Dear book lovers, today the reviewer will not recommend novels, but will give you a game. That's right, it's "The Chronicles of the Kingdoms of the Great Zhou Dynasty". It's a recommendation, but it's actually more like paying homage to a treasure game that people both love and hate. It has always had a good reputation in the historical strategy circle, but when it comes to being "popular", it is really not popular in the circle, and it can even be said to be a bit cool. Today we will objectively talk about why it is so virtuous.
In terms of graphics, to be honest, its art style is that kind of ancient Chinese style ink painting. It matches the theme of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Spring and Autumn Period, and Warring States Period, and it sounds right at first glance. There are many countries on the map, and the portraits of the characters also have a sense of solemnity like historical portraits. But when it comes to mobile phones, the UI interaction is somewhat dense, the fonts are not large, and the amount of information is overwhelming, making it not very friendly for newcomers to get started. This picture is not top-notch, but it has a unique temperament. Old players will try this, and new players will most likely be persuaded to quit.
In terms of gameplay, this is its core highlight and one of the reasons why it is cool. It is an extremely hard-core historical management simulation. You start from a vassal state and have to manage internal affairs, develop agriculture, research science and technology, engage in marriage diplomacy, and conduct conquests with rituals and music. It's not playing a game, it's more like reading a Chunqiu Zuozhuan simulator. The "ritual and music" system, the "patriarchal" system, and the genre conflicts caused by the "hundred schools of thought" in the game are all extremely sophisticated. If you like the exhilarating siege of cities and territories in "Three Kingdoms", you may be confused by the complex court system and fief management. But if you can calm down, the feeling of "influencing the general trend of the world with the power of one country" will be so exciting again. To put it bluntly, it has a high threshold and a narrow audience, so it is difficult to become "popular" in the public sense.
In terms of krypton gold, there is no charge, which is really worthy of your conscience. There are no in-app purchases, no card draws, and no monthly card battle orders. It is purely a buyout system. This must be given a thumbs up. It is precisely because there is no money to buy the game and there is no overwhelming advertising that it is difficult for the public to see it. In a market where "free + in-app purchases" are rampant, a semi-buyout domestic strategy game of considerable size will be very popular as long as it is alive, so there is no way to break out of the industry on a large scale.
Socially, this game is basically a stand-alone game. Although you can have complex diplomatic interactions with other forces, you are essentially still competing with yourself. There are no alliances, no friends stepping on each other's backs, and no leaderboards. Nowadays, many strategy mobile games rely on social networking to boost their popularity, but this game goes in the opposite direction. The advantage is that the game atmosphere is clean, but the disadvantage is that it lacks the excitement of "playing together", so it naturally cannot spread virally.
So if you want to ask me why it is not as popular as some skinned and gold-exchanged SLGs, my answer is: this game is too "trivial". It's not like telling a popular and entertaining article, but more like writing a serious fictional history paper. It breaks apart the political logic and cultural logic of that era and shoves it into you. It's very deep to play, but it's also really tiring to play. It doesn't become popular because it naturally belongs to a niche hard-core “historical fandom”.
But what the reviewer wants to say is that for players who like history, this is definitely an underrated masterpiece. In terms of restoration of historical simulation, it even surpasses many mobile games under the banner of history. The painting style has an ancient charm, the gameplay has depth, and the conscientious attitude of zero krypton gold is even more admirable. Give it a score of 7 points for graphics, 9 points for gameplay, 10 points for gold, and 4 points for social interaction. Overall, I give it 8 points. Just because it's cool is due to its threshold and the overall market environment, it doesn't mean it's bad. If you are the kind of gourmet who is willing to calm down and savor a story about Zhou Dynasty moving eastward and princes fighting for hegemony on your mobile phone, then congratulations, you have found a treasure.
I hope that this unique game can be like the vassal states it tells about. Even in troubled times, they can still live their own kingly way in an unpopular corner. The reviewer is so polite 🤙