As the name implies, you are a merchant living in Medieval Europe. You goal is to become the biggest, richest merchant. The game is set in the Hanseatic League.
The Hanseatic League was a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and their market towns that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe. It stretched from the Baltic to the North Sea and inland during the Late Middle Ages and early modern period. (Wikipedia page)
Medieval Merchants is a turn based trading game where you are competing against the computer or other humans. When playing against the AI, you have 3 others competitors and when playing a multi-player game, you can have 1-3 opponents. You can save multiple in-progress games, so each of your kids can play their own :).
Within the game there are 18 different cities you will be trading with and a total of 16 different goods. You start off in the city of Lubeck with one small ship. The game comes with a tutorial that will give you the basics, but there is no real manual or help section. Now you can click on each item in the menu bar for more information on that item. It took me a little bit of time to find where everything is located in the game.but once you have gone through a few turns, you should get the hang of it.
This is a trading game-you purchase goods in one city and then find a city to sell them where you will maximize your profits. Now you are sailing on a ship, so it takes time to go from one city to another. All the while, your competition is doing the same thing. In addition is simply purchasing/selling goods, there are quests that come available you can do. The first player to finish the quest, get the extra prize.
As you move forward in the game, you will earn gold of course but also prestige. As your prestige improves so does your rank (such as monger, merchant, honorable merchant, etc.) Can you reach the ultimate goal?
The city of Lubeck is your base and there you can visit numerous locations to help you become the best merchant. They are:
- The Shipyard-where you can purchase and upgrade your fleet.
- The Warehouse-where you trade and store good.
- The School-will help you improve your nautical knowledge.
- The Townhall-where you can see how your competition is doing.
- The Church-where you can earn prestige points.
- Fortifications-where you can earn reputation.
If you are looking to blow up aliens or destroy whole planets, this game is not for you. Medieval Merchants by RapidRabbit is a game for those who want to test their business savvy and see how profitable they can become. The game is built around trading and selling but the addition of random pirate attacks, occasional free-for-all quests, earning and buying prestige and reputation make the game very enjoyable. This is a great casual game to sit and play for a while, save your progress, and then come back to it later. So if you are ready to see if you can work your way up to mayor of Lubeck, give Medieval Merchants a try.
