ARTé: Mecenas® Reviews

Relatively simple turn-playing. The art is real, the factions are real. Pleasant, casual game!

Original concept but after 30 min, you'll always see same messages... Plus, the reputation points system is very unclear...

This is about a 2 hour game. It's more of a story game than an economic simulator or an art history educational tool. That's okay, though. More than enough story and interactivity to be worth the $10 price tag.

I want this game to get finished at some point, or for a new version to be made, or for someone else to take this idea, that why i recommend it. This game is still unfinished! Interesting key features that would really add to learning and enjoyment from the game are still 'in progress'. Events don't always happen in order and towards the end of the game, half of the options become meaningless. As others have mentioned, this is a great idea for a game, so much could be done with this, but it is completely not worth the price as it has not been finished properly.

I love the game, but I was hoping for more of it, it's a little too short. So I suggest discount price. If you're okay with the fact that it's rather short, then go for it, it's fun.

This game explains the dynamics and "morals" of renaissance trade very well, like only an interactive and immersive medium can, with great historical context. The gameplay is limited, and does not living up to the game's amazing pitch... and it borderline doesn't live up to its price tag, which is saying something. I LOVE when an action doesn't go the way I thought it would because I misunderstood the religious politics of the era, I'm affected by an error (even after verifying the installed files) which makes the artwork you can choose to commission not visible, so I just have to guess at 1/3 odds, missing any subtext or historical synchronicities communicated by the artworks. All the artwork is replaced by a white square with a magnifying glass over it, and clicking the image to get full view opens up a full-screen loading page that loads indefinitely so I have to close the window (with keyboard shortcuts, because the full-screen game becomes unresponsive) and restart the turn. I am running a fresh install of Windows 11 with no hacker finagling and every other steam game I've tried has worked fine. I couldn't find a solution to this problem online, and with not a single update in ten years, it's safe to say it won't be fixed in an update. Love the idea. It lives up to the idea... fine ish. It is now abandonware. Do not buy.

I have a degree in art history, and I love economy. On digital paper, this game was made for me. However, the gameplay is repetitive, alternating between Renaissance art trivia (and educated guesses) and a simplistic buy low / sell high economic mechanism. The tutorial was fair enough, but after playing the first mission, I'm unlikely to again submit myself to this tedium.

Not a twenty-dollar game. It's done in a couple of hours without much in the way of choices, aside from "follow history religiously."

Since the marketing for this game is somewhat dual pronged, I'll summarize: this is not a great strategy game with a ton of interesting decisions. It IS, however, a solid edugame, good enough to keep me playing while knowledge is dispensed. The biggest complaint I have is that the version being sold here is somewhat incomplete; the store page points to some sort of encyclopedia present in the student version of the game that's absent here, and that absence is acutely felt. Still, I'm generally able to figure out what I need to from a combination of googling and applying my existing knowledge of Florence and Renaissance art, but a requirement to already know about the subject matter seems like a mistake for a game that's trying to teach things. I hope they are able to add the encyclopedia or something akin to it in the future. I'd recommend this game for people who want their kids to learn about the Renaissance, Florence, the Medici, and related topics. The game is reminiscent of the classic educational games of my youth that are just fun enough to keep players engaged. But I'd also recommend that they seek out the classroom version linked to on the store page so that players can get the full experience.

Can't quite believe I just paid £15 for this. I expected a lot more game for my money. There is a fixed number of turns per level, and three choices to make per turn, and ultimately one path through history you can take, and when you've done that it's done. I get that it's in early access, but there needs to be a lot more content before the game is worth even the discounted price. I like the basic premise, I think the trading aspect needs improving - just make the prices fluctuate, that's all you need to do. Hey here's a thought, given that the game encourages you to start branches in London, Bruges, wherever (which you will inevitably close when they lose money), why not make the market prices different in different cities. Not enough things to do, not enough ways to influence the progress of the game. the foreign branches make money, then they lose money and you close them and that's what happens. Sometimes you have to pay money to answer a question on Renaissance art; these are considerably beyond general knowledge level, I'd say at the least you've spent a term on the Renaissance in high school to get these, or alternatively, you're using google image search. If you answer these questions right (which you will do if you're using google), you will easily max out your reputation and soul (essentially your standing in Florence and the church. You occasionally have to decide whether the price from a merchant in a popup is higher than the one on the market, which stays the same without changing the whole game. And two of the three commodities have the same prices. You occasionally have to decide which city or political faction to support. It's not hard. I really wanted to like this game, I like the idea, but there's nowhere near enough to it. It's nice enough, but it's over far too quickly. As things stand it would justify a price of £2-3 at most, although even then, there's much bigger games you can get for £2-3.