Through the Ages

About

"Through the Ages" is a highly-rated historical turn-based strategy game, where players build and expand their civilizations using a deck of hundreds of cards. With a focus on resource management, exploration of victory paths, and competition against friends or skilled AI opponents, this game offers a fun and engaging experience, despite some bugs. The game is the official adaptation of Vlaada Chvátil’s classic board game, providing a faithful recreation of the original board experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

94%

Audience ScoreBased on 2,066 reviews

gameplay28 positive mentions

stability22 negative mentions

Excellent adaptation of a complex board game, making it accessible and enjoyable on mobile devices.
The tutorial is engaging and humorous, providing a thorough introduction to the game's mechanics.
The game offers a variety of modes, including challenging AI and online multiplayer, ensuring high replayability.

Frequent crashes and connectivity issues, particularly in online multiplayer, can disrupt gameplay.
The AI can be overly aggressive, leading to frustrating experiences for new players.
Some users report difficulties with the user interface, particularly on smaller screens, making it hard to read and interact with game elements.

gameplay
58 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
48%
47%
5%
The gameplay is generally praised for its depth, strategic complexity, and smooth mechanics, with many users highlighting the excellent tutorial that effectively teaches the game's intricacies. While some players have experienced bugs that hinder online play, the automation of tedious tasks and the variety of challenge modes enhance the overall experience. Overall, the game successfully captures the essence of its tabletop counterpart while streamlining gameplay for a more enjoyable and engaging experience.
- “The gameplay is spot on, and I prefer this over the board game, especially considering the lack of management needed to keep up with all the moving parts.”
- “The tutorial is possibly the best I've ever seen for a board game, and the gameplay is great.”
- “Excellent and addicting gameplay; I just uninstalled it because I was playing too much.”
- “There's zero feedback regarding why you've won or lost a game, and the tutorial doesn't really tell you anything you need to actually learn the game itself, except mechanically.”
- “I like this game when it works, but I've had several bugs that made the gameplay hard and now make online gameplay impossible.”
- “A few graphic features could be resized for easier access and better gameplay, but these were probably voluntarily designed so you have to take a one-hour break from the game every week or so.”
humor
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is predominantly showcased through its highly praised tutorial, which is described as hilarious, engaging, and effective in teaching players the mechanics. Reviewers appreciate the clever and entertaining approach that makes learning the game enjoyable, contributing to a positive overall experience. The humor is consistent with the developer's style, enhancing the game's appeal and making it accessible even for those unfamiliar with the genre.
- “A brilliant, genuinely funny tutorial opens up this box of delights for the player.”
- “The tutorial is hilarious and well worth it even if familiar with the game.”
- “The challenges are a fun addition that helps keep playing solo interesting, and the tutorial does a great job of explaining the different mechanics while making you laugh with that trademark Vlaada humor.”
stability
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
4%
79%
Overall, the game's stability is mixed, with many users reporting occasional bugs, audio glitches, and freezing issues, particularly on Android devices. While some players experience smooth gameplay and commend the developer's support and updates, others express frustration with persistent technical problems that detract from the experience. Despite these issues, many still find the game enjoyable and worth playing.
- “It is not buggy, the turn sequencing is excellent and clear and informative, and the game itself has been incredibly balanced with the new expansions and updated card text.”
- “Solid adaptation of the board game and runs great on mobile.”
- “Great implementation of the board game with no glitches or issues.”
- “Love the game, but audio glitches and crashes are common late game.”
- “Also, the game just freezes constantly now.”
- “Great support.. unfortunately, I lose a star because of constant glitches with notifications and tech.”
replayability
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
71%
18%
11%
The game boasts exceptional replayability, driven by its depth, variety, and engaging challenges that offer unique experiences each time. Players appreciate the strategic elements and content richness, ensuring hundreds of hours of gameplay. Overall, the combination of a great tutorial, challenging AI, and diverse gameplay modes contributes to its high replay value.
- “It's worth getting this one; the depth and variety ensure very good replayability.”
- “The challenges make the game have huge replayability since they offer very different experiences.”
- “Packed with content ensures hundreds of hours of replayability.”
- “Challenges spice up the base game to add replayability against the AI.”
- “Very awesome, better than the board version by far; challenges add a lot of replay value.”
- “Good mixture of luck and skill that maintains replayability.”
graphics
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
39%
50%
11%
The graphics of the game have received a mixed but generally positive reception, with many users praising the beautiful visuals and well-designed user interface. While some players appreciate the clear and engaging graphical representation of gameplay, others have noted issues such as small graphic sizes on mobile devices and occasional performance problems like lag and crashes. Overall, the graphics enhance the gaming experience, though there are suggestions for further improvements in size and clarity.
- “Gorgeous visuals and very well designed UI.”
- “Challenging, lots of decision-making, well-balanced, low 'luck to skill' ratio, phenomenal graphics, economical use of screen space to convey lots of useful information.”
- “Intuitive, fun, and the graphics are fantastic.”
- “It's remarkable that it manages to be just as fun as Resident Evil 7 while having 1/100000000th of its graphics.”
- “Graphics are a bit too small, though - makes it a bit hard on the eyes when played on a mobile phone.”
- “A game that could run on a 1980s PC (minus AI and the graphics) lags, freezes, and hangs on a reasonably recent phone.”
monetization
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
36%
27%
The game features a monetization model that is free from ads and microtransactions, offering a single, substantial expansion pack as the only in-app purchase. Players appreciate the absence of pay-to-win mechanics, allowing for a pure gaming experience without interruptions or additional costs. Overall, the monetization approach is well-received, with many considering the game worth its price.
- “No ads, no pay to win, play against AI or people, can leave and return as you wish.”
- “No microtransactions.”
- “Other than that - it's a well-made game worth every penny not to see annoying ads or have a 'paid resources' mechanic baked in.”
- “There is only one in-app purchase and it is a large expansion pack for the game that came out after many years.”
- “A bit pricey but no microtransactions in 2018, thank god.”
optimization
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
10%
30%
Overall, the game's optimization is mixed; while the UI is well-designed and it runs smoothly on both PC and mobile, there are significant concerns regarding AI performance and battery consumption, with some users noting it as one of the least optimized apps available. Additionally, resolution issues on mobile devices have been highlighted, impacting the overall experience.
- “The UI is well done and everything runs smoothly.”
- “Excellent optimization and performance, both on PC and mobile.”
- “It runs smoothly and provides almost the same feeling as the tabletop version.”
- “I dropped a star due to the resolution not being optimized for my phone.”
- “One of the most unoptimized apps in the store.”
- “I feel the game could be a bit more performance optimized - it's easily the game that drains battery the fastest on my phone, more so than a few 3D games and more action-oriented titles.”
music
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
25%
38%
The music in the game is generally well-received, with many players enjoying the soundtrack and its integration into the gameplay. However, some users find the music can become repetitive or annoying over time, and there are reports of distracting sound issues, such as a buzzing noise. Overall, while the music enhances the experience for many, it may not appeal to everyone.
- “I really enjoy the musical soundtrack and the way they format the civilization display.”
- “The gameplay is smooth and fun, yet challenging...and the soundtrack is even great!”
- “Music seems fine, though.”
- “Game itself is quite good, but there's an unfortunate buzzing sound even with music and sounds turned all the way off.”
- “This is a nearly perfect version of the board game, the only criticism I have is a minor one, the music gets annoying very fast, and the sound effects are pretty awful.”
- “Someone calls me while I am playing the game, and the music keeps playing.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players appreciate that the game automates tedious aspects of grinding, such as card tracking and token management, making it more accessible and enjoyable. The engaging tutorial effectively teaches mechanics, transforming what could be a monotonous experience into a fun and streamlined gameplay session. Overall, the interface enhances the experience by reducing the burden of board state maintenance.
- “It feels like playing the board game except for the tedious board state maintenance.”
- “The easy interface makes what would have been an impenetrably tedious board game accessible and fun.”
- “It automates a lot of the tedious parts, making the experience less burdensome.”
story
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The story in the game is highly praised, with users considering it one of the best aspects of the app.
- “One of the best games for storytelling on mobile.”