Royal Envoy

People always seem to complain about politicians and rules, because everyone seems to get it wrong once they are elected. However, the amount of responsibility and pressure put on those who must make the decisions on behalf of a few million people is tremendous, which is why they might sometimes be reluctant to make the most effective ones. Thankfully, you can see what it’s like with the help of a video game.

Royal Envoy is a mix of time management and strategy mechanics, which means that you have to come up with clever tactics and apply them as quickly as you can. The game puts you control of a few islands that need to be organized and saved from the forces of nature, which are about to devastate everything in their path. The goal is to save everyone living on them and help them thrive.

In order to do that, you must build houses and various other facilities, not to mention the fact that there are many other dangers that need to be dealt with as well. Hence, pirates are a constant threat, although they can also provide you with precious treasure. In the end, your job is to become chief city planner and manager every aspect of Islandshire, all in the name of the people.

The time management gameplay mechanics require you to move quickly at all times, because you are severely punished otherwise. However, the game looks like your regular RTS at a first glance, given the isometric perspective and the general layout of the maps. Since you obviously do not have the same amount of controls over the buildings and the units, the mechanics are far simpler to understand in this case.

From a technical point of view, it’s good to know that everything works more or less as intended, in the sense that you can always count on your clicks to do what you want them to do. The graphics engine is decent as well, even if it still looks simple and childish. The truth is, not much more is needed in order to have fun, so the visual quality is far less relevant than the gameplay.

All things considered, Royal Envoy does its job wonderfully, and it provides the fans of the genre with quite the challenge. The mixture of strategy elements should be exciting enough for more gamers to give it a try, even if time management is not their thing.