Civilization: Horse Mode!
These ponies are "fighting" for territory. If you like 4X strategy games, you'll have a blast with this one! Interested? Check out the full article below!
Released in July 2023, Pony Arcadia is a cute little turn-based 4X strategy game that lets you step into the horseshoes of a pony leader competing for territory. Up to 4 different teams take turns building, exploring, collecting resources and accumulating love in order to claim victory. However, there’s a catch... the ponies live in peace, so they can’t actually fight each other! What a shame...
I'm big fan of the Arcadia Kingdom... they're in the title after all.
After selecting your characters and end goal (which is usually to collect 1000 love) you’ll start the game, which begins with the first build phase. As the name implies, this phase allows you to place structures on the map, provided you have enough resources and an appropriate building spot. You may build houses (which can give a different resource depending on how many of them are stacked next to each other), roads (which will make movement easier) or even Magic Crystals that will allow you to perform spells.
The Pony Power besides the portrait is a set of resources used to resolve Troubles and destroy Lairs.
Now, you might be asking yourself: "What can I do if my opponents have more buildings than me? Am I doomed to sit back and watch as their resources skyrocket?" Neigh, I say! That’s precisely where the second phase comes in... the Villain Phase. While your main characters are peaceful and will never attack others, every team gets to choose a villain whose sole purpose is to disrupt your enemies and create chaos. During the Villain Phase, you control your evildoer, expanding their territory, empowering their lairs and spending Evil Points to unleash Troubles with varying effects, such as a wildfire caused by the Ignite Trouble or an earthquake triggered by the Catastrophe Trouble.
Yep, this will certainly cripple my economy.
Some Troubles are more powerful than others, with higher costs to balance their effects. For example, Ignite can create rapidly spreading fires, but these can be easily extinguished by the ponies. Catastrophe, on the other hoof, has a chance to destroy every building in a wide area, leaving little you can do if luck isn’t on your side... or is there? You see, when you or your opponent places a Trouble on the map, it doesn’t activate immediately. Instead, it may take several turns to go off, giving you time to send your ponies to resolve the Trouble before it triggers (this can be done during the third and final phase, the Hero Phase). However, this is time-consuming, so even if your Trouble doesn’t activate, it still succeeds in diverting the enemy’s attention. Additionally, a Villain’s lair can be destroyed by opposing ponies, and if all lairs are eliminated, you won’t be able to cause Troubles for the rest of the game, so make sure to keep them protected.
During the Hero Phase, you can also open chests scattered around the land for even more resources!The learning curve can be a bit daunting, and with no difficulty settings, you might find yourself being repeatedly curb-stomped by the game's enemies. But don’t let that discourage you... keep trying and learning, and you’ll become a pro in no time! (It took me over 20 runs to get my first victory... admittedly, I’m kinda bad at any strategy game that isn't Hearts of Iron 4) The game is incredibly lightweight and available on both PC and mobile devices, so give it a try! And don’t forget to follow the creator on Itch.io!
-Matsu
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