Yes, Your Grace Review

You, the king, stands readying your army for an upcoming siege attack, rallying your men, preparing for the worst. When the arrows fly towards you, the game blackens and we are back in a time before the siege. We play as King Eryk, the ruler of Davern. Eryk has a wife, Queen Aurelea and three daughters – Lorsulia, Asalia and Cedani. Being king, Eryk has to produce an heir, and a boy at that, or he stands to lose succession if he passes. Davern is in turmoil, since the neighbour country of Radovia is threatning to invade Davern if he will not marry his daughter to their leader. The Radovians are a savage people, and Eryk will not compute, and plans for his daughter to be married to prince Ivo of Atana instead. Atana is a wealthy kingdom with a grand army. Wanting to plan the marriage, king Talys of Atana comes to discuss terms with Eryk. Talys is a hot-tempered man with a sick wife, and has little of courtesies to spare. On his visit Talys is poisoned and killed. His son Ivo accuses Eryk of the murder, and threatens with war. This forces Eryk to put blame on somebody else, and they lose their life for it. In turn, the marriage is to continue.

When married, Ivo and his new wife departs for Atana. Through messages sent from his daughter, Eryk learns that Ivo is a bad man that abuses his wife, and is not to be trusted with the new formed alliance. This prompts king Eryk to prepare for the invasion of Radovia by making sure his alliances with his nobles, and improving the castle defense and the kingdom in general. We build new defense mechanisms, we recruit important people such as a witch and a hunter and make sure the nobles of Davern will provide men for the defense. The day the Radovian army arrives Eryk sends all the men he could gather to engage them in combat. During combat the reinforcement that Ivo promised to send from Atana does not show up. Through a stroke of luck the battle ends when an avalanche falls over the Radovian army. Daverns own forces are diminished after the fighting, and his nobles decides to no longer support king Eryk due to this.

Due to the fortunate accident with the avalanche, king Eryk is accused of witchcraft by king Ivo, and he in turn decides to burn Eryks daughter, his own wife, at the stake. He also swears to have his army destroy Davern. After mourning the death of their daughter, Eryk and his wife decides they need to appeal to other kings to get an army large enough to withstand the assault by Atana. The king of Radovia together with some of his men shows up at Eryks court, and proclaims that they are refugees running from a civil war within their country. Here, as in most of the game, Eryk must decide what to do about it. Either have them executed, or allow them to live within Davern. Depending on your choices you will lose or win favors from other kings. Another pressing matter is the succession of the throne. Eryk and his wife decides to use magic to make sure the next child is a boy. The ritual must be done correctly, or his wife or the child will die.

At this point we are caught up with how the game began. We are preparing for an assault on our castle, with Ivo’s army besieging Eryks castle. Now, up to this point, the choices you have made will  result in whether you meet deep consequences or not. You might lose a large portion of your army (or not) or even lose family members. In the end the siege is broken, and Ivo is taken prisoner. Eryk learns that it was none of his men who poisoned king Talys, but was by his own sons doing. It was an ‘unfortunate’ accident, since Ivo was trying to poison Eryk instead, and a mixup of their drinks killed his father instead. Eryk then decides whether to have Ivo executed or spare his life in prison. This ending however, is only possible if some of the right choices are taken. If you at any point made bad choices, and does not prepare properly for the attack your dynasty will fall. If you made the right choices king Eryk and his family survives, and they end up having a son, and their legacy will continue.

Thus ends the game of Yes, Your Grace. It has various endings, and a whole lot of choices to be made. This does make the game replayable, although when you have gotten the “true” ending you have seen the most the game has to offer. The game is not entirely a point-and-click game, it also incorporates strategy – and is in and of itself somewhat of a simulation game. When that is being said there are point-and-click elements, and the adventure genre does shine through. You do not partake in any combat, nor can you do much to change the outcome by your own actions when the fighting is ongoing. Another important part of the game is holding court, where you invite certain people to your court (together with the ones that comes randomly), and through dialogue progress the story and advance your position. You also send people scouting around the map for resources, intel or new people – even a few quests.

Yes, Your Grace is an interesting game, a bit of a mix of different genres, and unlike any other game I have tried. The story is so-so, it has it’s plot twists and suspense. The graphics are pixel-art, and well made at that. It is reminiscent of older point-and-click adventure games, and looks very charming with plenty of details and colours. The gameplay is, as mentioned, an interesting mix-up, which works quite well. The music score is very fitting for the game, very medieval-ish. In total it creates a unique gaming experience, a slow-paced one where you have to use your brain to solve the issues of your kingdom. An enjoyable experience, that I can only recommend.