Yes, Your Grace

Yes, Your Grace is a strategy and resource management game set in the fictional medieval kingdom of Davern. Ruled by the worried King Eryk, Davern's future royalty is uncertain, as Eryk is unable to father a son. To make matters worse, nearby kingdoms threaten to overthrow and invade Davern if Eryk does not appease them. Week after week, it's up to you to make various decisions as King Eryk, keeping track of royal funds and resources as you balance the needs of both your populace and your legacy. Between decisions of where to allocate resources and tough calls with peasant matters, your job as King is often far more difficult than you might expect. While the difficulty can be grueling at times, Yes, Your Grace is an interesting depiction of medieval life with some devious strategies to consider.

Main Game Features

• Rule over a medieval kingdom
• Manage your resources and supplies
• Make tough calls as king

Story

In Yes, Your Grace, you play as King Eryk, the longtime ruler of the medieval kingdom of Davern. Along with the royal family, Eryk resides in the kingdom's castle, where he fields concerns from the townsfolk while managing money, military power, and supplies. At the start of the game, King Eryk is having a rough spell of luck, with no male heir to continue his family's reign. Worse yet, the barbarian kingdom of Radovia pressures Eryk into an alliance, threatening to overtake Davern if Eryk's daughter Lorsulia is not married to the barbarian king. Trying to avoid the conflict, Eryk partners with the powerful kingdom of Atania, marrying Lorsulia to their Prince. However, their marriage is less than ideal, leading Eryk to protect his family while maintaining his duties as king.

Overall, Yes, Your Grace is an engaging and bleak tale of medieval betrayal, hardship, and strategy, where the underdog is constantly pushed further down in the pack. It's easy to sympathize with King Eryk and the kingdom of Davern, as most characters are well-developed and interesting. Your decisions as King have consequences throughout the story, but main events will happen regardless of your path, with only the ending being changed depending on your choices. Despite the lack of a full branching narrative, Yes, Your Grace still has an interesting story that will keep you invested.

Gameplay

Presented in beautiful pixel-art, Yes, Your Grace combines aspects of resource management from strategy games like Age of Empires while forcing tough decisions seen in narrative-driven games like Papers, Please. When the game starts, it informs you that the experience is designed to be challenging, where you won't be able to please everyone and survival is the ultimate objective. The game plays out in weekly sections, where you must take requests from peasant petitioners as they come to your throne room. These civilians will often ask for gold or resources for a variety of needs, ranging from personal projects to reinforcing town defenses. As King, it's up to you to decide who gets a cut of the pie and who is left empty-handed.

When you're not serving the public in the throne room, you can walk around Davern from a side-scrolling perspective, traveling to various locations around the castle. During certain events, you'll need to make judgment calls, collect items, and consider the political ramifications of your actions. Once the week is over, you'll have upkeep costs to pay for, so maintaining a healthy horde of gold is in your best interest. Overall, the gameplay is passive and more focused on decision-making rather than action. Some unfair sections of the story weaken the overall experience, but it's still a rewarding stint as a medieval ruler.

Conclusion

If you often fantasize about ruling over your very own medieval kingdom and deciding the fate of everything from your family to your townsfolk, Yes, Your Grace is a good way to experience that dream. However, that dream can often turn into a nightmare as the odds are increasingly stacked against you.

Pros

• Strong medieval narrative
• Decent replayability
• Vivid pixel-art graphics

Cons

• Can feel too difficult at times
• Some weak characters
• The slow pacing won't be for everyone