From the Store description:
Regain your riches, restore your honour and punish those who have wronged you.
Merchants of Kaidan is a challenging trading game fused with lots of RPG elements. You start very humble, one cart, a purse of gold and silver coins is all that you have. Your task is to roam the world and search of opportunities to score some profit. Buy low, sell high - a merchant's motto is easy to grasp. And yet the job is harder than it seems.
- A good merchant needs to know everything about the market, he is always on the lookout for a deal, always listening, always engaging and deepening his knowledge. He knows what forces influence the prices, what events affect them.
- A good merchant listens to rumours and gossips spread by travelers at inns and taverns; hoping for a clue, a hint where to go, where a good deal awaits.
- A good merchant surrounds himself with specialists smarter than him, people who help him maximize profits and minimize losses. He always expands his fleet of carts, he balances risks, calculates profitability.
The conditions are constantly changing, and supply and demand for different goods with them.
Maybe you'd like to pay a cheaper price for furs in the summer, and sell them for a hefty profit as the winter is coming and people need warmth? But is it worth carrying them for so many days, risking robbery, moths and taking precious space that you could use to transport something now and make a profit immediately? Or is it worth to buy illegal herb in the out of reach swamps where it cost's next to nothing, and risk smuggling it into the city where you can sell it for an amazing profit? But what if the city guards want to control you? Should you pay a bribe? How big? Maybe the best course of action is to say that you have nothing and hope they don't find anything?
These are the types of questions you will have to ask yourself constantly.
Importantly, the initial cost is it - there are no freemium elements to be watchful for, making this great value for money if you intend to see the game through properly.
Here's a taste, from the opening 15 minutes gameplay:
Four different goals and two price structures give you plenty of scope for trying the title again and getting more value for money.
Having help text to read while the next section loads is a clever move...
As with any computer-based RPG, everything revolves around numbers. As does the world of a real life merchant, mind you, so it all makes sense...
The world of Kaidan, town by town....
Next thing, they'll be billing me for the Big Mac I had at the motorway services.... It all adds up!
As you'd expect, there are items to buy and sell at every stage, or even repair or refurbish if needed, in order to sell for more...
A few mini-games are scattered around to add extra interest.
The music, effects and graphics are top notch throughout, as you'd expect from a cross-platform classic. And not having to worry about freemium in-app-purchases makes progress in the game smoother and less stressful.
You can buy Merchants of Kaidan here in the Store. The $5/£3 (etc.) price is somewhat irrelevant if you're into classic RPGs - if you grab this then you're commiting to tens of hours of immersion in the Kaidan world. Me? Tempted though I am, I'm sorry, life's too short in the real world! I'll leave this game for any determined commenters.