$5.39 (−40%)九州：商旅（Nine Provinces: Caravan） From a donkey to a merchant empire
Buy, sell and explore your way across an ancient continent, one caravan at a time.
Is 九州：商旅（Nine Provinces: Caravan） worth it?
九州：商旅（Nine Provinces: Caravan） is worth it if…
- you like trading sims where the profit comes from watching prices and routes, not from twitch reflexes
- you enjoy starting with almost nothing and slowly building a business into a guild
- you want a big map to explore at your own pace, city by city
- you have fond memories of classic trading games like Uncharted Waters or Taikou Risshiden
Screenshots
Run a business that starts small and grows with you
You begin with roughly 3,000 coins and one donkey, and that is the whole company. From there it is classic tycoon work: find goods that sell for more in the next city, save up, buy a proper wagon, and reinvest instead of resting on your profits. Later you can found a merchant guild, hire people, build facilities, and buy up market share in city after city. The game keeps finding things worth spending money on, so the number in your purse rarely stays comfortable for long. It plays at your own pace, with no timers pushing you along.
A continent of cities and rival traders
The map is huge, with so many cities that long sessions still turn up places you have not visited. Cities have their own economies and populations across five tiers, so a remote village can grow into a major trade hub if you invest in it. The roads are not empty either: other merchants travel them with real inventories and real budgets. Open a trade screen and you can see what a rival just bought and how little money he has left, hurrying to the next town to sell it. Every deal you make shifts what is worth carrying where.
What should you know before playing?
Can you play it solo?
Yes, it is a singleplayer game through and through. You play one merchant building a business alone on the continent, competing against computer-run traders and guilds rather than other people. There is no multiplayer mode, so nothing depends on finding a group to play with.
Is there combat, and what is it like?
There is, and it is turn-based. Bandits ambush caravans on the road, and you can fight them or try to run. Combat is a side dish rather than the main course: the heart of the game is trading and managing your business, and once your people are well equipped, fights tend to go your way.
How does the game look and sound?
It has a hand-drawn, retro look: 2D art in a style that recalls the classics of the genre, with illustrated characters and a map that reads like an old chart of the continent. The presentation is simple rather than flashy, and the calm pace matches it. If you care more about systems than graphics, that will not bother you.
What do you actually do day to day?
You travel between cities, check what is cheap here and dear there, and buy accordingly. Along the way you meet people, take on guild tasks, manage your fatigue and supplies, and decide whether to push on to one more town or rest. As your business grows, more of your time goes into hiring staff, equipping caravans and choosing which cities to invest in.
