Caltrops - Imperia: The First 5x Game





	[quote name="pinback"]Imperia is a game which is in early Alpha, in which about 80% of the features are still missing, but is already a unique and engaging take on the old, stale "space 4x" theme. Specifically, Imperia takes the relatively unheard of (at least for the 4x genre) path of installing you as an emperor, but an initially disliked, distrusted and powerless one. Stars and planets are governed by others, so the game is mostly political. You need to make friends and influence people if you want to succeed. If you fail, you'll be oustered. This is the conceit behind the "5th X" that the author has coined, that being: "eXist". As in, your hold on power is tenuous, so while you're worried about the other four Xs, you also have to worry about not getting your head put in a Space Guillotine. It feels much more like a grand-strategy, Europa Universalis-type deal, a Games of Space Thrones, if you will. Do I like it because it's great, or because it's new and different? Well, it has a ways to go before greatness enters the picture, but I find the whole thing rather fascinating. Not the least of which is my fascination with the user interface, which has eschewed the modern "smaller is better" motif, and gone back to BIG PICTURES and BIG BUTTONS and BIG FONTS, which is jarring at first, but quickly becomes well-appreciated by our old, straining eyes: <a href="http://a.fsdn.com/con/app/proj/imperia/screenshots/Planet%20Display.jpg">Click here for a high-resolution example.</a> At my behest and request, Brian Rubin of <a href="http://spacegamejunkie.com">Space Game Junkie</a> has agreed to do a podcast with Steve Hawkins, Imperia's author, on July 16. I am singlehandedly changing the landscape of modern indie strategy gaming!!!! Thank you for your time. [/quote]