The longer letter from Elvenar

The thing that made me stay comes first: nobody in Elvenar can attack my city. Not a neighbour, not a passing warlord, not a bored teenager at three in the morning. The world map is full of provinces I expand into by negotiating with goods or fighting the game's own encounters, and the players around me are people I trade with. It sounds like a small thing. It changes why you open the tab.

The art is the best I've seen in a browser game by a distance. Buildings are hand-drawn and animated, and the Elves and Humans get properly different versions of the same structures, so the choice at the start is a real one. Weekly tournaments and the occasional Fellowship Adventure give the cooperative side a rhythm without demanding you show up at a set hour.

The first week is slow. The research timers are long and the map takes a while to open up, so if you need fireworks on day one, this isn't the place. By day four it finds its pace and keeps it, and the shop never once got in my way. Of the five on the rack this is the one I'd write home from twice.