This is an interesting 4X-RPG hybrid, and the pdf has truly fantastic art, but the presentation of the rules is so haphazard that I can't in good faith recommend it to any but the most persistent readers. While the book's presentation might guide you through the process of filling out a character sheet, knowing how to actually play the game is another matter entirely. The actions one can take during one's turn are spread through multiple chapters, with limitations on those actions listed in charts in yet other chapters, and the headings of those charts are misleading except in the context of yet other chapters. The complexity of the game combined with its poor presentation is utterly unacceptable for a game that strongly suggests that each player plays the role of GM during the campaign. It's simply impractical, and I would be surprised if a single group outside their playtesters actually plays the game that way.

For example, one can perform a "basic action" which is contained in its own chapter. That's fine. Except there are also Caste abilities, World Anchor abilities, Landmark abilities, Follower abilities, and Relic abilities to which that chapter doesn't even allude. The System Mastery chapter lists other abilities, some of them crucial such as enacting martial law to decrease Unrest. The Culture tables limit the use of some of these abilities in ways that are rarely mentioned or completely absent in the body text; for example, Progress Equilibrium is only described once (and is actually violated in the intro "example play" summary!). The Wealth Culture lists "Max Landmarks," but that's actually double the maximum landmarks per territory, as the listed value is supposed to be the maximum landmarks permissible in the Tribe Bastion. These are just a small sampling of the egregious miscommunications present in the text, and I won't even start in on the typos from leftover placeholder terms (e.g., a Scion's physical defense being called Resilience in some places and Fortitude in others, or Discovery and Exploration being used as equivalent terms).

IN SUMMARY: The game itself is promising to 4X fans and, to me, represents a "rules heavy" alternative to one of my favorite recent games, Microscope. The book has beautiful art, but the text requires a slow read front-to-back, and even then, probably requires any serious player to reorganize the information into a personal cheat-sheet. Hardcore rules-lawyers only.