WHAT IS IT?: An interactive fiction/turn based strategy hybrid video game, about myth, choices, and stealing your neighbors’ cows, set in the distant, mythic past of the fantasy world Glorantha.
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: The world is incredibly detailed—especially in terms of myth and culture—and incredibly weird. Myths are literally true; disease happens because of disease spirits that shamans can banish, and the gods can show up in person, though because they are not beings of time their perspective can be odd.
Your prominent clan members are characters with names, faces, personalities, obsessions, strengths and weaknesses. They age, die, and sometimes get engaged to two people at once and make you deal with the fallout. A few have a chance at heroic destinies—only a chance; it’s up to you to actually make it happen.
Also, it’s gorgeous. The entire game is illustrated, mostly in watercolor with some carefully chosen exceptions; it’s all fantastically detailed and beautiful.
WHAT CHARACTERS ARE NOMINATED?: Nominated characters include two mortal heroes (Redalda and the Former Wheel), four different gods (Ekarna, goddess of trade; Elmal, who stepped up to become head of the pantheon after his father's death; his daughter Osara, a formerly domestic goddess who discovered a warrior aspect as her people changed; Elmal's son Zarlen, god of explorers), the demigoddess Cenala (heart of one of the major storylines of the game), and the genderfluid trickster spirit Raven.
WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: Steam, Good Old Games, iOS App Store.
Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind
WHAT IS IT?: An interactive fiction/turn based strategy hybrid video game, about myth, choices, and stealing your neighbors’ cows, set in the distant, mythic past of the fantasy world Glorantha.
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT:
The world is incredibly detailed—especially in terms of myth and culture—and incredibly weird. Myths are literally true; disease happens because of disease spirits that shamans can banish, and the gods can show up in person, though because they are not beings of time their perspective can be odd.
Your prominent clan members are characters with names, faces, personalities, obsessions, strengths and weaknesses. They age, die, and sometimes get engaged to two people at once and make you deal with the fallout. A few have a chance at heroic destinies—only a chance; it’s up to you to actually make it happen.
Also, it’s gorgeous. The entire game is illustrated, mostly in watercolor with some carefully chosen exceptions; it’s all fantastically detailed and beautiful.
WHAT CHARACTERS ARE NOMINATED?: Nominated characters include two mortal heroes (Redalda and the Former Wheel), four different gods (Ekarna, goddess of trade; Elmal, who stepped up to become head of the pantheon after his father's death; his daughter Osara, a formerly domestic goddess who discovered a warrior aspect as her people changed; Elmal's son Zarlen, god of explorers), the demigoddess Cenala (heart of one of the major storylines of the game), and the genderfluid trickster spirit Raven.
WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: Steam, Good Old Games, iOS App Store.