyguards from your household to follow you or protect your assets (you can make them patrol around your buildings). On the flip side, you can build rogue buildings like a smuggler's den to recruit thieves (they can break into buildings or pickpocket within an area) or a thug hideout to hire bandits (they can camp on spots to waylay any caravans). Crime is very risky in this game, as witnesses' memories for your actions will slowly decay over time (during this time they can still report you to the guards). Even worse, a competitor can even try to blackmail you with evidence of your illicit activites or take you to court. Depending on the crime and the crime laws, you could be fined or even executed. The courtship mechanic is fairly simple, but critical to surviving dynasty mode since you need offspring to continue your legacy. You start off with one character, but once you get a spouse you can choose to use her/him as a second character (you can only have 3 active characters at a time). Once you choose to turn an active character to an inactive one, you will be unable to add them to your active party - forcing you to really plan out your long-term goals. For politics, you can choose to run for office (starting at the lowest available tier). As your town develops (first into a city, then further on), you will unlock more positions that you can run for, with mayor at the very top. When you run for office, you can try to bribe the current council members to help swing votes in your favor. You could also blackmail them with evidence of their illegal activities (perhaps you ordered one of your bodyguards to "spy" on a councilman, following him until he tried to assassinate another competitor), however, they need to have illegal activites in the first place. The game is absolutely fantastic, and I will provide you with a possible scenario to help show how the game can play out: Your character is a craftsman, so you built a smithy to start crafting weapons and armor. You buy raw materials from the market, bring them back to your smithy with your wagon, then turn it into basic weapons and armor. Once you have enough money, you hire a few workers to craft the equipment for you. Free of your regular labor, you move on to see a wife. Once you successfully court a woman, you immediately take her to bed and have a baby boy. With your heir secure, you begin your very long-term preparations to enter the political scene. You've upgraded both your house and your smithy thanks to your effective craft/sell management. With an excess of gold, you are able to send your child to school, then to an apprenticeship at the local magic shop, and finally to university (you have 3 different opportunites, each costing more gold and providing higher bonuses to your child in preparation for when they turn 16 and you can add them to your party). Since you have the only fully upgraded smithy in both towns (you can select maps with 1, 2, or 3 towns), all four of your bodyguards are outfitted with the best equipment. You make sure to spend some experience points on leveling up your son's martial arts in case. You eventually realize that your patriarch will most likely not live long enough to become mayor (life expectancy is represented by the height of a candle on your character portrait), so you change plans and decide to pave the road for your son. (continued in comments)