Millennia by Paradox

[Defiant]

Paradox Interactive and C Prompt Games announce turn-based strategy game Millennia for PC

Publisher Paradox Interactive and developer C Prompt Games have announced Millennia, a turn-based strategy game in which you will lead a nation of your own design through thousands of years of history. It will launch for PC via Steam in 2024.

Trailer:



Steam page

[Daehawk]

Its turn based so it takes a Millennia to play

[Max Peck]

I had failed to notice that there is a Steam NextFest demo available. Luckily the demo period was just extended for another week.

Hello everyone!

On behalf of the whole Millennia team we'd like to thank everyone who tried out the game and made us one of the most played demos of Steam NextFest!

We're very happy to tell you that by popular demand we're extending the Demo again a whole week till 19th February 17:00 CET!

Enjoy one more week of Heroic Quests, Bloodly Conquests and also the chance to enter our giveaway which we're extending till the 19th as well.

[jztemple2]

Release date (planned of course), March 26th, 2024

[Max Peck]

The demo didn't exactly blow me away, so while I'll still keep an eye on this I don't expect to pick it up on release.

[Madmarcus]

Same. At one point I loved 4x games but it has been a long while since one has really grabbed me.

[jztemple2]

The demo didn't exactly blow me away, so while I'll still keep an eye on this I don't expect to pick it up on release.

I missed the demo but I hope they post it again. Otherwise like you I intend to see what others think.

Same. At one point I loved 4x games but it has been a long while since one has really grabbed me.

Me too. I just can't seem to get excited about 4X anymore, but maybe there's something new that will make it worthwhile.

[dbemont]

I guess I'm pretty much alone, but I was VERY impressed by that demo.

Among my favorite aspects:
National identity: I have always muttered about the conceit that some tribe was born thousands of years ago with trading or ranged combat in its DNA. But I do like to see some national differentiation develop as the game goes along. In my mind, this game gets it right -- at given intervals, you have a chance to nudge your identity in one of several directions, but it is not instantaneous. Rather, the impact depends on how much you develop that kind of thing, how much you use it. It's as close to a natural adaptation as I have seen in a game like this.

Production chains: It's not just a matter of mining or farming something, and you get a +2 or a unit. Rather, a developed resource can start you down a string of opportunities, making each city its own thing. And yes, you can send stuff to another city, but the sending requires some doing as well. Love it!

Role of technology: So often these games let you reach a technology and instantaneously you can change everything. This strikes me as far more nuanced, and techs allow you to do things, but often the most important results require a significant amount of time to seep into your society. Now you can construct mills, which give engineering experience, and as that engineering experience rises...

Anyway, I am psyched! The game releases March 26!

[Max Peck]

I didn't get far enough along in the demo to see any of that cool-sounding stuff. I almost forgot to play it at all, so I didn't get past the very first age. I suspect that part of the problem is that I just wanted to get back to BG3, so it was kind of a "It's not you, it's me" situation.

It's not a particularly expensive game -- the game plus expansion pass costs the same as one AAA title these days -- so there's still a good chance I'll pick it up if I'm in the mood to gamble on a 4X experience next month.

[waitingtoconnect]

No matter how good it is it’s a paradox game so I won’t buy it because I don’t want to be nickel and dimed for the inevitable DLc.

[Max Peck]

It's not actually a Paradox game. Paradox is publishing it, but it's a C Prompt Games project. So far as I know, Paradox doesn't impose it's in-house long-term DLC development strategy on games that it merely publishes.

[jztemple2]

[Freyland]

Please keep posting this series, if willing.

[jztemple2]

Please keep posting this series, if willing.

Sure, I'm following the news updates on Feedly so I'll know when the next one arrives.

This video makes me think that the game is perhaps a big too fiddly for me, but I'll reserve judgement till I see more. I didn't play the demo, I hope they will make it available again.

[Max Peck]

Developer Diary | After the Demo

I am Ian Fischer of C Prompt Games, back for another chat about Millennia. This Developer Diary was originally intended to present additional detail about the Ages, but we felt like we had already covered that material in prior Diaries.

Instead, since the release date has been announced, I thought it might be fun to talk a little about this stage of the project, our general development approach, and what we have been working on since the demo.

(Also, being honest, I have been too busy to provide any kind of reasonable build notes for the last few updates, so I liked the idea that, for part of this, I could Dev Diary-ize the build notes and correct that problem….)

[jztemple2]

[jztemple2]

Oops, I appear to have missed this video:

[Max Peck]

Oops, I forgot that I wasn't going to pre-order this game and went ahead and pre-ordered it today. Oh well, nothing to be done about it now...

[El Guapo]

I love this kind of game, although I'm finding my tolerance for learning new grand strategy games is waning. Like it seems easier just to keep playing CIv VI, at least until Civ VII comes out?

[jztemple2]

I love this kind of game, although I'm finding my tolerance for learning new grand strategy games is waning.

Me too. I've watched the videos and now I'm thinking this might be a bit too complex for enjoyment.

[jztemple2]

[Freyland]

I've stopped watching these videos because I find that guy's voice extremely annoying, but I've been waiting for this one.

What the hell are they doing repeatedly showing fights with radically mismatched technology?! That's a sore spot about the AI in every Civ-Like ever, and they are focusing on it in their preview videos?

[jztemple2]

I've stopped watching these videos because I find that guy's voice extremely annoying, but I've been waiting for this one.

Don't forget you can turn on closed captioning.

Yeah, I'm going to give this a pass for awhile and wait for impressions and the inevitable patches.

[waitingtoconnect]

I've stopped watching these videos because I find that guy's voice extremely annoying, but I've been waiting for this one.

What the hell are they doing repeatedly showing fights with radically mismatched technology?! That's a sore spot about the AI in every Civ-Like ever, and they are focusing on it in their preview videos?

Mismatched technology fights are very common throughout history. Not caveman - modern rifleman level though.

[jztemple2]

[jztemple2]

From PCGamesN, Millennia review – almost a 4X strategy game for the ages

I never meant to have my peaceful nation of Brazilian builders turn into a fanatical theocracy, intent on uniting the world in worship of their god by whatever means necessary. I never intended to go from everyone’s favorite neighbor to a frothing band of proselytizing zealots, shouting down from floating balloons to convert entire populations to our religion. I didn’t plan for any of that to happen, but in Millennia your plans can and will go awry – often with glorious, and terrible, consequences for you and the world.

Millennia from developer C Prompt Games and publisher Paradox Interactive has a few intriguing takes on the historical 4X genre, but its core idea of breaking away from real-world history in surprising ways is its most appealing. Similar to 4X games like Humankind, your chosen nation will develop and change over time. You aren’t locked into a singular choice made several hundred hours ago; instead, your nation will evolve as the world does, reacting to how you play and the decisions you make.

[baelthazar]

IGN really differed in their assessment. And their review shares some of the opinions I had about the demo:
https://www.ign.com/articles/millennia-review

[AWS260]

Luke Plunkett at Aftermath was very disappointed.

I regret to inform you that out of all the Civilization challengers we've seen emerge over the last few years, this is comfortably the worst.

[Punisher]

I just watched the combat video above and I'm not a fan of that 1 m9ve type combat
It was especially bad for me when one side apparently ran forward, past the front line, and hot someone in the back row.
If it was a ranged attack it would have been better.
I think I'm out until it comes to one of the various places i subscribe to like game pass or sells for sub $10..

[El Guapo]

Rock Paper Shotgun is very negative too. The core complaint being that the epoch mechanic (while kind of a cool idea on paper) leaves you at the mercy of some civilization two turns ahead of you controlling the game. And if that other civilization puts you into a "crisis" epoch, those epochs are way too punishing and difficult.

Unfortunate especially for a game coming from Paradox. But also kind of good news, as I don't have to spend time learning this game.