Weather Lord: The Successor's Path is Alawar Entertainment's most recent time management simulation game released to Steam and is a welcome entry to their casual game catalog here. Although the game play is very similar to other titles in the genre, I found it just as engaging and fun.

I've only recently gotten into time management games, and for the most part they all play pretty similarly: gather resources, construct buildings, beat the timer, etc. etc. However, Weather Lord feels a little more involved than the rest as there's quite a bit to keep track of between battling monsters, utilizing your weather tools efficiently and assisting NPCs, and that's on top of your standard gathering and building fare. The number of objectives for each stage is also quite high. Not that any of this is bad, but if you're like me and always aiming for perfection, you're going to need at least 2-3 tries on each level to snag gold, and some of those levels can be rather frustrating. One aspect I liked, however, is the ability to chain task your workers, and they'll often go from one job to the next without making a pit stop back at camp. I wish more time management games did this (maybe they do, but I just haven't played enough of them to know).

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=443374610
Presentation is very nice with beautifully drawn maps and character art, although the Prince needs to stop staring at me, it's like he's gazing into my soul with those eyes....::shivers:: Animated wildlife is a nice touch that gives each stage a bit of liveliness. The music is also quite nice, although not particularly memorable.

Once again, my biggest disappointment is the lack of Steam Achievements. In-game achievements are available, all they need is to be linked up to the Steam client. I'm not sure if there is an issue with the game engine being too difficult to program in the hooks, but casual games practically rely on Steam integration to add value on the platform; without them it just doesn't feel like you're getting as much out of the game as you could. And while trading cards are indeed nice, they only go so far.

All said, Weather Lord is a solid entry in the time management genre and definitely worth a look if you're a fan of these type of games. Despite proving a bit more difficult than I was expecting, it's an enjoyable title that will have me toiling hours away until I've snagged that very last gold star! Just don't let the Prince stare at you too long, he might steal your soul with that gaze. ;)

Bottom Line: Recommended for time management fans looking for a solid title to scratch that micro-managing itch.

If you've played time-management games before, you've probably played something really similar to Weather Lord: The Successor's Path. In this game, you help the heir to a kingdom rebuild, and you use weather-related "artifacts" to help your workers complete tasks as you progress through the story. For example, the rain artifact regrows crops or trees, allowing them to be harvested again by your workers to get additional resources needed to complete the level. The sun artifact dries out swampy areas, which will remove obstacles blocking your workers. There are several different artifacts unlocked through gameplay, but they function essentially like the other resources and are on a timer.

In addition to gathering resources, constructing buildings, and clearing obstacles, enemies roam the paths and attack your workers. You can hire guards to protect them, and they essentially patrol the paths or can be directed to attack the enemy.

Completing levels within the fastest time limit gives a gold score (going down to silver and bronze with the longer amount of time you take), but there isn't a penalty for completely exceeding the time limit allowed. Weather Lord is ideal for new gamers, young kids, or anyone without lightning fast reflexes. This makes this game, and others like it, a pretty nice relaxing casual adventure for someone who wants to play something simple and undemanding.

Although the gameplay isn't exactly unique, the weather theme adds a slight twist. Like several other similar games offered by this developer, they are nice quality and have cute graphics and music. The price is pretty low already but you could hold out for sales or bundles. There are a lot of levels, so beating all of them will take several hours at least, and if you want to achieve gold scores you'll likely find yourself replaying quite a few levels.

Unlike many similar time-management style games on social media or mobile platforms, there are no micro-transactions and you don't have to invite all your friends in order to progress. Also, each of the tasks can be completed quickly and each level takes only a short amount of time to play through, so it's good for players who are looking to take their gaming in small bites. However, it's pretty easy for a short session to turn into a long stretch as the "just one more level" drive kicks in.

My only complaint about Weather Lord: The Successor's Path is that the in-game awards aren't tied in to Steam achievements, although the game does have Trading Cards.

Note: A copy of this game was provided by the developer for review purposes.

A nice time management game. The graphics are very detailed: swans swim in the pond, chameleons on the rocks in the underground, little bunnies in the snow land. You have to balance obtaining the items you need for your goal (i.e. 15 food, 20 gold, etc) with defeating random enemies by hiring fighters or building attack towers. Certain enemies are weak against certain elemental attacks. So you will have to drag the sun icon onto your fighter or tower to defeat one enemy, then maybe the wind or water element for a different enemy. However you also need the elemental icons to refresh your crops and trees to gather more stuff. Or to melt a frozen patch of ground. It takes a few seconds for an element to refresh after it's been used.

The story is the usual epic of a young man who must prove himself and defeat the evil Uncle who has usurped the throne. However, this game gives it a twist with the people being humanoid animals rather than just typical humans. Along the way we meet all kinds of interesting creatures, even a small dragon. I really like that the characters are not human, it gives the game a unique feel.

The music is more laid back than some time management games (such as the 12 Labours of Hercules games) and it blends into the background nicely. The gameplay is stil hectic at times, though, especially if you want a gold rating for a fast time. But you can just sit back and play at a leisurely pace if you want to.

According to Steam my time is at 6 hours and I just finished it on easy. If they had Steam achievements I would play more, but so far there are just in-game achievements.

Oh, and I actually bought my copy of the game. I didn't get it free like some of the reviewers. Make of that what you will.

The Successor’s Path is a quite fast-paced time management game with strict goal times, repetitive level design, and surprisingly lot of combat for this genre.

Although it is the earliest one on Steam, The Successor’s Path is actually the fourth instalment in the Weather Lord series. This present a mild problem, since the game expects players to know its core mechanics, so it is slim on tutorials.
Luckily, the essence of the game is the same as in most any similar ones: use a set of tireless servants to run around the level collecting resources, which you then spend on clearing obstacles or meeting generic level goals. The devil is in the details, or, in this case, in the series-specific mechanics of using different weather powers to help the servants in different ways—and those may take some time getting used to.

Another problem is that the game works as much as expected, but it doesn’t really offer much of a variety. The only interesting thing in it is that it really loves to use enemies, which turns many levels into tiresome cat and mouse chases, which, combined with the strict goal times, may prove to be too much of a challenge for the casual player.

In the end, I can only recommend this one for those who want their stories without any holes in them, as probably the only reason The Successor’s Path is on Steam is because it starts a new line in the story, which is continued in the much better follow-up game.

Weather Lord is a series of casual time management games, with Victor as a young hero able to manipulate the weather. However, Victor wasn't always the hero there as previous games were showing more humans and less cute animals.

Remember my previous review on the series, which was Following the Princess? Well, The Successor's Path is just the game before it. It's chronicling how Victor came to the throne of his kingdom, by defeating his evil Uncle Wagner. Beginning in your land, you're going to visit different landscapes. I'm currently in the snowed levels, however, given the fact that I've played little of the game in the year, it's no wonder.

The gameplay is simple: you have several objectives per level and you have to fullfill them. To do that, Victor is as any hero of a casual time management game, helped by his allies, the workers and the warriors. The workers are collecting resources (whether they're scattered around or concentrated on one place): food, gold and wood. However, when fields, mines or forests are emptied, you can make them growth again: either by sending a worker (mine) or by using a weather artifact (rain). To help you, you can also build sawmills, mills, forges or houses (this building helps to hire more workers) and upgrade them.

But there are also obstacles and enemies. Some obstacles can be removed thanks to a weather element (sun or wind for example). Enemies can be defeated by warriors or towers. A simple warrior will lose quickly health unless he's powered by the right element when confronting an enemy: sun for goblin, thunder for shaman, wind for ghost, etc.. The towers have to be build but there are only three kinds of them: sun, wind or thunder (needing the weather element to be activated and for a limited time). Enemies can come like that or coming from their lairs that can be destroyed by your workers (but there is always one enemy that will get out in the middle of it, be prepared to see your workers coming back to bases scared).

Altars can also be repaired and give bonus: stop time, faster workers, enemies in the level dying in one click, etc.. They're really useful if you're aiming for a three stars scores. You'll also discover that you can repair buttons, barns, or growth crystals (powered by sun) for the snowed levels, as there are no rain element available.

That's the core of The Successor's Path. But the game is quite difficult as I had to replay level 22 I don't know how many times and to find finally the right strategy to get my three stars score. That's why I quit the game months ago, as there are ingame achievements.

The graphics are nice and the characters are quite cute... I mean Victor and its allies because others are disgusting (like the octopus monster). The soundtrack is also pleasant.

However, what is missing is the achievements: some of the games have them like Royal Holidays and Following the Princess. I don't understand why this one didn't benefit of a little update for Steam achievements. I also prefer the new system of having your elements in a bar to the one in this game which have the elements scattered around: sometimes, it's hard to see them. But given the fact that the Successor's Path is an early game, I will not really whine about it.

Really, the Successor's Path isn't bad, it's just that I've played latter games and find them more appealing that this one because of new mechanics. But it's still nice to follow Victor's life.

Also contrary to some users, I didn't experience crashes at level 12,15 or 20, so I suppose that it's fixed.

Weather Lord is a clicker/time management game where you send out your workers to gather resources, competing against a clock to gain a silver to bronze medal.
Unfortunately this is a lazy example of the genre. The game is unstable: fullscreen caused the mouse cursor to not working, and I got two random crashes on completing levels. It is also simply not fun. The story is utterly forgettable and the gimmick of using weather comes to down to just another click mechanic where rain/sun/etc runs on a timer.

It also lacks Steam achievements even though it has an achievement system in game.

There are far better examples of this genre, even on Steam. Get '12 Labours of Hercules' instead.

Ok it's another time management game from Alawar. They do these well folks.

You send your worker out to gather resources, clear objects, and build buildings. But they have added spells to command, warriors you can hire, monsters to slay, and lairs to destroy. A very nice improvement on the basic structure.

You clear a path, gather what you need, build what you have to slay as soon as possible, dry up swamps, regrow woods and crops, ect.. as fast as you can to get the best score.

At their heart these games are a relaxing mild good time.

You'll see nice fantasy elements. A traditional plot. All in a furry critter warm style.

I do wish they use this art style and make an rpg with it. It's that enjoyable.

Worth a purchase if you enjoy a calm "I can do it" experiance. A game for kids and adults alike.

And as to earlier reviews. I have had zero crashes and nothing but smooth load ups and play.

It's a great game, but don't get it. There's a bug that causes the game to crash out because it can't play the cut scene at the end of level 12. I've contacted them for help but nobody ever responds.
Do buy it if you're happy to only play the first 11 levels and not actually finish the game.

Weather Lord is a great strategy / resource management game, with many stages, cute graphics and even a background story. It has several achievements, but all of them are only shown in-game (at least so far, the achievements are not displayed on your Steam account). Will give you a couple hours of fun.

* PORTUGUÊS *

Weather Lord é um ótimo jogo de estratégia / gerenciamento de recursos, com muitas fases, gráficos bonitinhos e até uma historinha de pano de fundo. Possui várias conquistas, mas todas elas são apenas in-game (pelo menos até o momento as conquistas não são exibidas na sua conta do Steam). Rende umas boas horas de diversão.

A nice little time management game. Unfortunately it crashes after completing level 15. Some players have experienced the same issue after level 12 already. There seems to be no response from the devs to adress this issue. So I will refrain from buying the sequels. A shame really, since I quite enjoyed the game so far.