Theocracy

There are two modes of playing: province view, and realm view.

In province view, the player view a particular province under their control/attack. Here they assign tasks to their persons, however time stands still here, and the player must go to realm view for time to move and their actions to take effect. There is a time-scale in realm view, along with a hand-drawn map of Central America, showing all the province borders, and using colour-code to show which of the eight factions controls it.

In Theocracy, the player is the leader of the Atlan tribe (a fictional tribe), who has escaped from oppression under the Axocopans, and now must improve their tribe in order to survive in Central America. As the player's empire's borders expands, the player is able to conduct diplomacy with other tribes.

The game also allows players to play through several "Chronicles", a set of objective-based missions detailing supposed heroes of Aztec history. These mostly serve for tutorial purposes rather than being a serious part of the game however.

The development on Theocracy began when developer Philos Laboratories hired several new employees who had previous experience developing the game Perihelion: The Prophecy. It was decided that they would develop a new strategy title, with the goal of merging aspects of the games Command & Conquer and Civilization. The setting was decided by the game's graphic artists, deciding on an Aztec theme. Development continued for two years, with a planned release in spring 1999.

However, in March 1999 publisher Interactive Magic had decided to abandon boxed releases for their future titles, putting Theocracy in jeopardy. Philos eventually managed to buy back the publishing rights, and started updating the game to allow for a future release. These changes included redrawing most of the games graphics, switching the game resolution to 800x600, and the addition of "chronicles". The French publisher Ubisoft picked up the publishing rights, and work began on finishing the game for release.

Theocracy received mixed reviews upon its release. Its strongest praise came from Eurogamer, with one reviewer stating that the game's "mix of real time and turn based strategy means that Theocracy takes place on a far larger canvas than a purely real time game ever could." The reviewer praised its wide scope and original ideas, separating it from many of its contemporaries. The British publication PC Zone was also impressed with the games originality, describing it as being "as refreshing as a pint of lager after a chicken vindaloo, and definitely worth shouting about."

Other members of the press were less impressed, causing the game to only score a 72 on MobyGames. Reviewers criticized the game as being simple and archaic, while at the same time others thought that the interface was cumbersome and the learning curve was too steep.