Hinterland (PC)

It takes a village to murder a bunch of giants
10/6/2008 7:29 PM | 1 Comments | Page 3 of 3

Part of the reason for that is the simple economy. Unlike Tilted Mill's higher-budget products, there is no real effort to make your town a living, breathing entity. Your town is only there so that you have something to protect and so you have a source of income for when the king comes calling. There is no resource train to track, and your city can only really fail if you run out of food or fame. You can usually recover from these deficits given time, so it's not the kind of game you easily lose through poor management skills.

Even with the interface problems, Hinterland will be a tiny, $20 revelation to many people. The basic design decisions are sound, even if true longevity will depend on expansion packs and patches. This is not intended to be either a serious role-playing adventure or an in-depth city-builder, and this genre blending is partly responsible for how flimsy each element seems at times. It all fits together, though, and while the meld is not seamless, it is fresh and appealing -- even if you don't see it as a metaphor.

This review is based on a retail version of the game provided by the publisher.