Uncertainty and second guessing are often accompanied by memorable moments in games driven by choice. When you know you can have a strong impact on the experience, the math feels real. Yes, Your Kindness is one of the most stressful games I've played, because it's not one decision or a great moment that explains everything; it's a decision that seems trivial and you don't know which ones will change your entire gaming situation. That kind of disorganization is fun and refreshing, but it's also unforgiving, and is often understood as making a lucky guess rather than using a clever strategy.
Yes, Your Grace is straight in the face, and it only takes a few hours to complete one run. Every week, people come to your kingdom with requests for money, resources, or help from top people. The game is about resource management; you have so much to go around, that you don't agree with everyone. When you run out of money or supplies, the game is over. However, you cannot admire the beauty and reap their rewards without giving a little. You can use the resources necessary to form a coalition to reach another army or to use the money up front to fund a guesthouse that offers a weekly cash cut. Whatever you do, your decisions get worse as chaos escalates and you prepare for a seemingly unrelated battle. This is the key to engaging for the most part, but it is repetitive because the process does not get the maximum amount of explosion required.
I like to gauge the cost of the needs of different people to find out how much I can judge weekly. At some point, I played it and saved it and didn't extend my resources for anything other than emergencies. At times, when I felt comfortable with the savings, I took the opportunity to help people get into a rut, and others were clearly not in the right frame of mind. Without spoiling any results, I can say that I wondered what it cost – but those claims can be frustrating rather than rewarding because it doesn't feel like a strategy that is too broad in my decisions. I am comparing that feeling of not k nowing the answer to a multiple choice test and I guess just the answer. Sometimes you use your precious resources and get a fraction back, or you have more and more risk and eventually be rewarded. In a heavy literary adventure, when the gameplay becomes king and makes difficult decisions, it sounds like a lost opportunity to not make decisions more rewarding.
My first play, I played strangely and I struggled to make a living, sometimes I had to reload a day saving because that was so close between the life and death of my kingdom. The second time around, I helped as many people as possible, but I sacrificed my family's happiness as a lost cause – and I was making no money. My biggest annoyance with Yes, Your Kindness was I couldn't figure out what kind of plan it was intended for. You are instructed to be careful about what you allow, but certain dangerous prospects and total spending eventually bear fruit; many times carelessness or cunning work for me. It also moves on to more than one option, such as always being tolerant of the importance of a particular wedding and making an impression, which also distorts expectations. Finally, many random events (which you cannot plan) can accumulate and end your reign, leaving you feeling that you are going to fall short from the start.
Aside from these bizarre moments, of course, Your Kindness paints shades of gray and asks interesting questions. Before one war, I stood up when I had to choose between unreliable allies: A man saved countless lives on the battlefield but tortured his wife, and the rest of the party is a lie (but that design makes people feel better). Yes, Your Grace is a good story, and there is no "good choice." The game has many edges, some more satisfying than the others. But just because you have certain options does not mean you can avoid difficulties. What stuck with me the most was how I was forced into horrible situations because I had no other options. It feels bad as expected, like when I had to close a starving community because I couldn't leave money or a supplier to help them rebuild. Sometimes I connect with people I wasn't sure were nice, because I needed help. Even though this aspect was troubling you, and working for the role you are in – the king will always have to give up and He, Your Grace will do a wonderful job in showing this misery.
These negative effects are not supported in your decisions as a player. Some of these are simply part of the growing narrative, such as forcing your daughter to marry. Yes, Your Grace is a basic matter of administering the kingdom and going to war, but it is very clear in the way it makes it known that the king is in a relationship with his three daughters. Seeing them bonded and growing is exciting, and this story does a wonderful job of connecting you to the king and his country. In a game with barebones, it gave me something to strive for.
I enjoyed it, of course, for your gracious decisions, but sometimes it is very tempting to make sure the player fails. Carefully evaluating my decisions sounds like trash when it doesn't change some results or put my kingdom in a good position. I agree that the choices are not black-and-white, and I have fond memories of the king and his daughters, especially the youngest in his quest for the right pet. But Yes, Your Kindness needs to look more and look at some of the content to see better, repeatable results than eye-opening.