Generally, video games are made up of specific rules and boundaries. The player then goes through the game bound by these guidelines. You are essentially working through a prescribed regimen that the developers have set out for you. Whether you are shooting bad guys to save the hostages, fighting monsters to escape a dungeon, or building an army to conquer an opponent, you are basically playing a game in the very limited way it is meant to be played.

Generally, the games that stick out of the crowd are the ones that successfully mask these boundaries and create a simulated freedom where you are playing the game in whatever way you want. eGenesis's A Tale in the Desert 2 is an example of one of these games. It is taken even one step further; not only do players have an incredible amount of freedom, but everything you do affects the game world in some way.

Essentially, A Tale in the Desert 2 is a new concept where players log in to a persistent world and work together to build a living, breathing, thriving society. Set in ancient Egypt, players start out with nothing at all and must decide for themselves what they aspire to become. This is probably one of the most daunting ideas for new players. Accustomed to being given directions on what to do, you may be rather confused as you begin in such a large and confusing environment. Here is where the game's community comes into play. The mentor system ensures that someone will always be willing to get you going on your way to becoming a citizen. Otherwise, you can simply read one of the several tutorials available on guide websites.

Your first task should be becoming a citizen. Before this, you are limited to what you can learn from schools and universities, so it's best to become a citizen right away. After gathering resources such as grass, sand, slate, and wood, you begin to build the various things needed. Building a wood plane will let you cut wood into boards. Building a brick rack will let you make bricks and set them out to dry. First, however, you need to gather grass and set it out to dry in the sun, then use mud and sand to form bricks. These are used in the building of many structures and tools in the game.

At first, the ATITD2 may seem like a crafting game. However, there is really much more to it. Every aspect of Egyptian society is controlled and created by the player. This means that many of the laws that are set in place were proposed and voted on by players, towns you visit were built by players, etc. Some areas even become polluted by the various industrious complexes built by players.

There are seven disciplines that you can work toward: Leadership, Thought, Human Body, Architecture, Worship, Conflict, and Art. Each of these disciplines have seven tests you must complete to master it. For instance, if you wish to build large and impressive structures and monuments, you should focus on the Architecture discipline. The first test is to build a tent for your supplies. This may seem simple at first, but it involves dozens of steps and a lot of work to complete. You'll need to learn Large Project Management from your school, which requires rope and canvas as tuition. These require twine, which comes from flax, which is grown from flax seeds. To spin twine into rope, you'll need a distaff, which requires wood, etc. You get the idea. Other disciplines, like the Human Body, have rather different tests. The first test here involves finding specific things in a 20 minute time frame. Throughout the tests of the Human Body, you will travel across Egypt, ideal for players who love to explore. Although you may feel like focusing on one specific discipline, it is often helpful to complete at least one test in each.

Compared to other games where crafting and building are essential, I found ATITD2 to be unique in that it is not always about loading materials and pressing a button. For instance, in order to grow flax you must have flax seeds. You can get three seeds by visiting a School of Art, and then grow plants and harvest their seeds to have more. When you plant a seed, it will slowly grow into a flax plant. If you don't weed it, it will start to produce seeds. This seems simple enough, just plant lots of flax, and keep gathering their seeds until the plant dies. After you have gathered quite a few seeds you can then plant these and keep them weeded, in order to produce actual flax. However, in order to do this effectively you need to be quick. If you miss weeding a plant, it will grow seeds and no longer be suited for producing flax. In some ways, this entire process is more of a game of reflex. I eventually worked out a routine where I would quickly lay down three rows of ten or so plants and then stand in the center. Then, when weeds popped up I would have to quickly weed them before they went "to seed." In this fashion, many actions in the game require some degree of skill to be done efficiently, rather than simply grinding away for hours to produce a result. I had a lot of fun just coming up with new strategies and techniques to produce resources more efficiently.

One of the most interesting features in ATITD2 that was not in the last phase or "telling" is the construction of compounds. Many tools must be built inside compounds, where are large structures built by players. This way, Egypt tends to look a lot more like a civilized town in that there are buildings with tools and things inside, rather than things simply scattered across the landscape. These structures are built based on one of several pre-designed plans but can later be changed in many ways. Bringing up the blueprint for your compound will allow you to complete alter anything you see fit. You can add more rooms, place columns, change the floor, paint the walls, change the brick style, and much more. When you are finished designing you can then start loading materials into the building. When all of the required materials are loaded (depending on what was changed) your building will then change to reflect the design you created.

I also noticed that there were virtually no disruptive or "grief players" in the game. This is probably because it would take a lot of concentration and organization to learn how to pester other players in the game. As most grief players can't tie their shoes without the help of a nursery rhyme, the general community of ATITD2 seems to be quite helpful and mature. While this is a good thing in any game, it is especially helpful here where cooperation and communication are such huge aspects when it comes to completing tests later on.

I found A Tale in the Desert 2 to be really quite refreshing. It was nice to play a game where combat wasn't a factor and there was a truly new style of gameplay. So many developers just stick to a recipe and come up with a variation of another game. Very few actually come up with their own genre, as eGenesis has done here. If the idea of playing a game where you live out a realistic and complex life, help to build a successful civilization, and can interact and cooperate with others to build shops, cities, works of art, or anything at all appeals to you, A Tale in the Desert 2 is definitely the best choice; coincidentally it is the only choice in this genre.