Modern game development is a wonderous thing, and is incredibly accessible now.
Unfortunately this also means we get a lot of, shall we say.. Sketchy developers pushing sketchy games.
Nero is one such game, with a hodgepodge of poorly copied mechanics and awful design combined with what is clearly paid positive reviews.
Ecumene Aztec – thus far – looks to be something that will be as much of a disappointment. Let’s break down my suspicions here.
First: We know very little about the developers. While the steam listing lists the developers as “Ecumene Games”, some digging brings us another name: Giantscraft games.
The website – as of publication – contains this:
Further digging uncovers a rather blank Instagram profile and a private Facebook page.
Not a lot to go off of here, that’s for sure (and that quote at the top? Well, it’s by this guy).
For a game that is centered around playing as the Aztecs, that’s a rather prominent promotion of a man who helped bring about the fall of the Aztecs.
Of course the developers recently posted an update on the steam page bowing to racist folks who want to play as conquistadors in order to help murder Aztecs.
Overall, I’m definitely getting strong This Land is My Land vibes, which was pretty much trash as well.
Finally, there is one more reason to avoid this game at all costs: The only coverage have is via what amounts to content based on (apparent) press releases published on the spammier SEO clickbait farm gaming sites (plus Kotaku, which.. Well, that falls into that silo as well in my opinion).
No developer interviews. No information beyond what is available on the steam listing. A single news update on the steam profile.
Yeah, I’m calling it now: If this game comes out it will be a far cry from anything worth playing.