The first thing that must be noted about Burntime is that it has a steep learning curve. Be ready to die quickly the first few times you play it. That said, it's a great game. Burntime is set in a future apocalyptic world where people struggle just to get enough food and water to survive. They live in the ruins of a once great civilization that, for an unspecified reason, collapsed. Whatever the cause, a new society has sprung from the ashes of the old; one that does not yet have a leader.
The first thing that must be noted about Burntime is that it has a steep learning curve. Be ready to die quickly the first few times you play it. That said, it's a great game. Burntime is set in a future apocalyptic world where people struggle just to get enough food and water to survive. They live in the ruins of a once great civilization that, for an unspecified reason, collapsed. Whatever the cause, a new society has sprung from the ashes of the old; one that does not yet have a leader. The goal of the game is for you to convince men to follow you and to bring the world under your control.
You start off in
a random town or city on the world map with a few basic items that can help you survive or perhaps buy the loyalty of a few minions with. If this is your first time you’ll probably be dying shortly. Whether you get attacked by a mutant early on or forget to take a drink of water every now and then you’re going to wind up dead fast. Your supplies are measured in daily rations (DR), which are depleted by one each time you make a move on the world map. Your body can save a maximum of 9 DRs of food and 5 DRs of water. The best way to keep up your DRs is to scavenge through small towns. You’ll usually find at least a few maggots to munch on, maybe a dead rat if you’re lucky, and there’s almost always a water source somewhere if you look hard enough.
Once you get past just surviving you can start building your base of followers. The game switches between a world map and an overhead view of the town you’re in depending on what you’re doing at the time. In most towns there are usually a few loners who might be interested in working for you. They all specialize in different areas, such as killing enemies, healing allies, or putting together useful tools. Near the beginning the killers are usually the most helpful, as the other two require a lot of supplies in order to be useful. Once you have a mercenary or two on your side you can start assigning them to protect a town in the area. Soon you’ll be ruling over a good chunk of territory, and all of the food and supplies that go with it. But be careful, you aren’t the only one out to rule the wasteland. You can either play against a few AI enemies or play hot seat with a friend.
I could go into more detail, but just play the game, it’s a lot of fun. If possible I’d try to find a place to download the manual (it does a much better job of explaining things than I do). Enjoy!
