Sengoku takes strategy games to a whole new level.

Similar to how the Sega Genesis era “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” games, which
later gave rise to the staggeringly popular Dynasty Warriors games, were based
on real people and events that existed at the end of the Han dynasty in China,
Sengoku attempts to tap into a similar fanbase by referencing people and events
that happened during the Sengoku era in Japan.

The short version is this.  In the late 1400s, Japan was divided up under a
number of feudal lords, and there was enough espionage and military conflict
that Hollywood wouldn’t need to hire writers.  As such, a game that taps into
the player to manage an army, maintain (or usurp) political relations, wage war,
and try not to go broke or starve in the process lends itself greatly to such a
period.

Sengoku is a real-time strategy game, which means you issue commands while
things are happening, but you can always pause the game to stop time and issue
commands if you’re having a hard time getting the hang of things.  Your first
time playing this game, you will want to take advantage of this feature, as
there is a lot to learn, and the game will not otherwise stop while you read the
hints the game has to offer you.

Your goal in this game is to become the Shogun.  This is achieved by controlling
at least 50% of Japan for three years.  This is achieved by conducting military
conquest against your enemies.  This is achieved by sowing dissent among your
enemy and his vassals, making their fighting force weaker than yours.
This is achieved by… Well, let’s just say the goal is simple, but not easy.
Unless you disable the game’s hints, nearly everything you click will bring up a
text box which will remind you what you’re supposed to be doing, what will be
more effective, so don’t be daunted by the massive depth of this game.
Once you get the hang of it, you will find that none of the game mechanics are
superfluous, and you will just become more determined to master it.

Unfortunately, while the game is well explained, and does its best to ease you
into the deep end via use of in-game tutorials, the learning curve is still
exceptionally steep.  Nearly every aspect of the game is several menus deep, and
is what you’re looking for on the diplomacy screen, or is it on the character’s
individual communication option?

Some very important aspects of the game are left for the player to figure out on
their own.  The game will recommend you assign your ministers at your court, but
it will not tell you how important it is that you start working on upgrading
your castle before the other two options your Master of Arms can execute.  Do
you want to recruit a Ronin?  Do you need to restore order?  How do you find out
what the revolt risk in a territory is?  You can easily find out that you’re
operating at a deficit, but how do you find out what’s creating your income
and how much is being spent on your army?  The hundreds of commands available in
Sengoku will require you to play through a few times before you really get the
hang of what you’re doing.

In stark contrast, the combat is kept simple.  Perhaps a bit too simple.  Once
your army has been raised, you choose where you’d like them to go, and watch the
battle unfold.  For people with experience in other real-time strategy games,
this may be a bit of a turn-off, as the previously immense amount of
micromanagement required for every other aspect of the game is conspicuously
absent when it comes time to do the aspect of the game that’s crucial in
achieving your objective, which is taking over at least 50% of Japan.

Selecting a territory that combat is happening in will bring up a menu showing
what’s happening in the territory, and a collection of numbers will appear that
explain the details of what’s happening.  However, the mechanics involved with
battle are not explained anywhere in great detail, leaving you as an observer.
While it’s realistic, it seems like a great deal of fun could be had by simply
including some buttons that issue basic commands to the army.

Sengoku makes up for the simplistic economy and military gameplay by including
a veritable ton of diplomacy options.  Every single character in the game has a
number that shows their opinion of you, and your opinion of them.  Options as
shallow as “Give this character gold” or as deep as “Promise that my daughter
will marry his son when they come of age” are used as tools to affect a
relationship with a character, and maintaining good relationships with your
court is crucial in giving you the upper hand when it comes time to start taking
over Japan.

Of course, there’s more to diplomacy than simply damage control.  Whether you’re
a single lord with a small piece of land, or a large clan’s head, you have
access to the “plot” option, where you can collude with other characters to
execute a plot against enemy land owners or even your own clan’s head.  Deeper
still, is the chance that the plot can be discovered, and if you’re the one that
discovers a number of characters plotting against you, you have yet another
selection of options available to you.

While the game’s diplomacy has obviously had a lot of thought put into it, the
problem lies in that wars will almost always end the game long before the
promise you made to have your daughter marry someone else’s son in eight years
due to the speed at which wars are declared and executed.  A gameplay video
shows that, within 5 minutes, a player who has a firm grasp of the game
mechanics can start as a member of someone else’s clan with only a single
province, break off from the clan, and take over a sizable portion of the map.

That’s not to say the game will be ended quickly.  The motions you have to go
through to maintain your empire, and the required diplomacy to keep your
subordinates in line will keep a single game going for several hours.  This will
add to the replay value of Sengoku, as you’ll never play the same game twice.

In the end, Sengoku is definitely a game worth playing.  The heavy focus on the
importance of characters and character creation (through having children) is a
breath of fresh air in a game that aims to focus on diplomacy before
warmongering.  Just be prepared to spend a fair amount of time learning the
game’s mechanics and menus.