Advancity
hi there
congratulations on the game, im loving it. for people who like build an empire and have to think strategically to defeat the monster i really recomend this game.
– Real player with 25.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best City Builder Management Games.
I’ve been playing the game for about 14 hours now and while it was fun at start, some things started to annoy me:
-
First off, a dev who claimed (in discord) this game is worthy of a full release, which obviously is not the case).
-
Too many plots are taken by bandit camps and mining plots
-
Boats are buggy and can break sometimes (not allowing you to load resources on it)
-
It needs more optimization, i have a great pc but even for me the game started stuttering (ingame and sound)
-
Bandit camps need balancing. I have them with only kings, which requires a max level training field. By the time i can defeat them i have no more need for such resources you can get from them.
– Real player with 15.0 hrs in game
Diplomacy is Not an Option
In the RTS-game “Diplomacy is Not an Option” you will become a medieval feudal lord in a midlife crisis. Due to your position you must constantly make hundreds of decisions a day related with city management and economic development. You are tired of this monotonous and, so it seems, meaningless existence. But things are about to change: hordes of bloodlusted enemies, swarms of scary monsters and crowds of rebellious peasants at any second can bring some life to your working schedule.
War-time laws
The country is going through difficult times. King’s greed and wastefulness led to the economic crisis and widespread peasant riots. You are a feudal lord. It happened so that, being fed up of routine and everyday problems, you’ve lost a taste for life. When an angry mob besieges your castle you perceive this news with an extraordinary enthusiasm, personally lead the defense and win a glorious victory.
Your role in the riots suppression is noticed at the court. The crown sends you on a responsible mission. Rumors are, there are deposits of gold and other precious materials on a poorly explored continent. The task is to take control under foreign land, obtain its treasures in order to replenish the king’s coffer. Though they forgot to warn that the natives won’t be glad to see you. In addition, there are monsters on the continent, and local mages are actively practicing necromancy.
What sacrifices will you make for the sake of survival and victory? Or maybe you should stop this suicidal campaign and overthrow the king? Don’t you deserve to rule the world?
Physical laws
The laws of physics are thoroughly reproduced in Diplomacy is Not an Option to maximize player immersion in a medieval war action. Tens of thousands of units can fight on the screen at the same time.
Here are several helpful tips:
-
Every gun has its certain range, and medieval shells fly by an arc trajectory.
-
Arrows do not pierce stone walls. On contrary, arrows bounce off the walls.
-
Archers on the towers have blind spots. Closed gates can become an obstacle not only for the enemy, but also for your retreating units.
-
You may discover other interesting facts about the nature of things that may become useful for combat operations.
Social laws
Surviving hostile environments is an important part of the gameplay. Even the most loyal of your citizens tend to die from time to time. From various causes, such as illness, old age, depression, or being seriously hurt on the battlefield. When this happens, it is strongly recommended to bury the dead in order to avoid epidemics and the moral decay of society.
Economical laws
Economic processes in “Diplomacy is Not an Option” are visible. You will see how walls are being built stone by stone. Or how a fallen tree is cut into boards, from which the city will then be raised. The feudal lord does not need to take part in the affairs of his subjects. However, such visibility will help you to manage human resources with more efficiency. As a ruler, you will lead people, give them specialization and, so to say, the meaning of life. Every member of the society is important, from a lumberjack or a carpenter to an undertaker or a swordsman. Once set up, with a proper support the economic process will become a key to survival and also will let you to focus on mission objectives.
Magical laws
What do we say to the gods of death, whether they are on an uncharted continent or in our own reach? “Bury the bodies immediately!” – we answer to these gods. Otherwise every fallen warrior and every lumberjack died from overstrain has risk to join the enemy forces. Also the dead are a very wayward. If you demolish a cemetery and disturb their sleep, they shall rise and begin to wreak havoc, reducing the population of the living.
Life laws
We sought to create a game without unnatural limitations. From the very first task, you will be given the entire available arsenal, and all the in-game mechanics will be unlocked. It depends on you which strategy to choose for your city to survive and prosper. Knowledge of the all listed laws will help you to complete different missions with various ultimate goals and types of enemies. During your campaign you will face moral dilemmas. You will see human stupidity and shortsightedness, leading to fatal consequences. Just like in real life. The only difference is that conflicts cannot be avoided.
Read More: Best City Builder Tower Defense Games.
Shadowbane
First of all, this game is absolutely worth playing if you are into oldschool PvP MMOs. No other game allows such in-depth character customization. Sandbox elements are present but are not annoying to the end of being “chop trees to gather lumber”. “Sandbox” here is actually building cities and demolishing your enemies' cities in sieges, hiring AI mercenaries to craft items which is another good part of this game, crafting isn’t about gathering 10 dragon scales and 1 mummy dust by repetitively killing monsters, it’s more about having mercenaries of right races placed in your forges and having resources from right zones in general, even city building (if you happen to own / manage one) is as simple as placing the building on the city grid and waiting several hours for it to go up in one click.
– Real player with 1573.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best City Builder MMORPG Games.
Overall an exceptionally poor experience.
So why do I have so many hours you ask? 1) nostalgia and 2) I played with friends, but neither of those points are positives to the game in particular. And also do not be mistaken, for an RPG 80% of this playtime was sitting afk while leeching experience from macro-bots which is what everyone uses.
So this game is mislabeled as a PVP title. It isn’t. It’s actually a zerg v zerg title and those battles are decided by sheer numbers. If it was a pvp game, you’d have skills which synergize with each other to allow for good and creative builds. Builds which later you can learn to play and get better as you get more accustomed to playing your toon. Not the case here. At first glance you have SO many races, professions and disciplines to combine that the options eem endless…until you realize that every profession has no more than 2 ways to build it if you want to be in any way viable. Yes, you CAN be a minotaur that uses unarmed fighting, except due to weapon skill restrictions (built into the races) and stat caps you’ll never be more than 20% of the strength of a proper polearm minotaur.
– Real player with 1121.8 hrs in game
Open The Gates!
The emperor has lost control over his kingdom! Now he has appointed you as the leader of a new conquest. Battle absolutely crazy enemies in this genre blending indie game. Build a charming castle and enjoy the little sounds and atmosphere of each world while you prepare your army to bring down the arrogant bastards who oppose you! Embark on the journey and you may yet find yourself remembering it fondly when it ends.
Open The Gates! is a sidescrolling castlebuilder RTS game where you build a castle and try to keep the citizens happy. They need food, shelter, safety and perhaps some ale if you can spare it. Deal with criminals and catch rats who spread disease. Manage your economy and build an army powerful enough to break through the enemy defense line.
Attack & Defend
-
Construct walls and towers to stall the enemy and prevent them from breaking into your castle.
-
Build a fearsome army to turn the tide of war and launch a siege on the enemy castle.
-
Use siege weapons such as the ladderman, the catapult and the siege tower to take over enemy walls.
Build & Manage
-
Construct houses, inns, jailhouses, hospitals and more to keep your citizens happy.
-
Build lumber camps, quarries and charcoal makers to supply your kingdom with resources.
-
Use your resources to construct mighty armies and destroy the opponent!
Explore & Strategize
-
Construct hot air balloons to explore the skies and travel between mystical floating islands.
-
Build settlements across all worlds and enjoy the unique atmosphere that they each bring.
-
Use your wits to contemplate a plan and execute it. Victory will be yours!
Coronation
For that price literally no brainer, gem.
Unique features in its genre, also across genres. A diamond in the rough.
The game is more deep than it looks - 14 various skills.
1 - Automatization of eating while running or doing other activities, batch automating mining, not just clicking - so it is not burdensome way aspect of survival
2 - Unique quests system, - Quest navigating orientation with an exclamation mark directly over the world scenery, with clever informative popup messages automatically fading out after a few seconds or after completing the quests reflecting it’s state, scrollable -not taking up the entire display.
– Real player with 508.9 hrs in game
Despite still being so early in its development, this is a very fun game. The devs are very responsive to community feedback and surprisingly quick to fix issues for such a small team. If you are looking for a full out medieval sims game… it’s not quite there yet, but if you enjoy designing castles and fighting bandits, it’s already good to go.
– Real player with 473.5 hrs in game
Songs of Syx
TL;DR: Paid full $25 USD. Definitely worth it, great balance between DF and Rimworld while doing it’s own new thing. Saves not migrating versions stinks, but understandable for a complex EA game.
Amazing. Still EA and some missing features, but what is here is very well built!
I was initially turned off this game because I played a much earlier demo, but this game has grown into something truly impressive! Games in this genre tend to fall under “Dwarf Fortress” or “Rimworld”, and often fail to measure up to either. Songs of Syx strikes right between DF’s sense of scale (but then skyrockets past it as your city-state grows), and Rimworld’s friendlier UX allowing you to actually enjoy playing (but UX scaled for a massive city-state, not a couple dozen colonists).
– Real player with 242.7 hrs in game
TLDR: 8/10 (Humble aesthetics, clunky UI, but does the game play have a real arse on it…)
Songs of Syx is an increasingly curious city-builder. Though it clearly has a bit of development to undergo (0.56 is the version I am reviewing), it is making leaps and bounds with each update. Sure, maybe it’s not a whole lot to look at and things are a bit muddy and cluttered, but that’s forgivable since its function is handled with such care.
Concept
This isn’t your typical hands-on city-builder or village survival game. While it shares a lot of ground with games like Rimworld or Dwarf Fortress, it’s functionally its own game thanks to your inability to manage individual citizens. Which is kind of a blessing, since you don’t want to be able to nit and pick when you’ve bloated to a city with 1,000+ people.
– Real player with 214.6 hrs in game
Empires and Tribes
Empires and Tribes offers a lot of what I’ve been searching for in years: a medieval city and castle building game with a lot of freedom to build what you want almost anywhere you want it. But it still needs a lot of improvements to get there…
The positives:
-
a pure medieval city/castle bulding game (no wizards, dragons etc.)
-
beautiful graphics
-
a high level of freedom in building and forming your city and castle keep
-
a lot of citizen/worker activity (makes your city come alive)
-
You can walk through your city in 1st person and build in 3rd person.
– Real player with 91.9 hrs in game
I really like the game so far!! I now wonder, as a noble and probably the future King/Emperor, will the player have the chance to marry to form an alliance with another nearby faction? (For male players, they marry a female NPC noble/royalty or vice versa, female players marry a male NPC noble/royalty.)
The five suggestions I will bring up to the devs in my game review:
- Marriage to a daughter of an important prominent noble family (If playing as a male character and vice versa, to a son of an important prominent noble family if playing as female)
– Real player with 84.2 hrs in game
Kingdom Builders
Kingdom Builders
Kingdom Builders is a brand-new casual, light-hearted city builder with a kid-friendly tone and great visuals. The game revolves around an outcast prince who is trying his best to set up a safe city for his people.
Throughout the review, I’ll be bearing in mind that this is an early access title with limited features currently in place, but from where I stand the game base is good.
*– [Real player with 26.5 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198329404521)*
Barely any content, no real goals or way to beat the game, repetitive, and the challenge of surviving can be eliminated entirely. The only good things about this game are its art style and sound design. Wait until one year or so until it is out of early access to purchase this game. In my opinion this is a little more than a tech demo.
As of August 6, 2021 here are the pros and cons of this game:
Pros
-Cute art style and excellent sound design and subtle background music.
-Few but interesting enemy types with unique attack patterns.
*– [Real player with 7.1 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198399138966)*
---
![Mythos: Slavic Builder](https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/1570220/header.jpg "")
## Mythos: Slavic Builder
[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1732910/Photography_Simulator/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1732910/Photography_Simulator/)
**Before the missionaries came to the Slavic lands to start writing down the known history, there was the _Age of Mythos:_**
![](https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/1570220/extras/4._Explore_The_Lands_Opt2.gif?t=1636382242)
_Forests, valleys and fields are full of creatures from Slavic beliefs. Even though they may look like monsters, you don't have to fight them all. Make proper offerings to them and you will gain powerful allies._
![](https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/1570220/extras/3._Provide_For_Your_Tribe_Opt2.gif?t=1636382242)
_Give your workers a roof over their heads and a good supper and they will build a thriving settlement for you. Do not disappoint your subjects, because dissatisfied people may leave you._
![](https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/1570220/extras/2._Gather_the_Warriors_Opt2.gif?t=1636382242)
_A long spear and a sharp sword will always be useful - your settlement is threatened by monsters, other tribes, Vikings or even demons from distant lands._
![](https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/1570220/extras/1._Win_Favor_Of_The_Gods_Opt2.gif?t=1636382242)
_Follow Slavic traditions to earn points that you may spend on special blessings from the gods - the warlike Perun, the generous Mokosh and the mysterious Veles._
**CHECK OUR OTHER GAME:**
[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1573280/WW2_Rebuilder/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1573280/WW2_Rebuilder/)
---
![Rear of Business](https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/1389190/header.jpg "")
## Rear of Business
Far too early access, there's nothing to do other than walk or run around lol
currently bad fps, can walk through props/objects. can also walk through walls/windows in many buildings.
not sure why you have weapons there's nothing to shoot. i started with some grenades but not really sure why lol.
I'd be interested to see if the devs actually do anything with this game or if it's just a failed project.
Unfortunately i'll be after a refund..
*– [Real player with 0.6 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198808305367)*
---