The Settlers: Rise of an Empire - First Look

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Why invent paved roads when you can watch butterflies and build catapults?

Another point we can already make is that the game uses a visual inventory system - you can literally tell how much meat is available to your residents because it's hanging in front of the butcher shop. If you see no meat, you know there's a bottleneck either in the supply - meaning you need more or better hunters - or, if you see the unrefined form stacked near the building, in the butcher's ability to process the stuff. So you can see what you need to adjust without diving into layers of spreadsheets and math.

But it's not all bunnies and deer and peace. We also witnessed Vikings attacking a small town and carrying off the women. This act can crush a feudal economy because it's usually the husband who works the whole day while the wife runs errands. If the man has to take time off from work to get supplies, profit suffers.

Eric Bratcher
Eric Bratcher
I was the founding Executive Editor/Editor in Chief here at GR, charged with making sure we published great stories every day without burning down the building or getting sued. Which isn't nearly as easy as you might imagine. I don't work for GR any longer, but I still come here - why wouldn't I? It's awesome. I'm a fairly average person who has nursed an above average love of video games since I first played Pong just over 30 years ago. I entered the games journalism world as a freelancer and have since been on staff at the magazines Next Generation and PSM before coming over to GamesRadar. Outside of gaming, I also love music (especially classic metal and hard rock), my lovely wife, my pet pig Bacon, Japanese monster movies, and my dented, now dearly departed '89 Ranger pickup truck. I pray sincerely. I cheer for the Bears, Bulls, and White Sox. And behind Tyler Nagata, I am probably the GR staffer least likely to get arrested... again.