Lux: Ancient Empires and American History

By: Jordan Magnuson

On: March 18th, 2008

I have a knack for covering things that aren’t new. I’m sorry. But these Lux expansions haven’t been mentioned here yet, and I only got around to trying them out recently, so voila this post.

If you aren’t familiar with the original, Lux is the definitive computer version of a world domination game (in my humble opinion). Beautiful graphics, fast play, a lot of online players, etc. etc. You can see what I had to say originally here.

But enough on the original. These expansions, which are stand alone games, add some wonderful historical flavor to the original game. Ancient Empires lets you control 58 different nations in 11 original scenarios, while American History lets you play through 10 of America’s epic wars, from the French and Indian War to the Iraq War.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to think of these expansions heading in, as both games are arguably only slight variants on the original: the gameplay pretty much continues to follow the standard rules of Risk, and the maps are not that different from some of the hundreds of fan created offerings. However, Sillysoft has impressed me again: the production quality is high, the themes are well implemented, and the games feel much more complete and cohesive in their historical flavor than any of the maps you can download for the original. I give both of these a thumbs up, though I think the prices ($15 and $20) are perhaps a bit high relative to Lux Delux.

More info and Downloads: http://sillysoft.net/