![]() The only real goal is to rack up "prestige," an ephemeral, passively earned substance that serves as an end game score once my preallocated number of in-game years have run dry, which is then converted into coins I can use to unlock artwork showing generic scenes of village life in a gallery. And the villagers don't seem to care much about each other in any obvious way, or take any pride in their work. There is no rival village to compare my efforts to or tempt better quality villagers away from. I'm a disconnected godlike presence rather than a little mayor with big dreams, so I never have to worry an angry mob will kick me out if I fail to live up to their expectations. It's an oddly impersonal experience for a game about relationships. ![]() Instead I was left staring at the same general overview for hours and hours, the villagers' lives reduced to bars and numbers. I never got to see any of the clothes seamstresses spend their lives sewing, the paintings some villagers claimed to love so much, or even just people walking out to the fields in the morning. I didn't feel any difference when I could suddenly have people live their lives as assassins, master forgers, disgruntled mentors to eager apprentices, or even queens: they were just another bundle of stats to shove in a free slot so I could make another set of numbers go up. Build enough homes for everyone, make sure people have a job they're not terrible at, get people married to the best partner available ASAP, upgrade whatever facilities I could. I can't even build two lumberjacks' lodges if I keep running low on timber or have more skilled tree-felling labourers than I have vacancies to fill.Īnd although I had more to do as the game went on, it was just a greater quantity of the same things to click. ![]() I can't choose to make a village that thrives on exporting manufactured goods, or values the arts and welcoming social spaces above all else. I can't construct a manufacturing quarter in the heart of the village, or make a point of giving the workers homes in the prettiest part and shoving the royals off somewhere awful. I don't get to decide where any building's placed, or even how many of them I can have, and that causes problems on both the personal and productive sides of the social-sim experience. I appreciated the attempt to explain everything, even if it did soon become clear that not much of it mattered anyway, because although Lakeburg Legacies is packed to the rafters with stats, most of my interaction is frustratingly hands-off. This is a game that can show me the precise relationship affinity debuff that occurs if a couple don't support the same champion at a jousting tournament, but can't envisage a married couple living in two homes, or taking a mild knock to their productivity or happiness if they have to temporarily squeeze two children into one bedroom? An 18-year-old can't get saddled with some sort of undesirable "stuck in the nest" trait while I find the resources-or simply the time to notice-that I need to build or assign them an empty home? Do my villagers honestly think so little of their own children?īuilding up the village these people live in forms the other half of the game, and at first it felt like there was a lot to take in a seemingly endless barrage of tutorial text popped up whenever I opened a new menu. This is not only at odds with the community-focused village atmosphere the game is trying to push, it shows a distinct lack of imagination. All love needs, apparently, is me as a disembodied cursor correctly remembering at least one thing on the prospective partner's short list of likes and dislikes. Which would be great if only the whole "falling in love" business hadn't been reduced to nothing more than a quick click through three random micro-scenarios pulled from a disappointingly small list. Anyone can marry anyone they're not related to, and any couple can have children. Lakeburg Legacies does at least start off on the right foot, making it crystal clear that sexual preferences just aren't a thing here. ![]() It's just one of many strange contradictions lurking in a superficially cute 'n' cozy game that claims to put the lives and lineages of the randomly generated people who pass through my village first, only to then give them less personality than an Age of Empires shepard. What is it? Build and grow a loved-up mediaeval village
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