Sunday, October 8, 2017

Offworld Trading Company - 2/20 hours

So far, I've played the tutorial, a skirmish, and a couple of campaign missions. It's all been on the easiest difficulty, so there hasn't been any great stress or trouble. It's mostly just been a relaxing exercise in build order optimization, of the sort that I tend to really enjoy.

But I also get the feeling that this is the sort of game that is difficult to comment on at 2 hours. Eithr I've already seen most of what Offworld Trading Company has to offer, or there is a profound level of depth that will take me hours to appreciate. Possibly both. It certainly doesn't hide mechanics from you. There is a fairly shallow chain of infrastructure and most of the challenge in any individual mission appears to be adapting to the map. I'm sure that there are nuances to using the more advanced buildings, but individual matches tend to be over before that's necessary.

My guess is that this game is optimized for short multiplayer matches, and the intent is that you experience the whole of your company's arc - founding to expansion followed by either bankruptcy or monopoly - in about 30-60 minutes. It's something that doesn't take a lot of commitment, and which you're supposed to find interesting enough that you don't mind repeating it over and over again.

I think I'll have to take a "wait and see" approach here. I like manipulating the economy and seeing my company grow, but I dislike the way the game forces an eliminationist conflict so quickly. I think the main takeaway here is . . . that I like grinding?

That seems plausible. Which means that the main theme I'm going to be thinking of, going forward, is the difference between drawing out a process in order to pad the game's running time versus allowing for an ever-expanding player ambition by including open-ended high-tier content. It will probably take me a few hours to get a handle on it, though.

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