Spoilers ahead. Warned, you have been.

I consider myself a non-committal gamer when it comes to resource management and civilization games--and I say this because I can't survive more than a week in Rimworld or Going Medieval. All Will Fall made me feel like I could actually play games in this category with significant success--even if there was a lack of hostiles to beset my progress.

As far as the playtest, I enjoyed the game and what was offered. I found myself with a decent setup with a central steel structure as my mainstay, with the rest of the map was threaded with singular paths that led back to Rome, so to speak. I had many accidents with the accidental deletion of a support beam or two, but many of my bridges held the test of time, and no man was lost to the sea under my watchful eye.

The speed of my workers were excruciatingly slow. I understand that you can speed them up with in-game mechanics, on top of the time settings, but I preferred to keep my people happy, rather than deal with some sort of mutiny down the line.

Naturally, fresh water was my primary struggle, for there was very little of it to go around on my map--and wood-burning water-producing ovens were pitiful for my ever-growing army of proletariat goons. I made it a goal to be independent of fuel, not having to waste so much of my precious wood or junk to satiate my inhabitants. Electrical water generators were made, but oh, how they demanded an ample supply of electricity to meet demands. I constructed many wind turbines and threw bodies upon them, but such efforts were insufficient for the demands on a sunny day. At least when the storms came and the rain fell, my stores were brimming from the raincatchers installed around the base, and we were spared for many days from dehydration. A pox on thee, waterwheel.

The event system introduced plenty of options should one have the resources. I happened to be a crueler captain, for I demanded that my people were fed, and my research needs met in order to meet quotas and work toward my dream of a thriving concrete jungle.

That is, it was easier to get water from coercing a passing trader or hapless raft to give me everything they had for the meager price of influence. Those who came to my city seeking the booty found that my army of proletariat goons far outnumbered them, and they fled like the codfish I expected them to be.

Ahhh, influence, the currency of kings. I felt unstoppable by that point.

Granted, I felt the resources prices to be incredibly high on some occasions, particularly if one wanted to rescue their own people from certain death. Despite that feeling of being robbed on more than one occasion, it certainly pushed me to make decisions to aid my cause for a sprawling, ramshackle metropolis.

Despite all the expenses with resources, I kept my food and water stores relatively high, and managed to finish the demo with my workers happy, my sailors angry, and my engineers completely neglected. I've returned a few times afterwards to see how much further I could take things, but given that it was a playtest, my progress was more than likely to be gone when it's over.

All in all, I enjoyed myself and the time I spent on this playtest. I'm looking forward to the final release!

Cheers,
Ocean

Spoilers ahead. Warned, you have been. I consider myself a non-committal gamer when it comes to resource management and civilization games--and I say this because I can't survive more than a week in Rimworld or Going Medieval. All Will Fall made me feel like I could actually play games in this category with significant success--even if there was a lack of hostiles to beset my progress. As far as the playtest, I enjoyed the game and what was offered. I found myself with a decent setup with a central steel structure as my mainstay, with the rest of the map was threaded with singular paths that led back to Rome, so to speak. I had many accidents with the accidental deletion of a support beam or two, but many of my bridges held the test of time, and no man was lost to the sea under my watchful eye. The speed of my workers were excruciatingly slow. I understand that you can speed them up with in-game mechanics, on top of the time settings, but I preferred to keep my people happy, rather than deal with some sort of mutiny down the line. Naturally, fresh water was my primary struggle, for there was very little of it to go around on my map--and wood-burning water-producing ovens were pitiful for my ever-growing army of proletariat goons. I made it a goal to be independent of fuel, not having to waste so much of my precious wood or junk to satiate my inhabitants. Electrical water generators were made, but oh, how they demanded an ample supply of electricity to meet demands. I constructed many wind turbines and threw bodies upon them, but such efforts were insufficient for the demands on a sunny day. At least when the storms came and the rain fell, my stores were brimming from the raincatchers installed around the base, and we were spared for many days from dehydration. [spoiler]A pox on thee, waterwheel.[/spoiler] The event system introduced plenty of options should one have the resources. I happened to be a crueler captain, for I demanded that [i]my[/i] people were fed, and [i]my[/i] research needs met in order to meet quotas and work toward my dream of a thriving concrete jungle. That is, it was easier to get water from coercing a passing trader or hapless raft to give me everything they had for the meager price of influence. Those who came to my city seeking [i]the booty[/i] found that my army of proletariat goons far outnumbered them, and they fled like the codfish I expected them to be. [b][i]Ahhh, influence, the currency of kings. I felt unstoppable by that point.[/i][/b] Granted, I felt the resources prices to be incredibly high on some occasions, particularly if one wanted to rescue their own people from certain death. Despite that feeling of being robbed on more than one occasion, it certainly pushed me to make decisions to aid my cause for a sprawling, ramshackle metropolis. Despite all the expenses with resources, I kept my food and water stores relatively high, and managed to finish the demo with my workers happy, my sailors angry, and my engineers completely neglected. I've returned a few times afterwards to see how much further I could take things, but given that it was a playtest, my progress was more than likely to be gone when it's over. All in all, I enjoyed myself and the time I spent on this playtest. I'm looking forward to the final release! Cheers, Ocean