This is a work of high art in the making, and a startling exception to the lowest common denominator expectation for mobile games. The creative passion and historical/cultural education behind the game reminds me of Herman Jesse’s The Glass Bead Game. As a cultural scholar, mystic, and artist, I am quite hooked. Yes there are UI issues, but that is to be expected for a beta and an indie work of love. The game remains quite playable and extremely fun for true lovers of deep simulation… hoping the creator never simplifies the depth for those who lack the patience to immerse. I would offer a couple of notes of loving feedback. One, I would suggest that the author’s monotheistic and gnostic biases do show in both the range of options given and their effects. While I appreciate the Eastern-facing scholarship that also suffuses the choices, I would suggest that indigenous and shamanic life ways and beliefs receive short thrift, and polytheistic traditions are downright punished. If the author wishes to make an attempt at a more universalist and open sandbox, I believe this should be corrected before the final draft. It may be necessary to bring in a friend with a depth of study in shamanic, ecological, indigenous, and polytheistic mysticism to properly complement the author’s own expertise. Second issue, in order to play viably in the sandbox, a degree of expansionism and aggression is necessary. Given the nature and soil of the game, it would be nice if a more local and cultural style of play — that is to say, not empire building — was able to be just as valid and “competitive” if in a very different way. This might bear a certain connection to my first point of feedback… A recognition that maybe there are other modes available besides that of the expansionist and generally monotheist state that we—in this era, on this plane—currently take for granted as the modus operandus of statehood.
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