Release Date: October 27, 2016
A unique combination of strategy, adventure and economy. Players move to 15th century Portugal and manage a trading company. The aim of the game is to find the legendary country of Zipang, as well as to make an accurate map of the world.
Neo Atlas 1469 is an interesting combination of strategy, economic game and visual novel, set in 15th century Portugal. The Japanese studio Artdink is responsible for the production of the title. It has existed since 1986 and has specialized in various strategy games. Neo Atlas 1469 is a remake of the PlayStation game Neo Atlas II, which was released only on the Japanese market in 1999.
Action of Neo Atlas 1469 begins in 1466 in Portugal. Players learn the story of Antonio Gomez, an iral, who served in our trading company but disappeared at sea after a battle with pirates. The first three years in-game are spent on rebuilding the company, hiring new ship captains, and searching for the wreck of Gomez's ship. After that time, the king of Portugal himself tasks us with the campaigns main objective. He gives us thirty years to find a legendary country called Zipang (Japan), which is supposed to contain enormous wealth and possess huge resources of gold and silver. The plot was presented in the visual novel fashion, through dialogues with various NPCs.
Most of the fun in Neo Atlas 1469 takes place on a huge map of the world. At the beginning of the game, its only revealed part presents Europe and the northern coast of Africa. To find Zipang, we have to start sending expeditions that explore unknown seas and lands. At the same time, we must open up trade routes. They finance our expeditions and allow us to sell exotic resources found by our captains.
Expeditions are the most unique element of the game. We do not directly control the ship or the course of the expedition but listen to the report of its captain, which summarizes the adventures and describes the discovered lands. We can accept or reject the report. By choosing the first option, we discover another piece of the map and sometimes get access to new resources. Thanks to this system, the image of the world built in this way is different every time and can take completely fantastic shapes.
Economic model of Neo Atlas 1469 is simple and should not cause problems to players who have not previously had frequent with strategy games. In addition to trade, we also deal with hiring new employees and the purchase of ships. With a bit of luck, we can also find hidden treasures, which translates into a significant financial bonus.
Neo Atlas 1469 features colorful comic-boo-like design, not different from what we can see in many indie productions and mobile titles.
Platforms:
PC Windows February 14, 2017
PlayStation Vita October 27, 2016
Nintendo Switch April 19, 2018
System Requirements for Neo Atlas 1469 Video Game:
PC / Windows
Minimum System Requirements:
Intel Celeron 2.16 GHz, 4 GB RAM, graphic card Intel HD or better, 1 GB HDD, Windows 7/8/8.1/10.
Game Ratings for Neo Atlas 1469 Video Game.
Chalgyr's Game Room: 6.5 / 10 by Nick Herber
It was actually kind of nice to see a full simulation title like this on the Nintendo Switch, and it all works just fine, even if the content is not going to be for everyone. With loads of text and a somewhat distanced, managerial perspective that keeps quests and combat accessible while at the same time not being all that exciting, this is what Neo ATLAS 1469.
Digitally ed: 3 / 5 by Matt Sainsbury
When I first saw this at TGS last year, I thought it was going to be a grander simulation game than it has turned out to be. In part I'm disappointed, because a hardcore simulation about exploring uncharted oceans in search of new land would be a fascinating game, but at the same time the simple, clean charm of Neo Atlas is really difficult to resist, especially when I'm in the mood to play something low-pressure while catching up on my movie or television backlog.
oprainfall: 4 / 5
If one were to judge Neo Atlas 1469 on its title and cover art alone, it might be tempting to categorize it as just a generic eShop title. That couldn’t be further from the truth, though. In my roughly 27.5 hours playing though it, I found it to be a very enjoyable and entrancing game. The core gameplay was ittedly a bit repetitive at times and lacked much difficulty, but I found myself on multiple occasions thinking “just five more minutes” only to find myself saying the same thing five minutes later. With its procedurally generated world mapping system, it’s weird clashes of different styles, and its ability to prey upon my completionist instincts, I walked away feeling very satisfied. Without having paid the full $49.99 price tag myself, it’s hard to say if that is a reasonable price or not. What I can say is that this is one of the more unique titles that I’ve played in a good while and it offers a great deal of replayability. Everyone has different tastes, but if you enjoy mapping things out or playing games that involve a fair bit of micromanagement, this one’s worth taking a look at.
Average score from votes.
