Six Ages 2: Lights Going Out
Life after myths. Death, disaster, despair.
This new installment in the Six Ages series is a stand-alone survival-storybook combining interactive fiction and turn-based strategy. The world is ending, and your small clan’s survival depends on how you manage its relationship with the remaining gods and their followers.
Managing your clan is complex, but may require you to:
- explore the wilderness
- trade with (or raid!) your neighbors
- settle disputes mundane, spiritual, or political
- improve livestock pastures
- make offerings
- build altars
- travel to the Otherworld
Whether you’re dealing with angry ghosts or clan policy, there’s rarely one “right” or “wrong” answer, because the deep simulation will make your particular situation unique. Remember that your choices have socio-economic impact, and your advisors often squabble amongst themselves, but some consequences might not be obvious for decades.
Your clan struggles to survive in the world of Glorantha, one of the richest, oldest game settings ever created, perhaps familiar from other games such as RuneQuest or King of Dragon Pass. This bronze age world is facing an existential crisis as it undergoes a transformation. Ten generations after the events of Ride Like the Wind, some gods have already perished and humanity itself seems to be on the brink of annihilation. Here, the laws of physics themselves are subordinate to the whims of the gods and spirits.
In Lights Going Out, you can continue a game you began in Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind, or start a new story in this Great Darkness.
Six Ages 2: Lights Going Out is immensely replayable, with over 600(!) interactive scenes with multiple, system-driven outcomes. Short episodes and automatic saving mean you can play even when you only have a minute or two. The built-in saga records your story for you, while advisors help you track your promises, though their personalities will often judge your actions.
Miracles have always required sacrifice. Now, your people need them more than ever, but the costs are higher, too. Is it worth aiding the destructive gods of Chaos to ensure your own survival?
Game Discussion
Steam User 11
A bit tricky at first but once you get the hang of it its surprisingly addictive.
Only thing I would recommend off the top of my head would be a little tooltip that appears when hovering the mouse over events that explains what they do or reminds you why you got it (e.g. "Spirit Indifference"). Any of the following would be helpful:
This event happened because X
It affects Y
It will last until Z
It would just be helpful as a reminder so I could be like "oh thats right this blessing happened bc of that visiting star captain" or whatever.
Perfectly fine to be vague about this information too, like saying that the gods are annoyed this year as opposed to saying that your rituals involving gods are less likely to be successful. You could even make various rewards or blessings from deities/spirits offer more clarity, and have there be a certain amount of randomness to incentivize this. Maybe stressed pastures for example could involve anywhere from a 20 to 40% reduction in things like pastoral food production, fertility etc. and having the right people on the ring or the right blessings to know this information could make all the difference.
Steam User 12
I'm writing this after winning my first playthrough.
For those who know this studio, this game is worth it, probably. A bit shorter and a bit more narratively constrained, yes, but both of those drawbacks are necessary due to and compensated by the story. The Lights are Going Out, after all. Worth it at full price if you like David Dunham games, and a worthy inclusion in the A# portfolio
If you're coming from Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind, you won't find any surprises here.
If you're coming from King of Dragon Pass, you'll find the same basic management system with some expansions (battles), some simplifications (herds, food, tula layout), and a different tribal aesthetic from before the creation of Orlanthi culture.
If neither of those are known to you, this game is played by taking actions in a tribal management interface. Each action takes time in a yearly cycle, and it involves pursuing one aspect of tribal life - magic/religion, trading, diplomacy, fighting, etc. then resolving the consequences of those actions or random events through a point-and-click multliple-choice interface with unclear but hinted-at outcomes, often with a probability weighting. Gameplay then becomes a cycle of reading the likely intents behind the questions posed to you and picking the appropriate choices to pursue your goals. It's very chill, very narratively focused (there's no 'gameplay' in the sense of testing any skill other than reading comprehension), and for me, very fun. That fun comes from investment in well-realized characters and your tribe.
If this is going to be your first, I'd recommend you pick up Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind instead. Then come back here after you win. You can even import your old tribe to continue their story.
Steam User 5
Six Ages 2: Lights Go Out hits really well for me. It's predecessor Six Ages: Ride Like The Wind has identical game play(and problems) that I don't feel grate as hard in this game because of the context of the plot.
The odds are still stacked against the player and they still struggle quite hard for resources. As things constantly go wrong with little to no reprieve it makes sense within the story since there's so much in-world pressure. The myriad of stories and myths to keep track of are not used in a Heroquest/Ritual but more as optional(if strongly encouraged) quests unless you just get string of notifications your Clan wants to do one on their own. Combat is still seemingly random with little choice in the end except bored clicking even with Treasure, Shrines, and sacrifices. There's a good and various bad endings like the previous entry but with more leeway on how to accomplish it and with more characters. I appreciate that change.
Six Ages: LGO does feel like it nicked off some content either from devs dropping it or to make the release date(ex. separate kingdoms and rivalries feel a little blunt. Most of the connection to them was Raids turning into a fight against or familiar cultural differences bubbling up from you and them). I think the departure from modern ideas of fantasy tropes and creatures is a ball. The art is fun, the events are fun, the notable people are interesting. My games ended up different pretty much every time with new events happening between them. I can't and won't recommend this for people who are new to the games since the slew of information you need to know tying into the main plot would be an awful lot, but I would recommend coming back to it after Six Ages: Ride Like The Wind. I'd also recommend it in a bundle much as I love this game.
Generic pro-tips for the interested:
-Material relevant to my play through of Six Ages: Ride Like The Wind would pop up with a purple tag briefly on the screen. Compared to my new play through it came up really often and brought new events and choices. it was well worth it to import a save
-Urox and Emal and your saving kings these days
-Explore far and wide, and Forage near it
-Cows as is tradition are the real backbone of both social standing and wealth
-The horse goddess has a story that lets you commune with horses and will be a very easy way to get other Clans to help you with things
Steam User 6
Like it's siblings, Six Ages 1: Ride Like the Wind and King of Dragon Pass, Six Ages 2 is one of the best games ever made. Truly. My wife agrees with me.
Steam User 6
Lights Going Out is the promised sequel to Ride Like The Wind and it delivers on that in excellent fashion. It's a change up of the gameplay in subtle ways that massively impact how you'll function. Food has gone from a matter of course to a dire necessity and a huge source of pressure; trade is nowhere near as lucrative as it once was; dead gods mean that blessings you used to take for granted are gone. There's a hell of a lot to explore.
Steam User 2
As all the games they have made since King of Dragon Pass, this is an amazing story trapped inside a tribe sim, which makes it all the better, as the stories are directly intertwined and depend on your decisions and actions - an important character died? story will continue without him - Did half of your population get eaten by a maggot-looking demon? your economy is pretty much destroyed, but the story will continue. The difference with the previous title is that instead of fighting for a better future for you and your tribe, here neither of those have any future so to speak, as in the generation of the game you will have to choose when will the world END so you already know you are here to try to make it as little of an actual apocalypse as possible. If you are new to the games, I would recommend to start with King of the Dragon Pass, as many things from there will be reused as inspiration for the RLTW games, and then start these two, as unfortunately as niche as they are a lot of time will have to pass before we actually are able to get a continuation (If we ever do, I have seen no confirmation of it at least :c) anyways, amazing game, and thank you A Sharp for it - Any new game of yours is in my preorder without queue :D I think this was kinda of an idea soup instead of an actual review but i wanted to say all of it
Steam User 2
I didn't expect it, but this actually innovates on and genuinely improves the formula set forth by King of Dragon Pass and Six Ages 1.
It really does capture the feeling of being in a dying world, with things constantly getting worse and options being cut off. The inclusion of gods who were previously present but now not is nice as well, to see what you Could have if things didn't suck so much.
That said, I do think a lot of my enjoyment of this is my familiarity with the Glorantha setting, so I dunno if you'd be as into it if you hadn't played the previous games (or Runequest ig, but I haven't even read that, so idk)