Your Daily World-Conquest Fix
Aevum Obscurum is an online-only multiplayer game of world conquest. Played on a map of Europe (though other maps can be downloaded and used), each player starts with a single province, a small army, and a treasury. Your ultimate goal is to become the dominant power, controlling much of the map.
Online only? Yes; its primarily a multiplayer game, with up to 50 players possible in a single instance. You play your moves, send them to the server--and when all players moves are in (or the deadline hits), the sever resolves players orders. You then view what happened last turn, and plan your moves for the next. Games can be started either in long-term or "blitz" mode; in blitz mode, turns update every few minutes, while in long-term mode, they update every day or so.
If you're like me, this is actually a very congenial way to play; each day, you play another turn and get a little gaming fix, without having to spend hours at a time. Less patient gamers, however, may find this less appealing, since a full game in long-term mode can take a month or more to complete.
Aevum Obscurum is more complicated than Risk, but far less complex than, say Europa Universalis. Each province has a tax base; you use your money to recruit troops, enlist mercenaries, and build improvements for your provinces (things like fortifications, and "watch towers" that let you see how many troops are contained in surrounding provinces). Combat is non-random--subject to some modifications like fortifications and morale, the larger force wins, and the more overwhelming the attack, the fewer troops you lose in it. You can adjust your tax rate to raise more money, at the cost of slower economic growth and lower morale. You can also build ships, and engage in amphibious invasion across seas.
As you might expect, diplomacy is critical in this game; there's an in-game messaging system, and you can make (and break) formal alliances with other players. Being clever about who to ally with, and working with allies against common enemies, is at least as important to success as mastering the game's economic and military models.
The game is implemented in Java (and playable on any machine with desktop Java 1.5 installed--meaning its playable by anyone with a PC, Mac, Linux, or other -nix machine. There's both a browser-applet version, as well as a downloadable version.
Aevum Obscurum is free to play. However, by upgrading to a paid subscription, you gain the ability to start new games, setting the parameters for them (as a free player, you can join a game started by someone else, but not initiate one). Some other features are also available to paid players, but as a free player you're not getting a noticeably crippled experience, you're getting the full game.
It's a nicely executed, if fairly bare bones, game; the play style won't be for everyone, but people who like multiplayer diplomatic games, and are comfortable with a simultaneous movement turn-based approach, will find a lot to like.
Languages
Aevum Obscurum can be played in English, Italian, German, Portuguese, and Japanese.
The developer says:
It's the beginning of the 14th century and there is only one thing on the minds of the Kings of Europe: Glory! Armies mass and navies gather, pitting general against general and steel against steel. Who will be victorious? Will the Ottoman Empire finally break the Christian armies arranged against it? Will England colonize lands much closer to home? Will the Papal States move from tending the kingdom of God to tending the kingdom of man? Or will Vikings turn out to be as good at conquest as they are at pillaging? The choice is yours.
Aevum Obscurum aka Das Tausenburgenspiel is a free online turn-based multiplayer strategy game, where you take the reigns of a budding empire and struggle against fellow players for control of Europe. In one game, up to 50+ players vie for supremacy, but only one can be victorious. Every game you win pushes up your score, until you don't just dominate Europe, but also your fellow players. Then all will be in your shadow and not just peasants, but even kings will worship you! All this can be yours, but only if you triumph.
So, will your place be in the history books or in the mud? Will you govern or will you grovel? Do you have what it takes to rule the known world? Join Aevum Obscurum and show us what you're made of!
Reviews
"Aevum Obscurum is a well-designed game that should appeal to veteran strategy gamers. It’s more complicated than Risk but simpler than Europa Universalis III, so there’s a niche to occupy. Joining multiplayer matches is free, so trying out the game only costs the download time. Aevum Obscurum is easy to handle, as the user interface, despite the low quality graphics and sound, makes controlling the action fairly intuitive. There is depth to the gameplay as well, as important decisions regarding troop placement and opposing options must be made."
- 6/8, Out of Eight PC Game Reviews
"If you are the type of player that enjoys playing chess by correspondence, or have enjoyed play-by-email type wargames in the past, then AO may be for you."
- Bytten
Awards
5/5 OneKIT