Hinterland -- Download the Demo; Here's Some Advice

I strongly recommend playing the Hinterland demo if you like RPGs and city building or like the Caesar series or Children of the Nile.

In Hinterland, you are sent to an outpost in a fantasy world wilderness and will use you sword to earn gold and fame by killing the monsters of the countryside, and use that fame and gold to hire people to staff a small town or estate.

But you may need some advice to get started.

First, you choose a character. Beginners may wish to be the generic character (journeyman) or a swordfighter of some sort, from knight to mercenary to fall hero.

Your first order of business is get hire people to produce food. If you run out of food, people leave, so food is important. Farmers, hunters, and herders will generate food for the town.

Your next order of business is to hire people to generate money, and a craftsman or craftswoman to build you items.

While you can choose a variety of people to make money, you need a hostel.

Now you are focusing on improving town quality. Hire people who improve town quality, and find areas outside of town that, once cleared, provide resources for the town. Clear those areas.

Keep an eye on bandit incursions and rush back to defend the town when they happen. Also keep an eye on King Requests, which are random, but that works in this context (royal requests, generally, should be random and capricious).

Hire an acolyte to go adventuring with you. While you can take anyone with you, a farmer, for example, is likely to get killed. The acolyte will stay behind you and heal you while you do the fighting. I assume an archer might also survive battles, but have not tried this yet.

So there you are. A cheap ($20) game with a great demo. The graphics may date from 5 years ago, but the gameplay, for those who like building and simulation games, is excellent.

The demo is free. Try it!