The Fertile Crescent 2: Collapse of the Bronze Age has left early access, and the 1.0 version finishes the singleplayer story with its final chapters. The Age of Empires-influenced strategy game is set during the Late Bronze Age Collapse, when migrant seafaring groups known as the Sea People shake up the region's old powers.
Food is the engine of the whole thing. It determines your population and army size, and your civilization's progression rides on it too. The developers are clear that this isn't a race to build the biggest empire. Send too many troops out too fast and your food economy starts to buckle.
The campaign runs 17 missions across four factions: the Assyrians, Egyptians, Babylonians, and Hittites. The 1.0 release also adds standalone scenarios, a skirmish mode, and multiplayer on dedicated servers with bot support. Perhaps the most useful addition is the map editor, the same tool Wield Interactive used to build the campaign, so you can make your own maps.
If you missed the early access run, this is a good time to check it out. Just don't blame the mermaids when your granary runs dry.
