Everyone loves the part of mythical history where the gods are fighting each other and the firmament of the world is going to come crashing down. I can't imagine the people who lived during it liked it very much, though, which is what we're about to find out in Six Ages 2: Lights Going Out, a story-driven strategy and resource management game from the same storied legacy as King of Dragon Pass, when it releases on August 21st, 2023.
Following up on 2019's Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind, Six Ages 2 will continue the prehistory of its mythic fantasy world into the Age of Chaos, where many of the gods are dead, or worse, and the degradation of the world by primordial Chaos is causing things to get increasingly bad for your tribe of bronze-age humans.
It's set in the world of Glorantha, a storied fantasy world going back nearly 50 years of gaming, and beloved for its focus on a brightly-colored and wildly unfamiliar mythological take on the entire fantasy genre. It's a world more influenced by the strangeness of real myth rather than the dirty reality or high adventure of other fantasy settings.
"The world is ending, and your small clan’s survival depends on how you manage its relationship with the remaining gods and their followers," says developer A Sharp. It's a game formula that has proven very compelling to very many people, as the internal politics of your small group and their relationships with the rest of the world have a huge impact on the fate of your tribe and people.
King of Dragon Pass, way back in 1999, started this series. It was a relative flop at the time, but over the years grew a huge cult following for the unique ideas it presented. It's a kind of narrative village management game, where the personalities that run your society are as important as the resources it has, and where many events happen in a sort of pick your path style akin to visual novels, but with lots of behind-the-scenes stat checks. The first Six Ages, in 2019, presented much the same kind of game, just with more 21st-century affordances.
"This charming sequel doesn't need flashy new innovations to craft an engrossing adventure," said PC Gamer's 88/100 Six Ages review at the time.
You can find Six Ages 2: Lights Going Out on GOG and Steam. (You can also find it on iOS.)
