Old world review

Old World was a game I was looking forward to playing. All the hype around the game suggested a cross between grand 4X strategy games such as the Civilization series with the RPG elements of the Crusader King series of games.

After playing the game for a few hours, I was disappointed it is a light-scale imitation of either series. Read on to find out why.

What is the old world game?

The old world is a 4X historical strategy game similar to the Civilization series. In that, it offers you the ability to explore, expand, exploit and potentially exterminate your rivals.

It also tries to add RPG elements around the leadership of the civilisation you are playing, similar to the Crusader king series.

Why I didn’t enjoy old world

I didn’t enjoy the game. It doesn’t give you the freedom of Civilization VI or even Humankind. You can read my review of Humankind here.

Civilisation allows you to put down a city where ever you want. It might make suggestions on what the best location for a city is. But at the end of the day, you can place the city down where you like.

Humankind is a bit different in that there can only be one city or settlement in each map area. But you can place your city and settlements where you want. In Old World, you can only build a city at a defined location.

I felt like my hand was being held by the developer dictating how I played the game, and I’m used to strategy games, giving me the freedom to play them how I want.

As someone who did play Crusaders king three, from time to time which, I enjoyed the third game in the series when it came out. I was very disappointed.