Kervan: Silk Road Trader

The Silk Road, in the age of caravans. You start with two camels and a thin purse. Buy low in one city, cross the mountains, sell high in the next -- and learn the roads well enough to tell a bargain from a trap.

THE MARKET Every city has its own goods and its own moods. Prices drift, shocks hit, and the price you saw in Aleppo last week is only a memory by the time you reach Samarkand. The farther you are from a market, the less you know about it.

THE ROAD A journey takes real time -- half an hour of waiting for a week on the road. Bandits, storms and closed passes are part of the bargain. Hire guards, or gamble on speed.

YOUR HOUSE Buy orchards, mines and workshops in the cities you trust. Hire agents to run them while your caravan is away. Take orders from the board and deliver on time to build your name.

TITLES Start as an apprentice, end as Lord of the Silk Road. Twenty-three cities from Lisbon to Chang'an, each one opened by the last.

• No energy bars, no timers that lock you out.
• Charters are optional: shorten a road, send a courier, tip your caravan master, double a morning blessing. Every charter can also be earned in game.
• Plays offline. English, Turkish, German, French, Spanish and Portuguese.