A strategy game where you cant save?
Brutal.
50 years takes 50 turns a game, its an hour or so at most.
The game ends when you lose a battle, you get attacked now and then, its sorta random but stays the same if you do the same things. Simple to play, tough to master, seriously, you'll go mad on Very Hard difficulty.

There are 10 different countries to play as and each has its own traits you should take advantage of while discovering the different playstyles you can use to win a game. Will you go with Religion and Angels or go with nature and Unicorns? Why not mix both and let the Minotaurs come and play.

Most achievements are based on difficulty and passing challenges, you're going to need to learn how to play properly to get the 100% you want. I loved the zombie chickens challenge.

If you are having trouble with very hard difficulty, you could follow some walkthroughs available in the steam guide section but they dont always work since lots of battles are different depending on the day and even what Dens RNG gives you on your run but if you keep failing, just can just give up for that day and do special challenges instead, the next day battles will be different and maybe more favourable.

Note that special games (challenges) do not allow to unlock country or difficulty achievements.

The art and music is nothing to write home about, its an old game with a Newgrounds/Kongregate Flash feel, still, I've always liked my games more for gameplay and mechanics than graphics, so it's a pass from me on that front.

The real meat of the game is the challenge, how will you use your 50 turns to beat the final attack where hundreds of soldiers come at you? me? I liked to turn them all into zombie chickens!

50 Years is very frustrating at first but gets super fun once you create your own system of record keeping to plan your runs, write down what you did so next time you can do it a little differently. I am not sure if this game would be better with saving or not since the threat of permadeath is always something enjoyable once you beat it.

Made this guide cuz I made lots of notes as I went unlocking the very hard wins achievements and wanted to share them, all countries play a little different but when you get down the main strategy is just a matter of little adjustments.

The first day I failed Greek (Very hard) like 15 times in a row, tried to follow the guide here:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/app/502740/guides/

But the fights were different because, thats how the game works and I got very frustrated.
So I watched a few more videos and read the steam forums and I learned.

Took to google spreadsheets and noted down what I built each year and the enemies I faced, so when I got wiped out, I would try thigs a little different, when I used my gold to buy 6 peasants instead of 3 knights and I didnt get attacked, I noted it down as a win, when I did get attacked and lost, wrote it down and bought a few troops instead, etc.

So yeah, here are my notes, if you're having trouble with the game, take a look!

Here is the link to my google spreadsheet, I'll try to paste the data in later sections though, in case you dont like google spreadsheets for any reason.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hlmkvOrd8a5EGeFQ2ZX5qr3ayzBOyb3VLK8SIW9-0x4/

Spreadsheet Notes:
My troop records might be off in some places, Im sorry.

When recruiting E or Pa, its -1K
When I turn Druids into Tigers, I add extra Ts and remove the Ds.
An / denotes that actions happened before/after scout

S: = Scouting Mission
B: = Picked a Belief

S.Scroll = Shrinking Scroll from
C.Scroll = Chicken Scroll from

-Scouting Missions-
PC: Poacher's Camp
CG: Chicken Graveyard
MA: Minotaur Arena
Fog: Foggy Swamp
BD: Beast's Den
LM: Lost Mine
SF: Sinister Forest
SS: Shrinking Shrine
MF: Magical Field
TM: The Mirror
DS: Devil's Seal

-Unit Abbreviations-
P-Peasant/Militia
S-Swordsman
K-Knight
Pa-Paladin
E-Exorcist
An-Angel
A-Archer
D-Druid
U-Unicorn
M-Minotaur
H-Hydra
Z-Chicken Zed
CP-Converted Militia (Using B:Preach)

-Building Abbreviations-
Sht-Shooting Gallery
Oak-Druid Oak Tree
Forest-Enchanted Unicorn Forest

These are some of my personal observations, hope they help if you are having troubles.

I got Triumph achievement by playing the Egyptians on Normal, no Chicken Devil and not using scrolls, at Y50 I did not call any militia, I did use a Shrinking Scroll for the Y51 fight.

Sometimes, when Im recording my movements, I see the Year displayed wrong, like, it didnt go up 1 but then it fixes itself, its super weird.

Careful game runthroughs are around 2 to 3 hours tops, you can do them in under an hour if you really dont stop to write down stuff, so dont despair if you fail a run, learn from the mistakes or unjust surprises and try again.

It's very important to get your income upgraded early, this includes Faith and Wood.
The key to winning at this difficulty is to balance your defense against income production.

Revive Belief will save you tons of money.

Get the Fury belief, its awesome.

Save scrolls for the tough fights at Year 40&49 or 50, get both scrolls from beliefs.
You can use Fury belief to survive Y25 or use one of the scrolls.
Once you are an expert at the game, you wont need scrolls.

Dont underestimate the last dens, they might end your run.

Druids and Hydras are awesome.

Dens can change every run, I like the Beast Den the most.

Battles may change depending on the day, what and when you build and even if a militia is used on a battle or not, if during your run you get to a unwinnable fight, try a fight with an extra militia, attack a den earlier, build things differently or just try another real life day.

There is a high chance battles will stay the same when doing the same actions, even if you do all orders the same but do a chicken grave instead of a poacher's camp, that might change the battles.

That said, if you lost at Year 34 and want to prepare for that fight, dont build that Church 1 year earlier, stay with your build/recruit order to keep battles consistent.
Sometimes I would forget to do a scouting mission and battles would change, messing my previous failed run records, so I had to restart.

Its very rare to go for more than 3 years without a fight, if it happens, prepare for a big fight.

I feel the game eases up on you if you barely survived a battle.

Zombie Chickens are great to absorb enemy's druid shots.

Get lots of peasants early, using a single swordsman hired at Y1, if you cant afford a peasant, get a hut, try to build a church around Y10 so you can get a belief quick, pick Forest or Miners, depending on the country youre playing as.

You need to have a healthy Faith income, you will need several beliefs for 2 scrolls and maybe Fury, always try to go for the Monastery and Cathedral before Year 30.

But around Year 30, you should also have 30 peasants and working towards getting 40. Always pick making more peasants over troops if you feel you can afford to, sometimes the game will send a ridiculous army against you, just restart and try different build orders but dont try to sacrifice gold/faith income and try to overcome that unfair 50 swordsman wave at Year 20, if you do things differently, you'll get easier fights. Most of your failed runs will be around Year 10 to 30.

The equality belief (Revive) is super useful to save money, if you are confident your valuable troops wont die, skip it.

On Year 25, you need either the Fury belief or a very strong army because 2 Minotaurs and 2 Hydras will attack. If all your troops die, you can rest assured the 9 Tigers from Fury will let you continue the run, mostly but you still need troops to survive until Y25, so if you are going the Fury route, balance troop recruiting between staying alive and knowing all your troops will die.

On year 40, 5 Hydras and 4 Minotaurs will attack, you need a scroll for this fight, either get one from Miners->Scroll of Shrinking or Fat Chickens->Zombie Chickens Beliefs.

*Note: Its not always Minos and Hydras, some days its Unicorns and Druids.

On year 50, it is advised to use another scroll, the one from the other belief you didnt pick.

Scouting can give you great advantages like the Beast's Den, extra Faith/Gold or Unicorns can Heal but since scout missions are random each run, dont depend on them too much.
A chicken graveyard can help you delay a Cow pasture being built by a few turns or a Poacher's camp can do the same plus extra income, they can change the game's flow.

I recorded the final battles on each country I won with, not the best, but there it is.
Honestly, they all go pretty much the same with the chicken ending, haha.

https://youtu.be/ENjqc9aDOo4

Greeks: 0:00
Americans: 0:3:44
British: 05:49
Russians: 06:53
Japanese: 08:30
French: 11:30
Celts: 13:20
Byzantines: 14:50
Egyptians: 19:35
Romans: 21:40
Triumph: 22:42
Achievement Showcase: 24:22

I sometimes didnt write down the final 2 turns because I was recording it in video but at that point is always the same, fight turn 49, replenish troops on 50 then use a Scroll on the final battle and win.

That said, its highly likely that the battles you'll face will be different than mine's, however, the fights I wrote could give you an idea of the required troops you need to have to win a similar battle.

Lots of times, 2 of my units died but were revived due to B:Revive, I didnt write those deaths and resurrections on the Losses/Deaths column. Tiger deaths were also generally omitted.

This was my first country I tried to win on very hard, lost like 15 times until eventually I won but I kept messy and incomplete notes, I promise the others are better.

You cant recruit Druids, Minotaurs, Hydras or Unicorns (although you can BUILD their bases).
Angels are ok.

I lucked out and got an extra Shrinking Scroll from a Den and for some reason, I dont know why, my record keeping on this one was all sloppy, Im very sorry, maybe the nerves? It was my last country so I could get 100% achievements.