*key provided by developer for review purposes*


First off, let's get the genre question out of the way. Elysium Blood Games (EBG) is not an RPG (though it uses RPG elements), nor is it a fighting game (though fighting is the central activity of the game). As I hope you gathered from my cheeky header, EBG is in fact a sports management simulator. It has much more in common with OOTP or FHM than it does with, say, Pillars of Eternity. Or with Skullgirls.

EBG is a lite sports managmement sim that is complex enough to be engaging, but casual enough to fit in that perfect "lunchbreak" game niche.

There. Trust me, you will enjoy the game much more if you know what you are getting into up front. If you don't enjoy manager sims or casual games, you might want to think twice before purchasing so that you don't end up posting a thumbs-down review dripping with haterade the game doesn't deserve.


The madness and decadence of "the Empire Before the Fall" is a well-known trope to scholars of history, and one that shows up often in video games. It's an insane moment, during which the masses feel themselves lifted above foreigners and criminals, because the masses witness the bloody spectacle but need never fear they might end up in the ring themselves. It's gluttunous and irrational, to take joy in another's suffering. But it became a tightly protected "right." Seneca the Elder observes that "the populace, defending its own iniquity, pits itself against reason."

And so here we are to make our fortune by facilitating acts of brutish violence. Gameplay is divided into seasons, and each season is divided into day-long turns. As the manager, you get one stat point to distribute among your manager attributes at the beginning of each season. These stats have global effects. Then it's on to the stables. The gladiator population is randomly generated, so names, quirks, portraits, and stats will be different every game. The fighters' attributes are of a type that will be familiar to sports management fans, including the ever-important "potential" attribute. At any given time you may have 3 gladiators in your stable. One gladiator must be designated as the fighter for the day's match. For the other two, you can pay for them to train up attributes, or you may send them on a "soul quest." The choice of quests are each a generated combination of three numbers: risk, reward, and time commitment. They will usually take several days but your fighter will return with some cash and often some improved stats. Or they will get horribly injured or die.

You can also use cash to purchase or repair weapons for your fighters, upgrade your stables with permanent buffs, upgrade the stadium to seat more people, bribe an opposing gladiator, or, my personal favorite, place bets on the day's posted matches. The stadium provides odds for each bracket and you can bet 100, 250, or 500 on each match (or zero if you're not the betting type).

The game's secondary currency is influence, which you may use to publicize your fights in hopes to increase attendance and payout. More importantly, you can use it to purchase randomly generated stable-wide buffs that last for a specified number of turns. There are so many different combinations of these it makes for great fun.

Now that all your stable business is concluded, it's time to fight! The fight is turn-based and you may recommend a technique each turn or you can give a general recommendation for the match and watch it play out. These fights are heavy on the RNG, but instead of walls of math, each turn generates a blow-by-blow narrative of the fight. It's a really nicely done feature. I asked the dev about the lack of explicit math and they said that this technique encourages immersion and discourages min-maxers. Though I sometimes like to see a game's math-guts, I do in general agree with them. Certainly it was the right choice for this game.

This goes on until the season has been played out. If you've done well, one of your fighters might get to fight in championship rounds for big rewards. Between seasons you get to use your stat point, and then try to get the fighters you want to keep to stay with you by flashing money under their noses. Fighters who have had a particularly rough season or who feel they've outgrown your enterprise will refuse to negotiate and just leave your service.

Then it all begins again! I have found that one season, depending on how many days you've optioned for it to be, lasts between twenty minutes and an hour, making EBG an excellent game to hop on when you only have a short time and still have a satisfying experience.


No Drama, Just Reviews

*key provided by developer for review purposes* [h1][b]O.O.T.C. 16[/b][/h1] [h1][i]...Out of the Coliseum 16 (BCE)[/i][/h1] First off, let's get the genre question out of the way. Elysium Blood Games (EBG) is not an RPG (though it uses RPG elements), nor is it a fighting game (though fighting is the central activity of the game). As I hope you gathered from my cheeky header, EBG is in fact a sports management simulator. It has much more in common with OOTP or FHM than it does with, say, Pillars of Eternity. Or with Skullgirls. [b]EBG is a lite sports managmement sim that is complex enough to be engaging, but casual enough to fit in that perfect "lunchbreak" game niche.[/b] There. Trust me, you will enjoy the game much more if you know what you are getting into up front. If you don't enjoy manager sims or casual games, you might want to think twice before purchasing so that you don't end up posting a thumbs-down review dripping with haterade the game doesn't deserve. [h1][b]Bread & Circuses: the Citizen's Schadenfreude[/b][/h1] [h1][i]...and a golden opportunity for an entrepeneurial gladiator stabler![/i][/h1] The madness and decadence of "the Empire Before the Fall" is a well-known trope to scholars of history, and one that shows up often in video games. It's an insane moment, during which the masses feel themselves lifted above foreigners and criminals, because the masses witness the bloody spectacle but need never fear they might end up in the ring themselves. It's gluttunous and irrational, to take joy in another's suffering. But it became a tightly protected "right." Seneca the Elder observes that "[i]the populace, defending its own iniquity, pits itself against reason.[/i]" And so here we are to make our fortune by facilitating acts of brutish violence. Gameplay is divided into seasons, and each season is divided into day-long turns. As the manager, you get one stat point to distribute among your manager attributes at the beginning of each season. These stats have global effects. Then it's on to the stables. The gladiator population is randomly generated, so names, quirks, portraits, and stats will be different every game. The fighters' attributes are of a type that will be familiar to sports management fans, including the ever-important "potential" attribute. At any given time you may have 3 gladiators in your stable. One gladiator must be designated as the fighter for the day's match. For the other two, you can pay for them to train up attributes, or you may send them on a "soul quest." The choice of quests are each a generated combination of three numbers: risk, reward, and time commitment. They will usually take several days but your fighter will return with some cash and often some improved stats. Or they will get horribly injured or die. You can also use cash to purchase or repair weapons for your fighters, upgrade your stables with permanent buffs, upgrade the stadium to seat more people, bribe an opposing gladiator, or, my personal favorite, place bets on the day's posted matches. The stadium provides odds for each bracket and you can bet 100, 250, or 500 on each match (or zero if you're not the betting type). The game's secondary currency is influence, which you may use to publicize your fights in hopes to increase attendance and payout. More importantly, you can use it to purchase randomly generated stable-wide buffs that last for a specified number of turns. There are so many different combinations of these it makes for great fun. Now that all your stable business is concluded, it's time to fight! The fight is turn-based and you may recommend a technique each turn or you can give a general recommendation for the match and watch it play out. These fights are heavy on the RNG, but instead of walls of math, each turn generates a blow-by-blow narrative of the fight. It's a really nicely done feature. I asked the dev about the lack of explicit math and they said that this technique encourages immersion and discourages min-maxers. Though I sometimes like to see a game's math-guts, I do in general agree with them. Certainly it was the right choice for this game. This goes on until the season has been played out. If you've done well, one of your fighters might get to fight in championship rounds for big rewards. Between seasons you get to use your stat point, and then try to get the fighters you want to keep to stay with you by flashing money under their noses. Fighters who have had a particularly rough season or who feel they've outgrown your enterprise will refuse to negotiate and just leave your service. Then it all begins again! I have found that one season, depending on how many days you've optioned for it to be, lasts between twenty minutes and an hour, making EBG an excellent game to hop on when you only have a short time and still have a satisfying experience. [h1][b]7/10[/b]-recommended for fans of sports management sims, gladiatorial combat, lunchbreak games, or bread & circuses in general. Also, the pricepoint is fantastic for the amount of play you can get out of it.[/h1] [url=http://steamproxy.net/groups/justreviews] No Drama, Just Reviews [/url]