Neo Atlas 1469

Release Date: October 27, 2016

Strategy, economic, Colonization, adventure elements, ships, 16th century, singleplayer

6.9

OpenCritic

62%

Steam

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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.

Videos and Screens

6.9

OpenCritic Rating

Game is Recomended by 40% of Critics. There are 9 Critic Reviews.

OpenCritic

NintendoWorldReport: 8 / 10 by Daan Koopman

I found myself constantly in good spirits exploring new routes, accepting or rejecting reports and cleaning up quests quickly. While some elements are keen to repeat a bit too much, there was something calming about every go I had. From what I could tell, each playthrough can be completely different and this will likely keep me coming back for more later down the line.

Full Review

Digitally Downloaded: 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.

Full Review

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 admittedly 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.

Full Review

62%

STEAM Score

All Reviews: Mixed (34)

STEAM

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.

Story

Action of Neo Atlas 1469 begins in 1466 in Portugal. Players learn the story of Antonio Gomez, an Admiral, 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.

Mechanics

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 contact 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.