The game is Old World, a historical 4X strategy game from Mohawk Games and Hooded Horse. It combines familiar exploration, city-building, research and warfare with two major twists: cities can be founded only at marked sites, and your ruler’s dynasty is an active part of play. The biggest adjustment for a Civilization-style player is that actions draw on a limited pool of orders, so you must choose what gets done each turn.
What is Old World?
Old World takes place in antiquity and follows a ruling family over generations. Steam lists its release date as May 18, 2022. The comparison to Civilization and Crusader Kings is a useful shorthand, but not a full description: it has the explore, expand, develop and contest structure of a 4X game, while making leadership, succession and court relationships consequential.
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Unlike a long sweep through successive historical eras, Old World stays within its ancient setting. A 2021 review describes each turn as one year, giving the game a year-by-year pace in which the ruler’s life and the kingdom’s development unfold together.
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Orders are a shared action budget
Many actions use orders from a shared pool. Rather than assuming every unit and activity can act freely each turn, decide which actions matter most now. Units can receive multiple actions if you spend additional orders on them, so a movement or attack has an opportunity cost: it competes with other things you could do.
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In his April 15, 2020 preview, Kotaku writer Luke Plunkett summarized the design: “It’s no longer an expectation, but a resource.” The preview covered an early build, so treat the quotation as a description of the central orders concept, not a guarantee of current balance details.
Found cities at designated sites
Settlers do not found cities anywhere you choose. City locations are marked on the map, which makes scouting and planning around available sites important. Look for useful places as you explore, then weigh the value of reaching a site against the orders and protection needed to expand there.
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Your ruler and dynasty matter
The ruler ages and dies, and family members and courtiers can shape succession, court life, city governance, military command and relationships. Events can affect both the dynasty and the kingdom. A decision that helps in the immediate moment may also affect who inherits authority or how the court functions later.
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The familiar 4X foundations are still there
You still explore, found and develop cities, research technologies, gather resources, and use armies and diplomacy in competition with other powers. The orders budget and dynasty layer change how you prioritize these familiar activities; they do not replace them.
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A practical first-session loop
- Scout before committing. Explore enough of the map to identify marked city sites and understand what lies between your starting position and potential expansion.
- Choose a city site deliberately. Found at a designated location that supports your plans, rather than expecting to place a settlement wherever an open tile looks attractive.
- Spend orders on priorities. Each turn, choose which units or activities need attention most. Avoid treating every available action as equally urgent, and remember that extra actions for one unit use more of the shared pool.
- Develop while protecting your reach. Build up your cities and gather resources, while considering whether expansion or nearby threats require military attention.
- Make court decisions with succession in view. Pay attention to family and courtiers as well as immediate kingdom needs; the ruler is mortal, and the next generation is part of the strategy.
- Check explanations when a mechanic is unclear. A 2021 review reported nested tooltips, help and a Civilopedia, while also noting that some mechanics and character effects could be opaque. Use the tooltips and in-game reference available in your version to inspect unfamiliar actions or stats; interface details may have changed since that review.
This is a way to organize a first session around the documented systems, not a tested optimal opening. The available sources do not establish a best difficulty, civilization, build order or sequence of opening moves.
How it differs from a conventional Civilization-style 4X
| System | What to expect in Old World | How to adjust |
|---|---|---|
| Actions | Many actions draw from a limited shared orders pool. | Prioritize; additional actions for a unit consume more orders. |
| City placement | Cities are founded at designated map sites. | Scout and plan around those locations. |
| Historical scope and pace | The game remains in antiquity; a 2021 review describes turns as one year. | Think in terms of year-by-year development within a narrower historical setting. |
| Leadership | A mortal ruler, dynasty and court affect succession and kingdom affairs. | Consider family and court consequences alongside city and military plans. |
What not to assume from the comparison
The familiar 4X label explains the broad foundations, but the comparison does not mean that Old World uses the same turn economy, settlement placement or leadership model as another game. In particular, do not carry over an expectation of unrestricted unit actions or free settlement placement. The early preview and 2021 review establish the distinctive systems described here, but they do not provide current version-specific opening advice.
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