New Game Lets You Play Manager For The Renaissance’s Greatest Painters

The year is 1466, you’re master painter Andrea del Verrocchio and you have painting requests piling up like overdue bills. Under your wing is a talented apprentice by the name of Leonardo da Vinci. He is still a boy, and he has much to learn, despite your obligations. You have debts to pay back and your painters guild recently took a hit in the prestige department due to an unpopular war started by your main patronage family.

If just thinking about the scenario gives you hives, then proceed as the modern day joe you are. But if the thought of managing your own stable of Renaissance painters elicits a sly grin on your face, a la the Mona Lisa, Painters Guild could be the game for you.

In its current state, Painters Guild is part of Steam Greenlight, a subset of the popular gaming hub that democratizes the greenlighting of games on its platform.

The game’s current embodiment includes an alpha version of what would be the completed product. In it, you’re presented with the Verrocchio scenario detailed earlier.

The graphics are purposely rather elementary – this isn’t the work of Da Vinci, after all – with the gameplay, at least in the alpha, mirroring their simplicity. Still, the escalating demand of patrons, expensenses, apprenticing, fatigue, you name it, makes for a fairly addictive distraction. Not to mention that there are historical events that come up along the way that add to the list of grievances making it all the more fun.

Future versions of Painters Guild will use the famed city of Venice as a backdrop and will come outfitted with the ability to hire and procedurally create your own apprentices.

The full game promises to include all this and more, namely 250 years of historical gameplay, the ability to play as big shots like Michelangelo, Botticelli, and Caravaggio, customizable guild accessories and decorations, and the ability to paint in a variety of Renaissance art styles.Your inner Renaissance man or woman implores you to give it a shot.