The Fertile Crescent - Review 

Thanks for the very considered and in-depth review of TFC! There is a lot of good feedback in there that we are looking forward to digging into and addressing as we continue to work on the game:) We have some new, interesting ideas that we have yet to implement as well, so we hope to earn the potential 8/10 and perhaps even exceed it! All the best from Wield Interactive

I like the food mechanic a lot.

Great review man, honestly makes me wish you would review more games! hahah Love your Age content of course, but the indept review is great, and the quality of the content is awesome. Was this a video by anyone else I probably would have bounced very early, but the quality of the video made me stick to the very end!

I like the food upkeep mechanic. I would even go a step further and say, that higher tech units need upkeep on iron as well. With that, you could add civs that may lack ways to mass produce food, but can have an easier way to upkeep late game units or the other way around, a civ that mass produce low lvl units but has almost no way to upgrade them. I mean WC3 eco is very unique in the same way, as in you get less gold per gold taken out of the mine for bigger armies and was at least one of the major reasons why it stood out. #TFCGiveaway

It is really hard to review an early access game, but it was a good idea to split the score summery in current state and potential, that did help a lot. Your critic points are also spot on and not shy of the impact they may have on the game's success. I find it not that easy to tell motivated hardworking people, what their game is still missing or why it may fail to attract players in the end. Until now, I did not know I wanted game reviews from you, but this was really excellent. I also wish the devs of The Fertile Crescent the best and hope you will work on the koop and multiplayer aspect of the game, because without an interesting campaign I don't see me playing this game alone.

If you're interested in The Fertile Crescent, check them out via the links below. Any feedback regarding the review is also much appreciated, as this was my first game review on the channel! And just as a quick update, we're getting back into AoE4 content next week, as we gear up for the upcoming Season I Patch. As always, thank you all for your support! TFC's Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/1674820/TFC_The_Fertile_Crescent/ TFC's Discord: discord.gg/6UdkZXzY

This food mechanic is amazing. I'm a big fan of RTSs, but even bigger fan of city builders/resource managers, and this mechanic brings a bit of those games to TFC. This makes me really hyped about the end product. Also, your review was great. I think I speak for a few viewers in saying that I'd like to see you reviewing and perhaps even playing other RTSs here in the channel. It's a great genre, there's lots of great games out there, and you are a great content creator. Keep up the good work!

Finally a new ancient RTS with some potential. Can't wait to see where this goes #TFCGiveaway

the fields of ard skellig... Nice choice of soundtrack on the background of the video

i am so glad i subbed to you, please keep us updated on this, i am debating getting this right now.

This looks good! I love the food system and having food upkeep instead of a population cap is such an interesting way to go, and historically authentic as well. Lots of potential for an immersive new RTS here

I see the knights of honor music in the background... a man of culture indeed

The food and research system is unique, intuitive and has the potential to give the game so much strategic depth. I think this definitely is a game worth keeping an eye on. #TFCGiveaway

i really like that you don't just give a score but the potential score as well, thats a very good idea for rating, great vid

This game has so much potential. If they give the option to bind your own hotkeys this game could be sweaty online just like AOE. There is micro....you can just attack move stutter step as you can with SCII and AOE2. I envision multiplayer 1v1 with a ranked system. There are key resources that can be pressured, mainly food and metal. Food obviously being the most important resource...but I envision metal being the pivotal point in games with evenly matched players. On the map we get now the metal piles are few and far between and could EASILY be raided. If you have equal armies and eco the player with the better upgrades wins. Game needs a lot of QOL implements but doesn't do to bad as is. Mainly being able to bind keys and have some more options would be nice. As stated in the video I can't stress enough how much this game needs a 'quick play' feature for multiplayer. Maybe some more game modes like AOE?...regicide?....deathmatch? Can't wait to see where this game goes.

I remember playing this game like a year ago with my sister, it was very fun but felt like it needed more. I'm happy to see there has been a lot of work on it since then.

As fun and a TFC Moderator I have to thank you for making this review

Looks solid. Great review, please do more! Not only RTS though!

combat mechanics can become interesting by adjusting some armoury specification like limiting player to choose only one type of armour upgrade for a unit or limiting units to get only one type of armour upgrade for example slingers only get piercing armour while archers are getting only melee armour could widen tactical varieties.

I played the demo and agree with most of your points, there is a lot to love but also quite a lot missing cutting the experience short. I really adore the tiny Pommegrenade they chose as food icon as it is: 1. simple - Icons should be simple 2. red - food is usally coded red, to differ from other res 3. unusual - I like Aoe Steak but some variety is nice 4. appropriate - was cultivated in the setting (f u aoe2HD Corn!) 5. variable - Upkeep as sliced open fruit. For RTS the setting really poses the question how to implement a "pre classical" Counter-Triangle. Unless they break and make Chariots easily attainable, they will have to tinker around with "runners" or think of something clever of their own. Your review was entertaining and informative. Knowing the game a bit it also seems well informed. #TFCGiveaway

Seems like a game that has a fair bit of potential. I really like their food mechanic. It is one I have wanted to implement myself if I make an RTS game. So I might just support the game based on them stealing one of my ideas. 😉 (Naturally, is not a fully new concept and a lot of people do have similar ideas. Ideas are cheap. The trick is making something out of your ideas, like these guys are actually doing.)

Aoe2+4/SC2 player: I love the pixel style of buildings but I do wish the units could face more than 2 ways The mass amounts of units on screen and how close they can get is begging for some kind of aoe damage to exist. Lack of interesting terrain is the biggest downside for me. I like thinking about positioning my fortifications/units in ways that make use of elevation or choke points. I'd also like to see rivers/oceans that work with the fertile tiles so that building next to the river is beneficial for farms along with being easier to defend from land with the Marsh being the source of clay and fertile soil but not being as easy to access until the trees are cleared. Vision is another thing that I think Aoe4 does well, with trees blocking vision of units and giving some cover to units when approaching other bases. Overall I really like what I'm seeing with this game and will be following it to see where they take it but I'm not interested enough to pick it up yet due to far to many early access games on my pile.

It's a very fun little things. I've been checking ea version for a long time and it was always fun to get back to play a couple of matches. I need to check the most recent build.

Looks like it's got some good bones! The food mechanic is neat and seems to have the potential to make macro pleasingly different from other RTS games.

Already tried the beta , the game looks simple and fun ! A good casual rts

I definitely trust your opinions. I will be looking forward to a future review from you to see If I will be buying the game.

Love that crusader music :)

The Food upkeep was already implemented in Northgard, you should really check that out

>The food system kind'a reminds me of cossacks series. if i'm not mistaken it looked quite similar. >The lack of choosable fractions is quite sad but if they'r going to add it later it's ok. >lack of campaign is also not good for me, i loved playing aoe and aom campaigns as a kid. >no "rock paper scissors" (boy i love that name) army system is by my concern the biggest issue in these game >personally i would love to see some more units (elephants maybe) and more game modes (king of the hill or territories(?)) #TFCGiveaway

lovely graphic, interesting game mechanics, i wish there's more diversity in civs

This sounds awesome. It's a mix of AOE, Civilization, and Northgard. Which sounds to me like a recipe for success. Can't wait to try it out. Great showcase AoN you never fail to disappoint your content is so underrated. #TFCGiveaway

Good review. Gonna play :)

Food mechanics and eco is cool. Idk about the rest. Military units, combat, and pixel art designs need a lot of work

The visuals are lovely!!

The food system was already done in Sparta, i've no idea why no other RTS attempted that after it

"Marshland that I mentioned above" :D Where above? You mean before? Nice review :)

Damn what a great review, better than most review channels tbh

I love the witcher music in the background, I thought I was going a bit crazy. The game seems interesting and to have a lot of potential, im curious how the game will evolve.

It's interesting that you went with civilization for an example of a game with mobile TC and not AoE3. Autospawning villagers is also there but for Ottomans only. Food mechanic mostly reminds me of Cossacks (which is set in 17th-18th century) but you also have to spend gold over time (especially for mercenaries) and resources for shooting

can you modify the hotkey settings?

Love the idea of the food natural population cap I had similar idea of this too but alas one man programmer artist hard to complete the idea. I wish them the best of luck. #TFCgiveaway

I'll be keeping my eyes on this ^^

liked the idea of food as a soft pop cap, the combat needs a lot of depth added and civs are 100% needed, don't forget the map editor please. also, if food is that important, where are the herdables?

seems like a cool casual game that you really want to be a competitive RTS

My favourite part of the Stronghold series was food management, so I'm happy to see another RTS with such elements! Hopefully there will be lots of updates for this game. #TFCGiveaway

Is that Knights of Honor music I hear? Nice.

This game has great potential!

yeaaa i am super excited about AoE4 b.c of the upgrade in graphics I'm probably sticking with that haha. this is cute though. i hope its successful!

its still very early, don't think its worth the price tag right now, but maybe later, when some of those missing features are added, than maybe ill get it or if it goes on a good sale

Imagine an RTS being all about who can out-produce the other. Never seen that before.

Sounds interesting, will probably check it out eventually Your music score worries me though considering I place a huge value on game music #TFCGiveaway

This looks like a lot of fun.

Looks really good! Love pixel art games. Nostalgic as hell. #TFCgiveaway

Absolute will play looks good!

Good review and I really like the honesty and the policy of the developer to just let you do your thing #TFCGiveaway

Sprite-based games give such great nostalgic vibes, though I do agree with your assessment that it needs work #TFCGiveaway

Will you also review War Selection?

Wish you could review more games,

I downloaded their demo a while back and had fun with it for about 30 minutes, but the lack of content is pretty glaring. Looking forward to seeing how they develop this game! #TFCGiveaway

I wish the military buildings had economy upgrades and economy buildings military upgrades. It is more realistic as people repurpose inventions all the time and would avoid the RTS issue of encouraging blindly increasing one thing, which can confuse new players. It is actually confusing to everyone, people just learn when to switch with the meta. Would make that less jarring.

This is a pretty good review I just wish the artstyle was more similar to aoe1

It actually looks more like a mix between AoE, Civ and Stronghold. I would also add that the developers should ignore the competitive mode argumenta, as most RTS players are only casuals

I think a lot of the criticism comes from the perspective of judging it as an AoE2 competitive RTS, but the intention seems to be a mix of RTS and city-builder game like The Settlers (where military unit variety etc is not as important since it is only the final step after building your empire and the better economy wins). #TFCGiveaway

Think this is a very fair review! Reallly appreciate how in-depth it is. Love the food system, & how it interactions with technological development in games, & can't wait to see more variety re available civs. Would love to see some sort of campaign mode tho, & for the horde mode it would be real neat if they can' somehow integrate the Sea Peoples as the hordes. Maybe that can be the campaign mode in fact? Can't wait to see co-op mode implemented for the horde mode as well! #TFCGiveaway

is that Stronghold Crusader music I hear ?

It seems like a fun small game and would def give it a try. RTS games are rare so i hope the devs are listening to you and your feedback! #TFCGiveaway

I really like the food upkeep mechanic and the horde mode in this game. There's so much potential in this game and I'm really looking forward to what they have to offer in the future. Added to wishlist :) #TFCGiveaway

Imagine an age of empires 1 with good pathing, #TFCGiveaway

that food mechanic is amazing! it reminds me when i used to play Travian LOL. #TFCGiveaway

I think different map types and randomization will be crucial for replayability. #TFCGiveaway

Man, food upkeep on an RTS is very interesting #TFCGiveaway

Will you do a short follow up on the game if it reaches the 8/10 potential? #TFCGiveaway

civ and aoe? sounds like a dream come true! love the pixel art style and im excited to watch this game grow! #TFCGiveaway

Pretty good video, hope you do more reviews like this one, keep the good work Noob! #TFCGiveaway

looking good! Also great and honest review! #TFCGiveaway

Interesting

Age of Empires meet Populous #TFCGiveaway

While I do like the ideas for the gameplay/mechanics, and while I do like pixel art and 2D games, the style of pixel art chosen here just doesn't mesh with me, I guess. It doesn't look good to me. I do hope that this will be enough of a success that the studio might evolve this further with the next game or so.

Great potential game, I look forward with positivity what it may become! #TFCGiveaway

Great video, please keep up with bringing in new video games. #TFCGiveaway

incredible, an rts about those times, but without a good egypt it would dissapointing #TFCGiveaway

nice video

Great review. I am glad i found your channel during aoe4 launch. Very good video production overall. #TFCGiveaway

thanks for showcasing this game. #TFCGiveaway

Still looking for that one RTS .. #TFCGiveaway

honestly given some time & polish this game will probably become a awesome RTS and when i launches i will definitely give it a go. #TFCGiveaway

sounds like a game with potentials #TFCGiveaway

Siege ramps?

Hmm i dint See ladder as Important aß you. Heck 80% of an rts Playerbase never touch ladder at all even if it is there. Casual Multiplayer ist the way to geht an onholding Playerbase beside a Editor for playercontant

Excellent and thorough review. This game looks very interesting. That being said, I'll 100% be playing if I win a copy! I greatly appreciate the opportunity. I can already guarantee a positive review from me! #TFCGiveaway

I dosen't like the graphik, but the mechanik are great.

Wasn't this a game where you had to help an alien return to outerspace?

The game looks awesome, just needs some more time (and probably money)! #TFCGiveaway

Great review, keep up the good work! #TFCGiveaway

Seems like a fun game to try out #TFCGiveaway

This game looks quite cool! #TFCGiveaway

We don't need expensive gpu card to play this rts pixel game. Nice job developer :)

Looks very interesting! #TFCGiveaway

What are the odds, I was thinking about aoe1 a lot these past few days, and then I stumbled upon your video about this game. It looks super promising and I'm really interested in it so maybe I'm lucky enough to win a key and give the game a go! #TFCGiveaway

FOOD! #TFCGiveaway