Thea: The Awakening

[FarAway Sooner]

OK, I have a simple question to ask:  Why is nobody on this board talking about this game?  It's an indie title, released a year ago with little fanfare, but having just logged 35 hours of playing time in the last few weeks, I love it!

It's a turn-based 4x / RPG blend set in a post-apocalyptic fantasy setting.  The story lines and quests are well-written, the game drips atmosphere, and the "one more turn" factor has robbed me of at least 10 hours sleep in the last week!   :-[

I'm posting about it here because it's far more groggy than I realized when I started playing it.  Combat (and all forms of challenge) uses a card-based mechanic that made me think of it as a lightweight little indie title at first, but having played my first game through to a conclusion, I'm totally re-evaluating that.  The game is HARD (even at "Normal" difficulty), but more importantly, it involves dozens of delicious trade-off decisions on a regular basis.

Do I send my "civilian" villagers out on an unescorted scavenging expedition to gather badly needed resources six squares from home?  If so, that'll let me send my armed hunting party the other direction, to advance an intriguing quest and explore some more territory.  But what if a wandering band of nasties bumps into my scavenging expedition?  Will their pitchforks and a spiked club or two be enough to ward off even a paltry group of snakes and spiders?  And if I do send them out scavening, do I want to gather Straw (very useful in constructing better baskets to help me Gather things faster) or start the more time-consuming task of mining blocks of Sandstone for use in building my first Smithy?

It's a great little game.  I know some of you hold your noses at the quality of Steam user reviews, but it's got > 90% favorable reviews from more than 1,500 reviewers.  The code seems rock-solid to me.  The devs have pushed out all sorts of free DLC since release (a Co-Op mode, 40 additional quests/events, a 2nd campaign for those who bested the first), so at $20 this one is well worth the money.

If anybody has problems or played the game a little and is stumped, I'm happy to offer any advice I can!  It's a deceptively deep little game...

(Note, I started a new thread here because the only other thread on this title was about 21 months old and most of the info was outdated.  I've intentionally avoided plugging my recently completed AAR on the game because only wankers put a plug for their AAR at the start of a post on a more widely read board!   8))

[airboy]

I've enjoyed your AAR.  I'm glad you are enjoying the game.

I learned a lot from your AAR but it is way too "must find straw to build bricks" level for me personally.  But I'm delighted that you are enjoying the game and enjoy your AAR!

You may consider writing a review and sending it to Brant, not that anyone reads the "mythic" front page.

[Sir Slash]

I never even heard about it Sooner until I saw your AAR. It does look intriguing but with maybe too many moving parts for my tastes. The AAR was real fun.  :bd:

[Philippe]

My initial reaction to Thea when I saw it was mixed. 

In spite of not being a fan of randomly generated maps, I was really turned on by the Slavic mythological setting.  But then I took a look at the combat system and thought "Yech, a card game".

I tried the card game and didn't like it. 

Then I played the game for a while with the battle resolution by card game turned off.

I began to notice two things.

The developers were constantly updating and tinkering with the game, and some of the writing was very, very clever.

It's not Nobel literature prize material, but the game really started to win me over when a lonely dwarf asked me to arrange a date with a reluctant water demon ("What's with the prejudice?  There are no female dwarves around anymore, so take a good look at her and then tell me that demons are off the menu.")

The writer had clearly read a lot of folklore, and enjoyed playing with it.

As for the updating, the game's art department seems to be run by a compulsive modder.  Most of the changes are for the better, but I occasionally find myself yearning for some of the older images.

(The portraits, by the way, are line drawings of characters and spectacularly well done).

So after fiddling around with the game for a while, I decided to finally hold my nose and use the card game for battles instead of auto-reolution.

I quickly remembered why the first thing I used to do whenever I started a new job was to delete solitaire from my office computer.

Three hundred plus hours later I'm here to report that it should be avoided at all costs because it's hopelessly addicting.

It's a great game, just approach it for what it is and don't think of it as a wargame.

[undercovergeek]

Your aar sold me on the game - I'm just a few turns in to some others I want to play right now and then I'll be right on it

[DennisS]

I purchased this over Christmas..and finally just got around to playing this the other day.

This is an excellent turn-based strategy game. The mechanics of gathering, production, and party management are excellent. Very highly recommended by me.

[FarAway Sooner]

I never even heard about it Sooner until I saw your AAR. It does look intriguing but with maybe too many moving parts for my tastes. The AAR was real fun.  :bd:

Thanks for the kudos!  As for the game having too many moving parts...  I was intentionally trying to model some of the nuances of the systems, because the first time I played the game, I totally missed them.  You really can play it as simply as, "To build a Smithy, I need some sticks and some rocks.  I see sticks over there, and rocks over there."

Unlike a lot of games on Steam, the demo is free (the demo represents a bug-free copy of the beta as was locked down a month or two before release--which makes it about 15 or 18 months old today).  You could always try it out and see if you liked it.  And if you choose to purchase it, it's only $20.   >:D

[Tuna]

Been eyeing this one, have it on my wishlist and all. But the idea of 'card' battles kept me from pulling the trigger. With all the love being shown for this game, I may have to re-think that stance.

[joram]

I've owned this game for awhile and really enjoyed it.  It has a very unique setting.  I can't think of anything that comes close to its uniqueness save KoDP (I think that's right).  The card battles are interesting at first and makes it more obviously a puzzle game which I find a bit distracting and after awhile, repetitive, but really enjoy the story and environment so would still recommend it.

[DennisS]

Been eyeing this one, have it on my wishlist and all. But the idea of 'card' battles kept me from pulling the trigger. With all the love being shown for this game, I may have to re-think that stance.

The card mechanic, in this instance, works quite well. There are cards that limit the AI's offensive capability, and enhance yours. They may provide supporting attacks, or armor, or even change the initiative of who gets to attack first. This card mechanic has depth to it...surprisingly so, IMHO.

[FarAway Sooner]

I was initially put off by the card mechanic as well.  But it works within this game.  There's even some depth to it.

My first two games, I heavily relied on a more defensive melee strategy for my warriors, using swords and shields for four warriors and one spear (more likely to attack first, but it's two-handed so there's no shield) and one club (less damage than a sword, but can attack multiple opponents).  This time around, as much through luck as anything else, I've found myself using two sword/shield combos, two spear wielders, and two clubs.  This emphasis on winning initiative and maximizing damage means that I'm killing guys before they even get a chance to ding me. 

All of which gets me back to a recurring theme:  This game is full of really delicious trade-off decisions.  There's no "obvious best path" that I've found yet.  Which I really enjoy.

There's a little bit of a learning curve on the card-based challenges, but it's not too much.  I'm tired of calculating the Attack/Defense ratio and then rolling a six-sided die on a Combat Results Table anyways!   ;)