PREVIEW : Noble Fates (PC)
Mortals compete for control of a physical plane of existence in a faraway continent. This realm is governed by a group of gods who offer their abilities to whomever they consider fit in the quest of equilibrium. Other planes’ inhabitants reach through with their hands (and claws), many desiring only mayhem. You are a Kontra, a Demigod with the ability to manipulate and affect mortals. You want to construct an empire worthy of enduring reputation, despite your inexperience. So far, you haven’t had much luck. A 3D Magical Kingdom Sim with a rich reproduction of ideas and memories, powered by sentient beings. Build, Craft, Farm, Mine, Hunt, and Defend, among other things! As your adventure progresses, command from the sky or seize command in third person.
Noble Fates is, at its core, a kingdom-building game, although there are a few surprises. Gods, humans, and demons are currently split on the plane of reality on which you are now located. As a Kontra, you are a demigod with the capacity to manipulate mortals, and your aim is to rule a mortal and establish a prosperous empire. As the game begins, you are possessing the body of a prior mortal host, your past attempts appear to have failed. You must pick which of four reformed brigands will be the next mortal you will seek to rebrand as a monarch once they stumble upon discovering the body.
Noble Fates appears to begin similarly to Rimworld, with you controlling a group of exiles from a procedurally produced neighbouring country, one of whom you choose to govern over your empty new territory. Then you begin developing things out: hunting, farming, and fortresses. In Noble Fates, however, each character has a lengthy memory. So expect news to spread about what type of king you are if you execute someone’s mother for stealing an egg, save someone in war, or compel them to eat the flesh of their dear buddy for mediaeval ‘bants.’
You can switch between an RTS-style top-down viewpoint for constructing, cultivating fields, and governing your empire and an over-the-shoulder third-person view for killing or defending off attackers, which is interesting.
Noble Fates appears to be an even more graphical and approachable derivative of Dwarf Fortress and its grandson Rimworld at first appearance, thanks to its flumpy marshmallow graphics style. However, based on what I’ve seen of the trailer, each individual has their own hierarchy (must placate those Nobles! ), occupations, wants, opinions, and relationships. There’s a lot more to this than the adorable look suggests. Oh, and you could end yourself fighting a big pig-demon at some time for no apparent reason. They’ve got to be kidding, they’ve got to be kidding, they’ve got to be kidding
Although management games aren’t my favourite kind of game, Noble Fates provides more than just the usual resource management and building challenges. One might expect that, given the bizarrely adorable aesthetics, the game would be lighter in tone than, say, Tandem, and although that is true, Noble Fates isn’t going to be an easy experience. First and foremost, your subjects have memories, and those recollections may and will survive the duration of the game. I promise that a mistake you make early on will come back to hurt you later on as you grow your empire. Second, the “random occurrences” that frequently arise in these games to vary the gameplay are almost always famines.
Noble Fates does have a guided tutorial, which I found to be really helpful. Again, I’m not the best at resources planning, but I found the tutorial to be quite useful. The game’s user interface won’t blow you away; it’s rather standard for this genre of game. I liked the time management menu, which is an important part of many strategic planning games. You can choose between a highest and a character viewpoint view in Noble Fates, which is a good feature.
There is a social component to the game; you may talk directly with the other characters. This is something you should do since conversing with your subjects helps you to learn about their perspectives on various topics.
The more they agree with them, the more they favour the present ruler. Given that you began the game as a corpse, keeping your other two companions away from their spears is a sensible idea. Furthermore, interacting with visitors and persuading them to like your monarch allows you to accept these tourists into your country, increasing the amount of your people, which is the well-known double-edged sword. On the one hand, you’re receiving more subjects with new abilities who can do more chores, but you also have to concentrate on keeping them happy.
In terms of aesthetics, the game favours a charming look, with some of your orcish creatures sporting tastefully jutting fangs on occasion. I have no concerns about the designs because they are appropriate for the game. For all their low-poly splendour, the character designs seemed quite retro. The music is rather unobtrusive, so it won’t annoy anyone else in the house if your headphones go out at any point.
In general, there’s a lot to like in Noble Fates, especially if you enjoy the genre. The game features a mind-boggling amount of lore to go into, and your companions will gradually divulge more of it through discussion. The conversation options, on the other hand, are usually clunky and uncomfortable. Noble Fates focuses a lot on engaging with the characters, so you’d think they’d gone over the various scripts a little bit. However, since you’re mostly playing the game to expand your kingdom, the weird conversation doesn’t detract significantly from the overall experience. The battle mechanism is more like a turn-based RPG, but it lacks the fun of that genre.
