The Great Tournament 2
By Philip Kempton
☆☆☆☆☆ (5/10)
While this review may not sound like it, I do have a fondness for this author and The Great Tournament 1. It was one of the first interactive fiction games I’ve played, and at my once tender age, I didn’t see any flaws. Or honestly, I just looked past them. I liked the sequel back then but not as much as the first game. Unfortunately, The Great Tournament 2 doesn’t really hold up. It’s shorter than the first game and while it still has a strong Kingdom Management portion, the rest of the game crumbles under its ambition. There’s choice, war, diplomacy, economy, but not enough. Not deep enough or clearly explained. Characters are flat, and there are mistakes with typos and punctuation. Your choices do matter, but at the same time, there’s a lot of RNG and variables that are just out right confusing.
Pros:
Let’s give credit where it’s due: this game aims high. The concept of ruling your own town and/or kingdom, making policy decisions, and seeing their effects unfold is honestly pretty unique for a Choice of Games title. It’s almost tabletop-esque. There’s continuity with your character from the first game, which is satisfying. You get a lot of choices in how to play—from being a noble, selfless ruler to a tyrant obsessed with power. And clearly, Kempton put a lot of work into the mechanics, the stats, and the sheer volume of text. In terms of scope and effort, The Great Tournament 2 is quite ambitious.
Cons:
The writing feels lifeless. Where the first game had heart, at least, this one feels like a spreadsheet. The prose is dry and perfunctory, just dialogue and choices, with very little description of setting, clothing, or atmosphere. You don’t see or feel the world anymore. Characters speak in bland, mechanical ways, and none of them have distinct personalities. Even the returning faces feel hollow.
The UI is rough. There’s no polite way to say this: the interface is painful. You’ll find yourself clicking through endless lists, performing repetitive tasks that make you feel more like an overworked accountant than a ruler. Want to buy 25 horses? You’ll be clicking one at a time, scrolling down a long list, and repeating that process until your will to live quietly expires. I honestly got bored with the micromanaging, and that’s not what strategy or text sims should feel like.
The battles are boring. You’d expect the battles and wars to be the highlights: moments of glory, adrenaline, tension. Instead, they’re dull, mechanical sequences where outcomes depend more on stats than storytelling. It’s super cool to see your army broken down into exact numbers, but the “fighting”? Is just clicking the “next” button over and over until a force of 4,000 breaks. That’s not fun or cool at all.
The choices feel hollow. Yes, there are a lot of choices, but I just didn’t feel invested or felt like they mattered. You’ll see the same dialogue and the same big events. Oh well.