One day a few months or so ago I was given a review copy of this game but for a number of reasons I wasn't able to play it. Then one day about a month ago i was able to start it up and I'm really glad that I did because at this games foundation, it's a tycoon game with a bunch of RPG and strategy aspects mixed in.

I love Tycoon games, any game that has a business aspect, and I love when Tycoon games take an RPG or fantasy aspect such as RPG Tycoon and Moonlighter. I liked them both because it was way more than just Tycoon stuff, which by itself was still pretty great. But in this game, the other aspects of the game are way more in depth and detailed, giving the game a brabd new sense of gameplay.

In Merchants of Kaidan, you play as a travelling salesman basically in a medival country and you buy and sell different kinds of products to make money, such as food and cloth. In one city or town, the but price will be different than what it is in a different city or town. You can spend all your money on food and go to a different town and then sell them for more, but it's also possible that the price in the new town is lower so you would lose money if you sell there.

There's all sorts of RPG and fantasy aspects. You can go on all sorts of quests throughout the giant land, you can hire workers and carts, and you can explore dungeons, and that's one of the reasons that I like the game so much. There's no story though, it's all about exploring the land and creating an economic empire while trying to stay away from going bankrupt.

GRAPHICS: 8/10

I enjoy the graphics of Merchants of Kaidan. When you are in towns, there's no animations or anything special, just a background of what the town looks like. Each town looks beautiful and resembles what you would find from a well done point and click game. The world map is also beautiful, with tons of tiny trees, towns, mountains, clouds, and more. You couldn't really ask for more from a tycoon game when it comes to graphics.

SOUND 6/10

When it comes to music, I haven't really heard much throughout the game, just a bunch of medieval sounds and tunes. There's nothing wrong with that but I thought that it could have been a bit better. As for the general sounds of the game, there's a loud noise that plays when you click, and whenever money is involved, you hear the sounds of coins. Sometimes the sound can be either too quiet or too loud.

ADDICTIVENESS: 10/10

At first I didn't really expect the game to be so much fun but then I quickly learned how wrong I was. After playing for around an hour I went bankrupt and I right away started a brand new game becausd I was eager to learn from my mistakes and see if I could get better. Soon enough I had like 4 carts and was well on my way to building an Empire.

Even when I had all the money I could want, I was interested in exploring the map and seeing what each town had to offer and all of the different quests that I could take. I probably spent about 20 hours on 1 game and then when I thought there wasn't anymore I could do, I started over to try a new strategy.

DEPTH: 10/10.

The biggest aspect of depth is the economic system. When you're in a town, the buy and sell prices for each item is set but once you leave that town and re enter a few days later, the prices will be different. This adds a whole extra level of strategy because you need to know where to buy and where else to sell.

Another big aspect of depth is the size of the map. It's huge with lots of towns and dungeons to explore, it might take you hours to travel through the entire map and fully explore each area.

DIDFICULTY: 6

The only part of this game that's any difficult would be the fact that you're always spending money. You have to buy items to sell. You have to buy carts and you constantly have to pay people to work. You even have to pay to travel in both time and money. If you aren't careful you can leave one town with a good amount of money but be bankrupt by the time you enter the next town, so you really have to take caution with your expenses and where you buy and sell items.

OVERALL: 8.5/10

Overall I'm giving Merchants of Kaidan an 8.5 out of 10 and I'll recommend it to anyone who likes tycoon games or games like Moonlighter or RPG Tycoon where it's a hybrid. It takes some getting used to but it's a lot of fun to play and can easily take hours before you get bored. I played 4 times, each a different way and probably put around 35 hours into the game so even if I ended up paying full price for it, I would have said it was money well spent.

You've convinced me to give this game a try. I also love Tycoon style games and RPG/strategy games. Combining the 2 somehow is interesting to me and makes me want to see what this game is like.

I probably won't have time to play it today but it's going to be really cold all week and I'll likely not be going anywhere in the evenings so I'll get plenty of chances to play then.

I think that I also may give the game a try but I'm just hoping that I don't end up getting completely addicted to it and then end up playing it nonstop for hours on end until I end up playing little else. XD

geeogree : It's pretty fun, the very 1st time I played I think I spent a good 3 continuous house just clicking buy and sell.

It's also nice seeing the backstory of everything around you. Sometimes one of your workers will get drunk anf you end up losing money, sometimes you'll run into bandits, etc.

That actually sounds like something that I would like to play and something that I would enjoy so I will probably give it a go if I can actually ever be bothered to that is. XD