Review: Rising Lords
After being in early access on Steam for a few years, Rising Lords is now available on PC, Xbox and Nintendo Switch. But what is it?
Rising Lords is a turn based game set in the fictional Northern Island Kingdom of Aubelin in medieval times, combining both card and board games aesthetics and all presented with a beautiful graphical style that wouldn’t have seemed out of place if Oliver Postgate was the narrater…a reference for all the UK gamers out there that were kids in the 1970s.
You are given land to rule over and must progress the lives of your people through balancing production of various resources, harvesting food, building a variety of houses and workplaces, setting taxes, and much more. Each decision you make having a knock-on effect for the future…sometimes not always as positive as you hoped for.
Battles play a big part in the game and you can either help your people train as knights, or you can use them as fodder for the enemy and throw them untrained into battle. Don’t worry though, the games prologue acts as a tutorial, helping you to adjust to the gameplay nuances.
The card based game mechanics are something which I always enjoy in games and Rising Lords definitely scratches my card gaming itch in all the right places. While easy to grasp the core gameplay, it can be trial and error working out exactly what are the best moves to make, with a fine line to be walked without your people rebelling against you.
An interesting narrative helps to keep you engrossed into the proceedings and gives more meaning to the outcomes of your decisions, while single player and multiplayer experiences will both have you scratching your head as to what moves to make next and then sitting back to observe the consequences of your actions.
A game where you can sit back and try to figure out your next best move…then regret it later down the line as the error of your ways becomes evident!
Rising Lords was released on January 18th on XB, PC and Switch from Deck13 Spotlight.
Review by Dave from an Xbox review code.
