Realism: Invictus is the Beyond the Sword version of the Civilization 4 mod that was formerly known “Total Realism” when it was being developed for Warlords expansion pack of Civilization 4. Our mod has been with Civ since the earliest days; it was, back when it was called just “Realism”, among the first comprehensive modpacks seeking to rebalance the game. For over a decade now, the mod continues its life and its evolution. For detailed statistics on what the mod adds, please check the features section.
This review may contain spoilers
It's a great mod.
But not just because of the all mechanics, graphical improvements or other little things, but because it made Civlilization a interesting and challenging game.
I can't say, that I'm an expert in this game, but it was quite easy to win without much effort, even on 'hard' difficulties. I was able to win easily with a minimal amount of management.
But after I player first time this piece of art I understood, how lame was I. The thing that knocked me down the most was the barbarian invasion (mostly because it happener in early-game, while I was totally unprepared). Suddenly a dozen of enemies per turn were attacking my cities letting me die in pains after 10-15 turns.
It was so awesome, because (after many, many tries) I actually learned to predict it and prepare my armies. It might not sound awesome, but just the fact, that you can lose so easily, and both learn some complicated strategies and have fun with it, is great.
Many peapole can say 'but it was in the vanilla game too'. It's true, but it wasn't such a breakthrought like here, and the history teaches us, that civilizations based more on such breakthroughts, than on actual evolution.
And the songs are great. There is no great game without great music.