Qvadriga

Qvadriga is a turn-based tactics chariot racing game. Players assume the role of a chariot team owner, and they must assign drivers (aurigae) and horses (quadrigae) to compete in races. Races take place over three laps from a top-down perspective and are held on Greek hippodromes or Roman circuses. In the hippodrome races, chariots line up on a starting line in the middle of the arena; whereas in the circuses, chariots burst out of the curved carceres located at an end.

Races are divided into 10-second time periods which constitute a turn, the game can be set to pause at every turn or run seamlessly in real-time. At each turn, the player can issue an order to the driver; they may change speed, change lane, attack or defend against the other competitors. Players must control their speed while cornering or their chariot may flip, causing the horses to drag the riders along the ground by the reins. As the race progresses, fallen horses and chariots may form obstacles on the track.

Qvadriga was developed by Spanish video game designer Daniel Lopez Soria operating under the Turnopia label. He was initially inspired to create the game by the 1979 chariot racing board game Circus Maximus. Qvadriga features forty-three hippodromes and circuses, all of which Lopez modelled after real-life historical examples. Lopez used satellite and aerial imagery in his research, and consulted John H.

Humphrey's 1986 reference work Roman Circuses: Arenas for Chariot Racing. He was also able to visit circuses nearby to him on the Iberian peninsula, such as those in Mérida, Miróbriga, and Toledo. To create the artwork for the venues, Lopez turned to Eduardo Barragán, who he discovered after seeing Barragán's 3D reconstructions of Ancient Rome on YouTube. Pedro Alcaide composed the soundtrack.

Reviews aggregation website Metacritic awarded the PC version 72/100, indicating a lukewarm critical response. Write-ups not included in the Metacritic calculation, such as those from Rock Paper Shotgun and Wargamer, as well as coverage of the mobile version, were more positive. Following a positive review in March 2014, Rock Paper Shotgun named it the best racing game of 2014 in their "Bestest Bests" Game of the Year series of articles in December. Softpedia named it runner-up racing game of the year in their annual round-up.

Reviewers generally found that while the graphics were unappealing, the interface was effective at conveying information and controlling the action. Critics found the gameplay tense and engaging, with some highlighting situations where surviving a race, or successfully attacking an opposing team, was more important strategically than winning an event. The lack of multiplayer was noted by some as a missed opportunity, though the developer acknowledged that implementing such a feature would require a huge effort.