REVIEW: Merchants Of Kaidan (Nintendo Switch)

Game: Merchants Of Kaidan
System: Nintendo Switch
Developer/ Publisher: Forever Entertainment
Price: €9,99| $9.99 | £8.99
Age Rating: EU: 12+ | USA: T – Teen
Release Date: January 31st, 2019
Also Available On: Steam

Review code kindly provided by Forever Entertainment

Adventure across the land as a trader of goods and learn the ways of the world as you also quest to avenge your father. Merchants Of Kaidan puts you in the role of a simple tradesman with dreams of grandure and revenge. Buy low and sell high as you increase your trading fleet and explore the worlds many deep and dark secrets.

Playing The Market

From the very beginning, you are walked through the games deceivingly simple controls and before long set off on your way to grandure. You are given an initially modest wagon in which to trade goods. As you travel from place to place, each towns market will offer different prices so it’s up to you to buy and sell and drive profit. Using this you can then expand your inventory to futher your entrepeneuric designs, hire folk to assist in plundering old ruins and mines or take part in guild quests to further your place in the games trade world.

The game, though simple, quickly draws you in to its world and its various stories and secrets. At first its almost overwhelming, but soon as you acclimate it does grow a little predictable and eventually repetitive in the long run.  But the rewards of your efforts are never far off so its easy to spend hours caught up in your adventures, keen to see the fruition of your actions.

The game does leave a lot of your progress down to luck, after all the market algorithms are random and there are certain events that may trigger as you travel from place to place which may help or hinder you. I found the standard difficulty a little unforgiving in fact, so much so that I switched to the easier mode so that I may make enough progress to formulate my review. Again however, with enough persistance I am sure I would’ve made the necessary progress over a longer period of time so it isn’t as if the standard mode is completely unreasonable.

A World Of Mystery

Kaidan is a fictitious world set in an medieval time, the map hosts a land of many cities, towns and villages. Also dotted around are various places of interest such as mines and towers where you can plunder for goods or explore to discover hidden treasures (and hidden foes). It’s a charming setting that lends itself to the games formula, it takes a little digging and an eye for detail to truly appreciate it but I quite enjoy that about it.

The overarching tale of avenging your father does become a little difficult to follow, I found myself losing track of a lot of the finer detail as it’s told using text. That and the fact that the story serves mostly as punctuation between hours of trading and exploring made me quickly lose focus of what I had to do to get ahead in the story. Though you can always refer back to the games Journal if needed.

The Road Ahead

Where I left the game, I was still trying to make way with a Guild Quest. These quests increase your standing as a trader and allow you to buy and sell in a wider variety of goods. The quest is particularly challenging as it requires you to trade within cities where profit margins are tighter. The one before also involved trading between the games vaguely laid out interior borders, as I mentioned earlier it can be a little hard to follow certain instructions since you need to pay due care and attention to the in-game text. But the reward of finally breaking through is equally rewarding so I urge you to persevere.

I made way with my quest for answers about my father but didn’t quite see it through all the way until the end. Luckily the game is simple and easy enough to dip in and out of so I very much expect to revisit and finish up. The game at this point was growing a little stagnant, but there is still plenty to do and a welcome addition to my Switch collection as a title I can revisit as soon as the itch returns.

Conclusion

Merchants Of Kaidan is a charming dive into the world of trading. It’s simple enough to get to grips with and rewarding to play, though loses steam from time to time due to it’s repetitive and interprative nature. It can be frustrating as a lot of progress relies simply on luck, but other reviews also acknowledge this slow start and I do encourage you to persevere to make the most of the overall pleasent experience. For a modest package that can be played and returned to as desired, it hits the spot in the right ways and can be forgiven for its brief shortcomings.

I like it
I like it!

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