Chariot Rivals

No controls other than steer, no combat, or any option to go faster or slower, makes death matches pretty much a stalemate

I want to start by saying that I’m really glad the knight lancer devs (dev?) put out another game and that the gameplay loop is very fun. It is easily worth the $4 and I would give it 4 stars if I hadn’t gone in with raised expectations from knight lancer. It’s evident that the devs did research for the game instead of relying on media depictions, and it’s very refreshing. I love that there are jokes about Latin noun declensions and that text is in Latin. Figuring out what passus and cursus mean is rewarding, and on the whole it makes the game more immersive. I really respect the decision to trade the accessibility of English for the immersion of Latin. Unfortunately, the game is not without flaws, but I have full confidence that the game will be continuously updated and improved, as was the case for knight lancer. Bugs (minor): After the fourth race or so, my horses changed from the golden beige to the default brown, and they have never changed back. It would be great if you could edit your character and horses later, as in knight lancer to fix this. Sometimes, in act 3 or 4, the map view says that I am in act 1. This fixed itself after the race. I have seen it multiple times across seasons. On either the penultimate or final race in Rome, the description was just some placeholder text with a “0” in it. I’ve completed 2 seasons and got gold in every race (in the second season), and yet I don’t have the Numidia, Spain, or Egypt achievement. I believe this is a bug. Progression: The game is really short (2-3 hours main story), it feels as though there wouldn’t be anything to do after a second season. This is in stark and unfortunate contrast to knight lancer (sorry to keep bringing it up, it’s a good reference), where finishing the main quest feels more like a beginning than an end. This is because you still need to raise a lot of money for your kingdom and buy all the cosmetics/horses. Here, one has no kingdom to spend money on, and one gets so much money (especially for the winner-take-all deathmatches), that one could buy all cosmetics and chariots in less than 2 seasons This limited replayability is a very strange contrast, since the gameplay itself is less monotonous. If later season difficulty was scaled up, it would be very fun to race and become a noble or senator, which might unlock some additional thing to spend money on (like a villa). Alternatively, I’d be happy if I could buy all the different colored horses, or upgrade them, or customize them, I just wish there was more to spend money on. Cosmetics: A lot of the cosmetics are very similar, and while I appreciate the historical accuracy, very few cosmetics distinguish themselves. Helmets match your crest/heraldry while armor doesn’t, which means if I want to wear 2/5 late-game matching sets I’ll have mismatched helmet and armor. The third chariot in the top row is unlocked sooner, is cheaper, and has better stats than the fourth chariot in the first row, which seems strange. Again, I’ve had a blast with this game, I just wish I had a reason to play it more. If it was more replayable, I’d even be willing to pay up to $7 for it, but I’m left disappointed, having 100%’ed the game in 3 or 4 hours when I enjoyed their previous game for at least 8. It’s a great game and I’d recommend it, but for me it’s a disappointing step down from knight lancer.