Story beats take place at certain steps during gameplay, where players need to read and interact with pop-ups involving important choices and decisions.
Of those, the relationship between whatever civilization leader players currently have focused, and their partners and kin. There are a number of surprising and unique mechanics at play at any given time. These follow specific storyline’s, some of which even feature their own gameplay rules and tweaks essentially replaying iconic moments from the history books. The bread and butter for Old World: Heroes of the Aegean largely comes down to the main scenarios. Where the game differs is in its presentation. Starting a match in Old World: Heroes of the Aegean always greets players with a tiled overworld, a dense fog of war, seemingly countless menus and tabs, and a plethora of on-screen information all traditional (albeit modern) gameplay featured in every other 4X title. This includes, but is not limited to, the famous Battle of Marathon, The war for Thermopylae, and subsequent battles for Salamis and Plataea (think 300), as well as the creation of the Macedonian Empire, and Alexander The Great’s many exploits. Old World: Heroes of the Aegean has an even bigger focus on scenarios, with special focus on Aegean heroes and lore. Iconic heroes of both legend and history from Assyria, Babylon, Carthage, Egypt, Greece, Persia, and even Rome become actors for the main narrative, while gameplay slowly evolves to incorporate iconic battles and wars from these periods. The game focuses on the main families in power during these times. Culture was, arguably, at its peak during this time, and multiple peoples only just started their expansions through the continent – whether peaceful or otherwise. Instead, the game focusses on a couple of hundred years (if that) during the European Iron Ages. There are no massive-scale armies, and inter-racial superspy shenanigans. The rush from stone age to space-age dominance is non-existent. Old World, on the other hand, takes a step back. The first instance of ”change” Old World offers comes directly by way of how matches are represented: other 4X games quickly push into the four main pillars the genre is known for. Its expansion, Old World: Heroes of the Aegean, even more so. It feels and plays so differently compared to other 4X titles, while simultaneously drawing inspiration from all of the classics. Birthed from the mind of Soren Johnson, co-creator of Civilizations IV, it acts as a true iconoclast of the historical subgenre of 4X titles. Occasionally, however, there is a 4X game release that offers a completely new set of rules, unlike any other. Hence why many video games follow its example. The aforementioned Civilisations is one of the leading franchises in the genre, with millions of copies sold worldwide, and countless awards won. Even with these little additions, 4X games have always stood firm - unchanging in overall design over the many decades, even after traditional tabletop 4X evolved into digitised video game art. At times, however, some 4X titles try to ‘spice things up’, whether through offering unbelievable diplomacy option like those seen in Civilations, or massive and branching tech trees like those seen in Anno. That is to say, the genre usually presents players with a vast top-down display of a planet/galaxy/very large piece of land, followed by requiring players to grow and expand their armies and kingdoms by means of using any and all resources available before eventually crushing the opposition through sheer force or via the power of friendship. While some variations have been released, the 4X genre still adamantly follows the same Explore, Expand, Exploit, and Exterminate rules. It is a slow burn on the surface, with very little 4X, or much of anything really, going on at first glance, and it is assuredly deliberately so. It actively tries to be something that it clearly is not, while also comfortably giving players a 4X experience like no other. With this in mind, Old World: Heroes of the Aegean plays much more deliberately in its execution than the aforementioned titles. Games like Civilisations, Total War, and even Stellarischoose to rely on the most traditional concepts of the genre: to explore with basic units, expand territory as fast as possible, exploit groups of non-playable characters and/or resources, and ultimately, exterminate the opposition. Disparities like these hardly, if ever result in good games. There is something peculiar about a video game attempting to subvert the overarching genre it should be classified in, while also nestling safely within its bosom.
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