14 DAY TRIAL // 
1849 could be seen as video game based commentary on the gold rush of the XIXth century in California and the difficulties that a mono-industrial society can have when it comes to trying to develop an actual urban center and make sure that the population has all the consumer goods it requires.
As the title says, the action takes place in 1849, and the game allows players to take control of a variety of settlements in what was then the American frontier in California, trying to develop them to the best of his abilities and create a thriving economic ecosystem.
Each of the challenges has a specific set of goals and there’s a lot of variation to keep players on their toes, although a little more context for those who don’t know the entire history of the California gold rush would have been nice.
The core mechanics of the title are those of the city building genre, which have remained in many ways unchanged from the days of the first Caesar experience, which I remember playing for hours at a time.
Gamers need to place a number of buildings, with availability determined by the city that they are managing, in order to create economic chains and exploit a variety of resources, ranging from actual gold to iron, hides and wood.
Workers are needed for all of them, which means that housing has to be developed and that various human needs, like food and drink, have to be dealt with.
The mechanics are not as deep as Pharaoh or Zeus and gamers do not have to complete complex, long-term projects, while the relations between the various areas of the frontier town are pretty simple.
This makes sense given that the level of complexity in the real-world settlements of the time was rather limited and that the focus was on making a town that could survive in the sometimes harsh environment, while also profiting from trade with its neighbors.
1849 can be punishing at times and I actually had trouble getting past the third mission because I was unable to keep my mines running between quakes in order to export gold and fund the rest of my industries.
I eventually managed to get it right, but it basically required to learn exactly how to tackle each challenge that the level threw at me and plan my expansion accordingly.
1849 does not have any kind of impressive graphics design and the buildings and their inhabitants both look pretty basic, but at the same time, the game has plenty of visual cues to tell players what’s going wrong with their city.
Most elements of the interface can be clicked for more information and gamers need to pay attention to the building panels in order to discover the upgrade options that are a little poorly placed.
When it comes to sound, the biggest problem is the repetitive nature of the tracks, which do evoke the timeframe.
There is no multiplayer in 1849, mainly because the core mechanics would be unable to support it, but there are plenty of opportunities to replay levels in order to get better scores that can then be shared with friends.
1849 is not a bad game per se, but a limited one, although it could serve as an entry point to the genre for some who might then move on to things like Pharaoh or SimCity.
