7 Grand Steps: What Ancients Begat

I can't quite tell if this game is good, exactly, but it is intriguing - very intriguing.
I like it! :)

I bought this extremely unique game over a decade ago, in my teens, and it marked such a before and after in my perception of what a game could be and who could make them with its engaging gameplay and simple but polished presentation that I thought it a massive success, a cornerstone of indie games that surely everyone must have stumbled upon circa 2013. I only found out that wasn't the case a couple of weeks ago checking the reviews, and I made a point to return back to it to see if it held up the way I remembered it to leave the 300th (counted) review.
It not only holds up, it's plain amazing. Where in 2013, despite it feeling frustratingly hard at the time, I spent hours upon hours trying to get my family to survive the copper age, today, after 13 years, I found out that you can play well enough for the game to actually crown your family and continue to the next age. I'm in the bronze age now, gazing in horror upon the fact this game left an indelible mark on my heart and I'd barely even seen what it had to offer. The one frustrating mechanic I recall from playing as a teen was memorizing the patterns for the adventures, and I'm still not a fan at all since it seems playing them to fit your chosen personality is not the right way to go about them, so I focused exclusively on inventions and social climbing.
If you like games like King of Dragon Pass, the Sims, Dawn of Man... this is not exactly any of them in tabletop version, but much like Civilization, the simple gameplay will keep you coming back for just one more turn, while the emergent narrative and the writing that is actually derived from gameplay will keep you invested in your family (and wishing you had more tokens so your kids would stop hating each other).
It's a shame we never did get Step 2, but I do think this game is a worthy experience on its own. Thank you for making one of the games that inspired me to become a dev so many years ago.

I don't really love or hate this game. It's right down the middle. I don't really get the strategy for this but I'll say that I lean more towards like than dislike

A historical simulation that turns the struggle of a single family line into an absorbing cycle of survival across generations. At first the mechanics seem opaque and even clumsy, but once the systems click, the game becomes unexpectedly compelling — managing marriages, children, social status, inventions and the slow climb through ancient society. The repetition is intentional and sometimes exhausting, yet it mirrors the theme: everything you gain can be lost again.
The audiovisual style blends early-20th-century arcade aesthetics with Mediterranean folklore, and despite its rough edges, it fits the experience. After over ten hours with it, I found a game that can be frustrating, mechanical and strangely insightful at the same time. Not for everyone, but if historical simulations interest you, this one has a tendency to get under the skin.

I found it to be an exercise in some of the most redundant choices that could be repeated. It's a slog, essentially. I wouldn't say the game is bad though, I think it just starts to become a bit repetitive quite quickly.

Fantastic board game with a unique premise. The mechanics make for interesting decisions. The story generation got me invested in the people and the lives they lead.

It's pretty fun once you get the hang of things.
My only complaint is that it should have achievements.