Neo Atlas 1469 is an odd creation. Individually, each element is far too weak to stand on its own – and I'm certainly too lazy to go around calling it a “Adventure/Simulation/Strategy/Visual Novel/RPG/Point and Click Bear Finder.” Yet, together, they keep you engaged, with light but solid narratives having you finding Sinbad's anchor or breaking curses while you wait for that next fleet report to come in. It's an extremely long game - and I'm not actually sure where it ends. At 25-30 hours, I've long-since cleared the main goals, yet it's still going strong... so I can only imagine it will be over once I hit 100% map clearance.

If you enjoy Civilization and you don't mind smaller production values, Neo ATLAS can offer a very addictive experience with very interesting gameplay mechanics.

In part I’m disappointed, because a hardcore simulation about exploring uncharted oceans in search of new land would be a fascinating game, but at the same time the simple, clean charm of Neo Atlas is really difficult to resist, especially when I’m in the mood to play something low-pressure while catching up on my movie or television backlog.