Draconicus may or may not launch this week, on February 1st on Gamefound. This is no guarantee (the Gamefound page has been ominously silencious for weeks); but we don't have any other game launching in our calendar this week (hence no Watch Your Back post).
So, what's this game about? The goal of the game is to claim and fulfill a quest with your adventurer. And, contrary to what the game box advertises, a solo mode is included in the rules (I have checked so this morning).
A quest is made of two things; you need to recover four artifacts (which are cubes that spawn at a set distance orthogonally in four directions from the quest location) and gain influence over a religion, a magic school, a tribe, and a realm. Yes, I know, that's a lot. And how do you gain influence? By spending money, of course! So, this is a game about lobbying. And adventuring. In equal measures.
The whole game is powered by a worker placement mechanic. The game is divided into a set number of years, and in each year, you have four cubes that you can place on the "Action Board" to fulfill specific actions (in solo no one competes with you for the good spots). You can upgrade your fortress (to increase its gold revenue), move across the map (to recover the artifacts), or purchase influence over the relevant factions.
If you haven't fulfilled your quest by the end of the time track, you lose. Simple as that.
I'm really glad I had decided to rule it out since the shipping fees have just been revealed and for EU they amount to $70... Without VAT that need to be paid on top of that, of course. That's how an advertised $50 game ends up costing $150.