A simple game that can tell a somber story. Works really well as a single player experience.
I admit I was slightly puzzled by the relationship between the Empire and the Exiles. Were the exiles pushed out because of who they were, or was it more that the Empire were colonizers who stole the orichalcum and the Exile's land? Did the exiles choose to leave? Did the Exiles and the Empire share any heritage? I suppose this kind of thing can change from game to game, and if that's the point then awesome, but I could have used some specific guidance there. I was never sure if I was remembering an oppressor or just a culture the Exiles left behind. The tone of the game feels both somber and triumphant, but I wasn't sure if that was right due to the ambiguous history between the Empire and Exiles.
But aside from all that, at the end of my game I had created two very distinct worlds. I played as The Resplendent, and imagined a culture of orators and singers. While the Empire had amphitheaters shaped like colossuems, the Exiles had tall solitary stairs where great speakers could share their performances with the whole island. Where the Empire had libraries of long stone tablets, the Exiles lay their histories at the foot of their theaters, so that every speaker remembered where they came from, and could draw inspiration from their history. And where the Empire had cemeteries of oblique stone blocks to store their dead far away, the Exiles had one platform where the birds of the sea could be fed by the deceased, and thus the dead could return to the land and be forever close to the living.
This game lets you create a beautiful contrast between a dead empire and a living society set to thrive after being forced to the margins. Bravo.