The Guild 1 Remake: Europa 1410 is a lengthy but self-explanatory title: a remake of the 2002 medieval life simulator Europa 1400: The Guild. While I never played the original, this remake enticed me with its promise: an involved medieval economic and life simulator played from the perspective of a citizen in an old castle town.
The game certainly delivered on its promises. In The Guild 1 Remake: Europa 1410, you begin as a small business owner with a single employee, a home, and no titles to your name. Over the course of the game, almost entirely through the success of your business and the size of your purse, you begin to climb the ranks and grow not only your business, but your social standing within your chosen city, being as corrupt or clean as you’d like as you gain social and political status to match and grow your personal wealth. The game doesn’t stop with your character either, as you create an entire clan of family members and continue on your legacy in a Crusader Kings-style way.
One big complaint, and one I ran into early on in my playthrough of The Guild 1 Remake: Europa 1410 (as one might imagine), is just how wordy the tutorial is. I, like many people, learn by doing, not necessarily by simply being told how something works. As a player trying to get into the game, being immediately bombarded with lengthy paragraphs of text telling me how to play isn’t a great way to get me invested. Given how complex The Guild 1 Remake: Europa 1410 can be, at least at first, you can imagine how especially true this was.
Make no mistake, the game can certainly get complicated. The business mechanics are simple: you have a shop, you have workers, and to produce items you must assign workers to production, which requires the proper materials in stock. You must send carts around town manually to complete your supply chain, and as you gain experience, you can upgrade your shop to take on more lucrative supply chains. I ended up playing as a stone mason through several playthroughs because I thought the prospect of improving roads was fun, though I was slightly disappointed to find that said action was accomplished the exact same way as the other supply chains. I’m not sure what I expected, but it still felt overly simple compared to the fantasy I was imagining.
The game gets more complex with its politics and social mechanics, and its almost board-game-like action system. Not only must you manage your business, but you are encouraged to also advance through social ranks, get involved in politics and intrigue, as well as participate in romance to continue your family line. Of course, once you do have a child, you must then train them to improve their skills for when they inevitably take your place. These actions continue on and on, and you only have so much energy to spend throughout a day.
The problem I have with the game’s “turn” system is that each turn is simultaneously a day and a year. It felt odd to end a day’s worth of work, reap the rewards of eight hours of my workers’ labor, and then have the game advance my character’s life and prospects by a full season, year, or day. Honestly, the game’s time frame was a bit confusing. Each turn started a new season, but the tracker said it was a year later; after ten turns, it said a decade had passed, all while I was only using a single day’s worth of time with my business. It was, to say the least, confusing.
Confusing is how I would describe several aspects of the game, with a UI that is a little hard to navigate and certain mechanics, such as the game’s combat, which frankly is abysmal and, if it’s a direct port from the 2002 game, I wish it were upgraded or not included, as it is very unclear in its functionality. I understand, of course, that this is a remake of a game from 2002, but some quality-of-life changes, especially in the UI, would have been incredibly helpful. I would especially have liked a feature to search the town for specific buildings from a menu, so that I didn’t have to manually search through every single building to find my relevant guild or suppliers.
Overall, The Guild 1 Remake: Europa 1410 is an interesting, complicated, if somewhat dated remake that could certainly do more to update its 2002 predecessor for modern audiences. The UI isn’t perfect, the turn system feels weird and inconsistent, and I found the gameplay loop quickly devolved into making as much money as possible, with the many other mechanics feeling less like layers of complexity and more like set dressing, which were all resolved, quite simply, by how much money you have in the bank. Furthermore, the game is currently missing some features, which is to be expected in an Early Access game, but it becomes noticeable when you try to advance your businesses, which quickly become stale and repetitive. An interesting remake, and one I’m sure fans will enjoy, but right now it feels bare-bones and not quite as updated for modern standards as it could be. I would give it some time to improve before buying.
Pros:
- A deeper medieval life and economic simulator that, at least on the surface, expands beyond just running a business
- A seemingly faithful remaster that maintains the charm of the original
- Decent performance, slowing down just a bit during end-of-turn updates
Cons:
- Shallow gameplay loop, where business management quickly becomes repetitive
- Social and political management systems feel a bit like set dressing, tied too much to your income
- Ui is confusing and poorly modernized
- Current EA build is missing content, though this is to be expected in an Early Access launch
Try Hard Guides was provided a Steam code for this PC Early Access Review of The Guild 1 Remake: Europa 1410. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page!
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