Old World - Heroes of the Aegean DLC

Good scenarios, had fun time playing and will surely revist them in the future.

I am the type of player that never really plays scenarios, but so far, they are actually pretty fun in Old World. I have not yet played the scenarios in this DLC, but I definitely will in the future. Just getting the extra civilization would be worth it alone for this price. So far each civ feels quite a bit different in the game and I plan to play all of them.

These scenarios are really good. Not just because they play very well, but because they depict epic stories that are rarely ever represented in games or even modern media in general. Battle of Marathon: A very basic prologue, but there are multiple ways to win and you actually get the full story of the battle. It would have been nice if Pheidippides' run to bring the good news back to Athens was represented. His death immediately after delivering news of the Athenian victory and the Persian fleet arriving in Athens just to see Athenian army somehow standing there ready to fight is the peak of the story. However, that would probably make alternative ways to win harder to allow. Second Persian War: Thermopylae is done surprisingly well. Despite it being a narrow pass there is still quite abit of space for actual tactical decisions and unit management. This battle and Salamis are probably the best way to get a true understanding of how important positioning is in Old World. There are achievements that require killing 50 Persian units and losing no units at Salamis. Learning how to do this really does just make you better at the game. Plataea is just proof that Old World needs to release more scenarios with large set-piece battles. Rise of Philip II: This scenario is really challenging. Conquering all of Greece before Philip II's death means being entirely focused on the objectives and building a well rounded army that can defeat an elite army hoplites with lots of artillery support. A pretty harsh time limit and alot of dissent to deal with means you have to play entirely differently from how you would usually play the game. Olympias: This is an extremely easy scenario. You just pick make sure Olympia is scheming every two turns and research is getting done. The gimmick of it having multiple stories based on who you declare to be Philip's murderer do not really change that much. Old World has really good non-combat/ideological battle scenarios and this is not really one of them. Alexander's Conquest: This is done insanely well. The Persian empire is divided into sections and Alexander conquers each section to progress the story. There are quite a few events and challenges that make this a challenge. Diadochi era: There are very few games that actually depict Alexander's generals fighting over his empire and its a shame because the eastern Mediterranean is a really good map. Lots of room for naval combat and the game even removes unhappiness mechanics and all but 1 family for each state so that this can be an all-out war scenario.