This was my first ever game in the Civ series, and it's still a classic. Graphics are dated and don't scale well for today's larger monitors, but if you're looking for nostalgia or just an easy entry into the Civ series, this is a solid bet. As a bonus, it should run well even on older machines - I first played it on a desktop running Windows ME and it ran just fine.

DO NOT buy this until Steam fixes the launcher. It will not work otherwise.

Game does not run on macOS Mojave without significant tweaks to the Wineskin wrapper. Even after making the recommended tweaks, the sound is spotty enough to be disorienting. It's a shame, because this seems like it would be right up my alley from a setting/visual standpoint.

I wasn't expecting much from Lake of Voices, primarily because I prefer RPGs to visual novels. I was very pleasantly surprised to find a game that, to me at least, felt like a blend of visual novel and RPG, where the choices I made were referenced throughout the game rather than just in one or two lines of dialogue right afterwards. The story is engaging (and left me wanting to know more about the world it's set in), the characters feel like real people, and the individual characters' stories and storylines are beautifully handled, written not to branch out from the main story but to complement and interweave with it. This is a well-written, engaging and cohesive visual novel, and I for one hope to see more from this publisher.

Starts out fun, but gets old quickly, especially if (like me) you're used to idle games that 1) don't require premium currency to progress when you're not actively playing it and 2) actually have their own art style as opposed to basically reusing assets from Minecraft.

Don't waste your time on this game. There are better idle games out there that don't require you to purchase premium currency. Or better yet, go play the original Minecraft.

Fun little idle game. Keyword is IDLE - and as with most idle games, the pace is slow at times if you don't want to spend real money. However, unlike most other idle games I've played, you can earn premium currency by logging in and claiming your daily prize, and there are no premium-currency-only items as yet.

I wish steam had a neutral recommendation option, because I can't give this game a positive review in its current state. I do personally find it enjoyable, but then I also don't compete against other players unless I get a quest to do so. However, even though I personally enjoy the gameplay aspect, it does have some pretty significant drawbacks.


Let me start with the things I do enjoy. I love that grooming is included as something that you either have to do yourself or pay to have someone else do for you. If you're like me and not interested in paying, grooming after each competition or ride makes it easy to keep your horse clean. I also like that, as in real life, if I don't get a clear round there's a reason why, and it's always because I screwed up somehow. Practice does make perfect.


However, this game is very grindy. This is a Facebook-type MMO, and it really, really shows. Want to upgrade your tack? Buy coins. Want to upgrade your clothes? Buy coins. Don't want to buy coins? Sorry, you only get 25 coins per completed course, even for high level courses or no fault rounds. Want to level up your horse? You only get 100 xp per completed course, unless you buy enough coins to buy a book. You can subscribe, for $10.00 a month, but the perks just don't feel worth it to me. Oh - and the horses' manes and tails look very plastic, not realistic at all.


Bottom line: If you've played Facebook-style games before and are looking for a semi-decent horse game, this game fits that bill. However, in its current state, I don't find it worth paying real money to play it. I probably wouldn't have started playing it at all if I hadn't had problems installing the latest Star Stable update. This game is an acceptable stopgap solution for me, but if you want a non-Facebook style horse MMO with an actual storyline, this isn't the game for you.