Разработчик: Culturplay
Описание
You run the excavation of the ancient Villa of Dionysus, unearth its thousands of years old treasures, join together artifact fragments and host your very own exhibition. In the process, you inspect up close and interactively the 3D models of the real artifacts found in the ancient site and you learn about the glorious millennium of ancient Dion, the City of Zeus, situated at the foothills of Mount Olympus.
Gear up for the challenges of managing an archaeological excavation project!
FEATURES
- A unique grid excavation mechanic – reveal instead of build.
- A mix of exploration, worker placement and puzzle.
- Unlimited replayability using the random artifact locations mode.
- A portrayal of archaeology with a learning effect created to inspire young and old.
- A faithful reproduction of the architectural remains of the luxurious ancient Villa of Dionysus.
- The ancient artifacts discovered in the game are 3D models of the real artifacts exhibited at the Archaeological Museum of Dion.
- The music is an original composition based on the ancient Greek harp song of Seikilos.
- Multilingual: English, Greek
REFERENCES
The stories and artifact descriptions in the game are based on the following publications:- PANDERMALIS, D. (ed) (2000), “Discovering Dion”, Adam Editions (Athens)
- PANDERMALIS, D. (ed) (2016), “Gods and Mortals at Olympus: Ancient Dion, City of Zeus”, Onassis Foundation USA (New York)
NOTE ABOUT THE MOBILE VERSION
A free prototype version of this game was published for mobile platforms in 2016. That version was commissioned by the Onassis Foundation USA in conjunction with the 2016 exhibition Gods and Mortals at Olympus: Ancient Dion, City of Zeus. The exhibition brought a selection from the thousands of artifacts that attest to the vibrant daily, cultural and religious life in ancient Dion for the first time to the USA. The mobile game aimed to attract New York youth and introduce them to the world of ancient history and archaeological excavation. The more challenging, more replayable and visually enhanced multilingual PC version of this game is now available on Steam.Поддерживаемые языки: english, greek
Системные требования
Windows
- OS *: Windows 7 / 8 / 10 64-bit
- Processor: Dual Core Intel or AMD processor
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: Intel Integrated 520 or equivalent
- DirectX: Version 10
- Storage: 150 MB available space
- Sound Card: DirectX Compatible Sound Card
Mac
- OS: OSX 9 or higher
- Processor: Dual Core Intel or AMD processor
- Memory: 2 MB RAM
- Graphics: Intel Integrated 520 or equivalent
- Sound Card: DirectX Compatible Sound Card
Linux
- OS: Ubuntu 9 or Equivalent
- Processor: Dual Core Intel or AMD processor
- Graphics: Intel Integrated 520 or equivalent
- Storage: 2 MB available space
- Sound Card: DirectX Compatible Sound Card
Отзывы пользователей
Secrets of the Past Dion. Race against the clock, & the rain, in this archaeology simulator. Manage your resources (Archaeologists) between excavation, lab, & exhibition preparation.
SotPD represents a rather condensed process of archaeology, from excavation, to post-excavation and lab work, conservation and restoration, and finally exhibition.
You start off with a small team that you need to split between excavation and the lab, and need to prioritise your work load to maintain efficiency.
To attract more archaeologists you need to build your fame by uncovering artefacts and features, completing lab work and restoring your artefacts. Manage your time carefully or you might run out. You get bonuses for completing the work early!
Overall: SotPD is a nice mixture of simulation, history & puzzle solving, attempting to recreate the archaeology process. I dislike the idea of getting bonus points for finishing early (although this can representative of commercial archaeology, time constraints vs cost) of, but it is a short game (about 1 hour) that is educational and fun! 4 out of 5 trowels.
A small time management game about real archaeology in which you lead an excavation of the Villa of Dionysus in the ancient city of Dion. Archaeology is something which interests me a lot and I wouldn't have found Secrets of the Past: Dion without the help of the Discovery Queue here on Steam.
The challenge lies in assigning the right number of people to either do the digging, the preservation, the restoration or the cataloguing of the artifacts. There's a time limit, you're actually supposed to discover all of the artifacts and process them before winter comes. There's a focus on marble statues and mosaics in this, and I suppose that's fair enough since it's about classical antiquity and an extravagant Roman villa. You do discover stuff like pottery, coins, bones and carbonized grains, but they're not studied in detail, instead they are archived for future research.
Some of the neat stuff in the game are the 3D models of the discovered items, in-situ photos and separate descriptions of artifacts at the moment of discovery and after being catalogued. There's also some background story for the ancient city of Dion.
The main problem this game has is I think the time limit, I wish this was turn-based instead of real-time. There's a feeling of hurry throughout and you can't enjoy the act of discovering new items slowly. Otherwise it's a nice game which I recommend and would play more if there were any similar games. It's short (1,5 hours or over 3 hours for all of the achievements), but I think it's worth the money since I found it unique.
If there will be any future games like this, my wishlist for them would be:
-Discovery of the site (aerial/satellite photos etc.)
-More scenarios / different digs
-Larger digs and multi-year campaigns
-A way to discover yourself which room/place is what (e.g. "this is a bath", "this is a garden" etc.)
Secrets of the Past: Dion is a cute, simple casual game simulating the process of an archaeological excavation. The game has a sense of authenticity, and while the player doesn't get to be too hands on with the excavation, the basic principles of leading such a project are there. Meeting deadlines, delegating people to tasks and inspecting the unearthed artifacts are all there.
The game offers three difficulty levels. The main differences between them seem to be the allotted time to complete the dig, and the more complicated requirements for assembling your exhibit at the end, with the higher difficulties requiring you to actually look at the in-game notes to construct the exhibit.
The main negative of the game is that there is really only the one digsite - while you can randomize the artifacts, the scenario itself will always be the same, and there are no additional stages to explore. This is a shame, as the game has plenty of potential, and it would have been interesting to be able to experience more of a campaign.
Regardless, it's a fun if short game for anyone even remotely curious about archaeology.
A really interesting game, and one of the few games out there that you actually learn something. It has rather small duration, but i prefer to pay something that respects my free time (which is not infinite).
Audience: Casual
Difficulty: Easy
Playtime: 1 hour
Replayability: Nil
Дополнительная информация
Разработчик | Culturplay |
Платформы | Windows |
Ограничение возраста | Нет |
Дата релиза | 19.01.2025 |
Отзывы пользователей | 100% положительных (5) |