App Army Assemble: Six Ages 2: Lights Go Out - "Is this decision-based strategy game worth the cost?"

Six Ages 2: Lights Go Out is a narrative-driven game where you spend a lot of your time making important decisions and the rest engaging in turn-based battles. Dann Sullivan recently reviewed the game for Pocket Gamer and loved his time with it. But, we figured a few more opinions couldn't hurt, so we handed the game over to our App Army community to see what they thought.

Here's what they said:

Six Ages 2 is a simulation game that takes place in an apocalypse world. The game mixes an interactive narrative with a turn-shift strategy. In view of this, we have to make decisions that can continue with our team. The game works super well on iOS, and has simple commands and good music. Six Age 2 is a game with great dialogue that needs you to pay attention to each of them in order to make the best decision. Here is a weak point, it has no other language than English which can drive away several players. I would say that this is not a game for everyone, but if you have a good understanding of English you may like it, especially if you are a lover of great stories

I tried, I really did. Read all the text of the different choices I could make. For this kind of text-based adventure/resource management title, it is by far not my first attempt. I have tried to play similar games before without getting it. In Six Ages 2, an added layer of hard-to-read options on my possible actions hampered my chance of enjoyment. Thought this would be a good complement to Baldurs Gate 3 when I was out of range of my PS5. But did not feel it sadly. Competent game in many ways but for a player already into the genre on mobile.

Lights Going Out is mechanically similar to its predecessors Ride Like the Wind and King of Dragon Pass. If you have never played these games, they are tribe management sims, where you guide your tribe through Game-Book style encounters (KoDP has 640,000 words, Ride Like the Wind has 468,000 to accompany the beautiful artwork).

While managing your resources, directing big projects, exploring, waging war, engaging in political dealings, trade, and exchange of favours with other clans. While this can seem intimidating, there is a circle of advisors who will offer sage advice on every decision, sometimes serving their own agendas. If you are familiar with the previous games you, like myself, would be curious to know what is new and different in Lights going out.

The first thing I noted is that food and mood are much trickier and more demanding resources to manage. Whereas I spent a lot of the early game in Ride Like the Wind, sacrificing and building temples, in Lights Going Out we start with austerity measures.

Unlike KoDP and RLtW, we are not building a kingdom through diplomacy and mutual prosperity, but managing a kingdom falling to ruin, trying to save the tribe from sinking after it. The tribe is split between the Royalists and the Realists, and as reality disintegrates further, the dream of reviving the kingdom, like the upkeep of the temples to dead gods may prove to be a lethal sentiment. The council plays a much bigger role in events.

I decided to make a raid during my first fire season and chose the Varn-Rash for no other reason than that they are known for being rude. The raid was a humiliating failure. Shortly afterwards, Karrena, a warrior of renown, a worshipper of Hamukt, the death god, and a respected member of the circle, announces that she is going to kill the chieftain of the Varn-Rash. I could physically restrain her, but I bless her instead, sending eight elite Swords to aid in the reprisal. Our ongoing feud with the Varn-Rash defines the clan identity now. Even our broader politics are determined by other clans’ relationship to the Varn-Rash.

The writing is as fascinating as ever, with real horror bursting from the dying world, you will be challenged to change the way you play, as the dying world requires major adjustments in approach, though there is a lot of freedom to resist and hold to principles at great sacrifice. The key will be compromise and its consequences.

Naturally, I give Lights Going Out the highest recommendation, if you are into game books, Tabletop RPGs, fantasy or Anthropology, and you haven’t played any of the A# titles, I would recommend that you start with KoDP or RLtW because they will provide an opportunity to connect with the world that is dying in Lights Going Out. The Orlanth-worshipping Ram clans that make up KoDP’s culture and the Sun/Earth-worshipping horse nomads that form the focus of RLtW have joined in Union to form the crumbling kingdom which forms the backdrop to LGO. That being said, you can play LGO as a stand-alone game, under the hood the social dynamics and politics inside the tribe and between members of the circle have been refined more than ever.

I have not played the first game. Six Ages 2: Lights Going Out is a strategy game where you must guide your Clan through a tumultuous time where the world is ending. You are not guiding icons on a map but selecting choices that help you manage your Clan and it’s dealing with other clans. The number of choices is rather overwhelming at first and I spent the first few hours with the game not really knowing what I was doing. Your advisors do help with the decisions but I found the tutorial did not help much. The art and music used in the game look good but there is no animation. Not a game I can recommend unless you are really a big fan of these types of games.

This is a really appealing and easy-to-pick-up story-driven strategy game with artwork that I like and so many game-path-changing choices (some as advice from characters) that I can see huge replayability. Even though my poor choices pretty much wiped out my clan within a few moves, it was a fun short initial run and I was able to start over at the difficulty level of my choice. The music seemed appropriate for the game and the menus were easy to grasp- plus I liked being able to minimize some elements with just a tap of the screen, or be able to move them around the screen just by dragging them. So it’s got an engaging story that has several different branches to keep you interested for a long time and many play-throughs. Decent artwork that reminds me of comics and so forth I had while growing up. Plus the fact that if you just have a few minutes, you can still advance the story and see where your choices lead you. You should expect a good game for the price tag… and in my opinion, you get it in this case. Happily recommend.

The story of Six Ages 2: Lights Going Out is exceptional and extensive lore. The choices in this game that the player made have actual consequences and impact. It would affect how the population grows, its relation to another clan, trading and war. The clan ring would give players advice on the impact of different decisions and is sometimes conflicting. The unique and wonderful artworks give the player instant response to the characters. This game has good replayability since the story is detailed and there are a lot of choices that can be made.

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Six Ages 2: Lights Going Out