Jayden likes to mind his own business. It’s the best way to survive in the favela. When an unfortunate set of events force him from the shadows of insignificance, he finds himself in the crosshairs of the biggest, baddest, crime lord in whole of the favela, the one and only, Terisco.
Fortunately, lady luck is shining on Jayden in the form of a mysterious Goddess who places him smack bang in the middle of a power struggle between two of the richest men in Texatron. One thinks he can mold any Tom, Dick or Harry into the greatest civilization builder of all time, rivalling even the King of Avila, Bilda FOH Smartown, while the other thinks he’ll fall flat on his face.
Propelled to the virtual world of Avila Online, Jayden has six months to build his civilization up to rival that of Bilda or he’ll be thrown out and have to face Terisco’s retribution.
4x Four Hex is a LitRPG Civ builder tale with stats and levels.
Audio currently going through quality control.
Features turn based fighting and playing card heroes.
For lovers of settlement building tales.
My Opinion: 520 pages, $3.95, Available On Kindle Unlimited
Besides the initial building of the first mud hut, the main character (MC) really doesn't do much. He kinda gets led around by the nose with everything getting explained to him.
Also, all the conflicts are managed for him. About to get swindled out of a sweet mine? Someone rescues him. Need to make the best deal to mine? Someone tells him just what to negotiate. Not sure how to develop the territory, what to build, or how to use resources? Great, someone shows up each time to direct him. The MC is even power leveled so that he doesn't have to risk his life.
The game mechanics are a little mixed with real time combat for monster fighting but turn based combat for PvP. There are also standard stats, XP, skills, classes, etc. But classes just unlock abilities as the MC levels, in his case new buildings he can build. Actual building is gamified with drag and drop options, though there's an option to build things by hand the long way. About 30% in, the kingdom building starts with more citizens coming in and the MC needing to balance his resources, build housing, build specialty structures like a mill, quarry, walls, barracks, etc.
There's also an odd personality conflict. The MC IRL is poor and lives and works among the mafia and criminals. Yet, in-game he's uber trusting and follows the advice and direction of complete strangers. It felt like he'd be more worldly and suspicious given his rough upbringing.
Things mostly go the MCs way until about 50% into the story when he faces his first big challenge to his budding kingdom. It's also about that point when this chosen one thing happens with the MC. It felt like the story gained more of a purpose than just growing a town to please win a bet for some rich guys. It’s gained more non-town building adventures.
Overall, I enjoyed was a miss for me. The fighting was fine and I liked the strategy mechanics, though the mix of real time and turn based didn’t quite work out. The pacing and resource management aspects aren't going to be for everyone. The mechanics of the story revolve around gathering resources, managing them, building and upgrading various structures, hiring and assigning citizens, and a bunch of other strategy and 4X game stuff. If that doesn't seem interesting to you, you may not enjoy large parts of this novel. But if it is interesting to you, pick this up.
Score: 6 out of 10