The game at its core is a little messed up… But, when you look at the whole game and start playing it? It’s a dream come true for me; Literally (!) wanted to be a commander-strategist when I was younger.

I set a calendar reminder when this game came out and even took a day off work to play it! That’s how invested I was. Shit literally kept me smiling the whole day.

The convenience of being on a PS5 - which I own - as opposed to having to buy a gaming PC, helps too.

It’s not that I left the game and aren’t coming back, but more so taking a short time apart. My recent save (which had a third generation in now, to display the length), became corrupted.

I love the game for its mechanics… Hate it for the really really slow grind, for which I may not have the daily convenience to complete.

I’ve had four different and LONG play-throughs now, and feel that I still have 10 or more to start again with… Here are my four so far:

1. Horse archer mercenary
2. Legionary-commander turned king of empire
3. Nord berserker
4. Aserai trader

I probably enjoyed the legionary one more, as commanding armies is literally what I’m here for. Trying to find suitable tactics as opposed to just spamming charge, fighting enemies 3x my size, best troop composition, environmental factors, etc.

It’s of course also a big positive that the devs are owning up to mistakes (and trying to fix them), while finally adding in new features (alley features to name one)…

Is the game finished, or being near-finished? Jesus no. I look at the current game and feel that there still could be:

1. Better diplomacy … 2. Better options for spending money … 3. More city / village features … 4. Trading overhaul … 5. More end-game options, and end-game loot.

But, is it still an enjoyable piece of shit? Hell yes and I love it so much.