The Sims Medieval is a more or less directed game, pointing you in certain story developments to get you further in the game. You have to aim at completing your ambition (at some point), through mini games and quests, although you can put it off for a while.

There are many limitations in the game, such as no build mode and just one choice for the kingdom area, which make you sacrifice quite a bit of the freedom you may be used to from The Sims 3. Therefore it seems that The Sims Medieval is most interesting for new players of the Sims franchise – similar to the Sims Stories series for The Sims 2. Seasoned players may find the game too limited. To increase the replay value of the game, you can continuously start over with a new kingdom and new ambition, but at some point I expect you’ll have “been there, done that.”

Nevertheless the style of the game, even in these somewhat early stages of development, makes an immersive medieval setting. It is an entirely different style compared to the modern Sims we have seen until now, which makes for a nice variation. Also having the quests probably makes the game more suitable for shorter game sessions, in which you just complete a single quest.

continuing reading The Sims Zone’s preview of Medieval from GamesCom 2010