Experience The Oregon Trail like never before. A modern twist on the trials and tribulations of the road to Oregon, this official successor to the global phenomenon will immerse players in exhilarating journeys ranging from the historically accurate to the totally extreme.
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I drank water from a pond then everyone in my party got dysentery and died.
I’m not the target audience for these type of management/sim games at all. I’m also not interested in the educational aspect or the setting of this game. The reason I tried this out is because it’s part of Apple Arcade and it has a positive reputation.
The game is clearly polished, the graphics are charming, it offers a lot of replay value and is a good game in its own right. My issues with it have more to do with the genre than anything wrong with the game, probably. It’s a lot of reading and supply management. Not so much the rest. I also don’t like it when things are perfectly fine and all of a sudden 2 of my party members become sick, one decides to leave us or something randomly bad happens outside of your control. They’re well fed, morale is high, have stamina and are clean and yet these things still happen. I’ve reached 2 towns and have seen 17% according to the in-game tracker. The game already started feeling repetitive and I didn’t see myself playing more.
Again, it doesn’t make it a bad game. It’s just niche and it probably won’t change your mind if you’re not into those games.
The game is clearly polished, the graphics are charming, it offers a lot of replay value and is a good game in its own right. My issues with it have more to do with the genre than anything wrong with the game, probably. It’s a lot of reading and supply management. Not so much the rest. I also don’t like it when things are perfectly fine and all of a sudden 2 of my party members become sick, one decides to leave us or something randomly bad happens outside of your control. They’re well fed, morale is high, have stamina and are clean and yet these things still happen. I’ve reached 2 towns and have seen 17% according to the in-game tracker. The game already started feeling repetitive and I didn’t see myself playing more.
Again, it doesn’t make it a bad game. It’s just niche and it probably won’t change your mind if you’re not into those games.
It's in the spirit of the original game, with some added features to make the game more interesting, such as branching paths and sidequests. I even enjoy the mini-game challenges, such as seeing how far I can go down the Columbia River.
Fun! If you're looking for the original experience, this is not it. But a lot of people are complaining that it's a cheap, mobile ripoff, and to that, it is very much not. It's got a great, unique art-style, and a whole boatload of new mechanics.
There's something about the original Oregon Trail that will stay true to my heart, but this is a faithful, contemporary adaption. It uses a little bit of RNG, mixed with a tiny bit of roguelite elements, and finally some basic inventory management and survival management to create this blend of really unique features that let it shine on its own.
It's also very fleshed out in all those regards. The main game is there, and it's challenging and fun. If you complete the game once, you unlock their version of hard mode, which ramps up the brutality even farther.
But what if you don't want all that difficulty? Don't worry, they have a peaceful mode too! And wait, there's more? What about going down the California Trail? What about multiple story modes, which focus on historical fictions rather than emergent gameplay? This isn't a simple affair, and it's not a "one-and-done" type of game. It's tough and will challenge you, but also allows players of all types to have fun with the adventure. Not to mention the accessibility options (most of which should be on by default, frankly), and the great attention to detail, both in terms of the old game, and in terms of historical facts, and in terms of diversity within the game, with a dedication to also highlight the perspectives of Native Americans during the period.
It's all just good stuff, and really unique. The game really stands out in the way it wants to play and present itself. Which is the key, at the end of the day. This version of Oregon Trail is its own game. It's not trying to be past games, and it's also not trying to reinvent the wheel. It's trying to bring those games everyone loved into the 21st century, with modern mechanics and game-design ideas, and a cinematic art perspective. And they did great!
There's something about the original Oregon Trail that will stay true to my heart, but this is a faithful, contemporary adaption. It uses a little bit of RNG, mixed with a tiny bit of roguelite elements, and finally some basic inventory management and survival management to create this blend of really unique features that let it shine on its own.
It's also very fleshed out in all those regards. The main game is there, and it's challenging and fun. If you complete the game once, you unlock their version of hard mode, which ramps up the brutality even farther.
But what if you don't want all that difficulty? Don't worry, they have a peaceful mode too! And wait, there's more? What about going down the California Trail? What about multiple story modes, which focus on historical fictions rather than emergent gameplay? This isn't a simple affair, and it's not a "one-and-done" type of game. It's tough and will challenge you, but also allows players of all types to have fun with the adventure. Not to mention the accessibility options (most of which should be on by default, frankly), and the great attention to detail, both in terms of the old game, and in terms of historical facts, and in terms of diversity within the game, with a dedication to also highlight the perspectives of Native Americans during the period.
It's all just good stuff, and really unique. The game really stands out in the way it wants to play and present itself. Which is the key, at the end of the day. This version of Oregon Trail is its own game. It's not trying to be past games, and it's also not trying to reinvent the wheel. It's trying to bring those games everyone loved into the 21st century, with modern mechanics and game-design ideas, and a cinematic art perspective. And they did great!
They merged pages and my stinkin review got deleted so here's it re-uploaded.
I bought this as a half-joke to maybe just toy around with and refund it but I ended up keeping it. I expected Classic Oregon Trail with a fresh coat of paint and I got much more than that - it's more mechanical, more random, more incentivized as a whole. I'd almost argue it justifies the $30 price point. (Almost.)
The core of Oregon Trail is maintained throughout: get to Oregon and make tactical and informed decisions on fighting every possible rank of crud and piss the world throws at you on the way. That much hasn't changed, but so many new systems are interwoven into the experience; branching pathways, the ability to start from any camp that has been visited for shorter playstyles, and my favorite being randomized character pools with additional skill building as you progress. What used to be a funny customization aspect of just granting your party funny names and sending them into the wild yonder to get sick and die has turned into a large system of random variables to add differentiating playstyles and new ways to develop adaptability in the player. Oregon Trail has never felt more varied nor more high-stakes. I'd go as far as to call it a roguelite at this point.
The Oregon Trail was the first video game I ever played, using every ounce of my spare computer time in preschool and elementary school trying to get as far as possible on the crustiest and slowest DOS computer you can imagine, and that core game still exists in here. Modernized, complexified, but without losing an ounce of its original essence.
Also the soundtrack is unexpectedly phenomenal and raw.
I bought this as a half-joke to maybe just toy around with and refund it but I ended up keeping it. I expected Classic Oregon Trail with a fresh coat of paint and I got much more than that - it's more mechanical, more random, more incentivized as a whole. I'd almost argue it justifies the $30 price point. (Almost.)
The core of Oregon Trail is maintained throughout: get to Oregon and make tactical and informed decisions on fighting every possible rank of crud and piss the world throws at you on the way. That much hasn't changed, but so many new systems are interwoven into the experience; branching pathways, the ability to start from any camp that has been visited for shorter playstyles, and my favorite being randomized character pools with additional skill building as you progress. What used to be a funny customization aspect of just granting your party funny names and sending them into the wild yonder to get sick and die has turned into a large system of random variables to add differentiating playstyles and new ways to develop adaptability in the player. Oregon Trail has never felt more varied nor more high-stakes. I'd go as far as to call it a roguelite at this point.
The Oregon Trail was the first video game I ever played, using every ounce of my spare computer time in preschool and elementary school trying to get as far as possible on the crustiest and slowest DOS computer you can imagine, and that core game still exists in here. Modernized, complexified, but without losing an ounce of its original essence.
Also the soundtrack is unexpectedly phenomenal and raw.
This is about what I remember of The Oregon Trail. I was initially worried that the game would be more focused on the plight of the indigenous people, but it does not detract from the main focus. As a matter of fact, the side stories that unlock additional items and classes were a very welcome addition, and I'm glad a substory that was strictly Native American was included. It's not the greatest version of Oregon Trail, but it is definitely a very good version.