City of Gangsters
An amazing game overall. I would like a few more features though, such as the ability to export goods to other cities, mansions that you can buy, maps based on Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, and the ability to buy off the mayor or even run for office.
– Real player with 227.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Resource Management Procedural Generation Games.
Great management style game. Don’t expect a game with heavy fighting as this is not the focus of the game. It’s really how to max profit. Easy recommend for me.
– Real player with 115.0 hrs in game
Lorenzo il Magnifico
I will freely admit that Lorenzo is a favorite board game. In Pre-Covid times I would beg my game group to bring it to the table. While this implementation of the game digitally had a rocky start, it’s now settled in as an elegant rendition of a very complicated game. In particular, the AI is finally modestly competitive…but very modestly… I play this game most often after a loss on Yukata or BGA…because it soothes my ego to have a reliable victory.
But the real reason for my “yes” recommendation is that I live in hope of finding a live human being to play this with. For months, I’ve hit the lobby at various times of day in the vain hope of finding a game I can join. So ] far just crickets. I just know I can’t be the only person who bought this game. I figure if I write a review, maybe someone will tell me where you’re all hiding.
– Real player with 217.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Resource Management Turn-Based Games.
A nice digital adaptation of a great boardgame. If you’re not familiar with the actual boardgame you will have to follow the complete tutorial and then still have some trial and errors (the tutorial lacks a bit in dept concerning strategie, unless you want to read a lot of text in the glossary), but looking for great ways to score and learning to improve your game is actually something that makes this game a hidden jewel.
In a game of Lorenzo il Magnifico you will try to earn points by gaining buildings, assets, … (the parts shown in the big building on the right) and by gaining papal approvement (this is not obligated, but failing the pope gives you some kind of penalty).
– Real player with 32.5 hrs in game
Children of the Nile: Enhanced Edition
Children of the Nile is the more modern version of the old citybuilders like Pharaoh And Zeus, allowing you to build a city in ancient Egypt. Some of the more modern things are, aside from the obvious graphics being different, that you no longer need to worry about intersections sending your supply and maintenance people entirely the wrong direction. You can now actually focus on building a city, rather than having to puzzle out the most efficient way to place buildings without them collapsing, catching fire, and starving because the food vendor doesn’t show up there.
– Real player with 115.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Resource Management Sandbox Games.
So it crashes at regular intervals. It lags occasionally when a city gets really big, aside from lagging at every autosave. The AI can be infuriating at times: If you like micromanaging, be prepared to sit back and pull your hair at your laborers who will go across the Nile and over 2 mountains to haul limestone, while an overseer stands by himself overseeing no one in a site right next to their houses. Transporting heavy loads, like statues and obelisks across the Nile is also a well known problem, annoyingly time consuming at best, unsolvable at worse (unless you’re willing to delve into the editor). It shows its age in a lot of ways, the graphics included, though they still hold their own fine enough.
– Real player with 70.9 hrs in game
Age of Empires® III (2007)
Age of Empires III. How can one possibly begin to review a game of such magnitude and prevalence that this game holds on the gaming world? A game that, even though it has been out for over 10 years, has a large active online community? It isn’t possible, but I shall nevertheless try.
This game has a rich story, which is full of interesting historical points. Even though it is fictional, it pleasantly covers the conquests of the new world. In the vanilla version and “The War Chiefs” expansion, the player can endeavour to fight against various European civilisations in order to achieve glory and fame throughout the Americas. In “The Asian Dynasties” expansion, it spans centuries of Asian colonialization by the British as well as the Japanese and the Chinese Dynasties.
– Real player with 944.2 hrs in game
A fine installation in the Age of Empires series that has a greater emphasis on combat as well as teaching you about things other than human resource management and medieval history lessons. Instead, you will gain a deep knowledge of zoology and learn how to beat up people and steal their stuff.
General:
Zoology Lessons – Some things you will learn: Capybaras and tapirs live in Central and South America, Ibex, Saigas, and Marco Polo sheeps live in central Asia, Serows live in Japan and the rest of Asia.
– Real player with 746.9 hrs in game
Ballads of Moorfield
When the wind still blows and trees still grow, there is always hope.
What I can remember. Years have passed. People come and last.
Whatever comes against us, we weather the storm. And with all our hearts together, we call this Moorfield our home.
Features
Build a Home and Let It Bloom
Get settled on new land, and build upon it your new homeland. A dream starts here once you build your first house. You need farms, and you need materials. Everything is randomly generated while you get more lands and unlock more challenges. Use all means you have to grow your place which you named home.
More Creating and Be Amazing
Be smart, be creative, and be positive. Trust your every thought and it will not fail you. Build your land however you want. You are a designer with a magic wand. Show off your work to others, and amaze them with your masterpiece.
Good Leader Never Withers
Lead your people, manage your resources, listen to your counsellor, and decide on the best strategy. As your land flourishes, your fellows' loyalty never perishes. Fill your people with joy, face the toughness with them, and they will laugh and enjoy the happiness with you.
Seasons Change and Profits Paid
Can’t make the scene if you don’t have the green. You can trade resources for all your needs. Seasons do change, and prices are different. And here comes your chance for big profits and a strong economy. With cash in hands, people are nice.
Obstacles Gone and Enemies Down
Stay alarm. Your enemies could be anything. Weather and terrain, thunder and water. They are all like dangerous beasts, lurking around, and waiting for hunts. So be prepared and avoid the preyers.
Across the Hill, a Future Fulfilled
Ballads were written to glorify the lord of Moorfield. Your name is there, heard by your heirs. All those years of hard work have fulfilled your words. The future has come and brings the dawn.
Castles II: Siege & Conquest
Fun game that brings back a lot of great memories! However, right now the game is broken. Whenever I try to “design” a castle, the screen goes black and it locks up. I can’t find anything about how to fix this, so I guess I’m out of luck :-(
The only reason I don’t recommend this game is for this reason.
EDIT: Discovered how to get around the crash. Save a castle or make your own and then load them all out from the saves. Haven’t had a crash since! Changing my recommendation.
– Real player with 347.4 hrs in game
This is the first video game I can remember playing as a young kid, it was great to take a trip down nostalgia lane. Castles 2 is a game where you must balance resource accumulation, military advancement, build castles to prevent peasant revolts, please the pope with indulgences, and increase your stake for the title of King of France. I enjoy this game because I grew up with it, Castles 2 is older and does not have a tutorial to take your hand and explain the game, however after a few play throughs the game mechanics and strategy is easy. I do want to warn people that my opinion of this game is biased largely by nostalgia. I do think for its time it is an excellent strategy game but compared to contemporary games in its genre is simplistic and lacks intricacies that strategy game buffs come to expect for exciting gameplay. I recommend this game, but if you are on the fence about it, I would wait for the price to come down, I argue that 10$ for this game is too high. Also hold down the right mouse button to speed up gameplay.
– Real player with 109.2 hrs in game
Help Will Come Tomorrow
When I first saw this game, I was super excited. I expected it to be largely similar to This War of Mine and Day R Survival. It looked like it had an incredible amount of potential, and the basis of the plot, a group of strangers thrown into a survival situation is the pinnacle of survival concepts in my opinion, provided you are able to have a complex story line and character development, with social and moral choices having a major impact on the characters. Help Will Come Tomorrow failed in this aspect, and honestly, you can completely play through this game in about 1-2 hours max. Overall, this game was thrown together hastily, and that is apparent in the lack of quality. This game was a disappointment, it had a great concept, and if Arclight put more time and effort into it, I feel they could have made something incredible, instead, we get a cheap game with a short plot and a base level story line.
– Real player with 29.2 hrs in game
Now, even though I have a “no” recommendation here, I have enjoyed this game and will probably give it a couple of more rounds before I lay off it and maybe never replay it again unless there are some changes.
Pros:
Environment–good overall presentation and graphics, interesting premise and setting for the game. It maybe feels a little higher-stakes than similar resource management/strategy/survival games.
Mechanics–once I got through a couple of sad, major failed save files, I managed to figure out some good strategies that worked and allowed me to finish Passenger mode (easy) with “the good ending,” of which there does only seem to be one way to get.
– Real player with 28.2 hrs in game
Patrician IV
7/10, got on sale for $5 but would be happy at full price of $15. I’m surprised it has such a low review score (53% at time of writing), maybe people had higher expectations than I did (update: seems people are unhappy about the lack of tutorial).
It’s kind of a leisurely game with no apparent objective other than discovering the game, enjoyment, and building out an intricate trade system. Granted I haven’t finished the game yet so perhaps the end game objective has yet to be revealed.
I like the ‘older’ looking pixely graphics and keeping and eye on the map as my ships make their way to and fro, and discovering and building mutually beneficial trade routes is also quite fun. Music is good and not inundating or overly repetitive. Helps if you enjoy trial and error and investigating what does what as the tutorial (campaign advisor) does not hold your hand much.
– Real player with 50.7 hrs in game
It’s been a while since I’ve written a recommendation for a game, and it’s a service I feel the community really needs doing, so here we go:
Patrician IV, henceforth known as “Patty IV’s” is in something of a niche genre, in that it is a Renaissance trading simulator set around the Hanseatic League in Northern Europe. Doesn’t sound like the most riveting game now, but when I rephrase that as TIME TRAVELLING DOSH SIMULATOR 1420 EDITION it starts to sound phucking dank. (Note to self, make montage video with that title)
– Real player with 30.1 hrs in game
Veil of Dust: A Homesteading Game
Veil of Dust: A Homesteading Game is a historically-grounded fantasy homesteading game about finding your way after loss. Accompany the Callahan Siblings, Shane and Áine, as they learn to cope in the wake of the complete upset of their lives - journey through magic, intrigue and small-town politics to resolve the sudden appearance of dangerous, magical beasts.
Release plan : Beta test early development [✓] – 2-3 hour demo of game so far [✓] – Interactions on feedback from the demo [] – Early Access version [] – Full Game []
Farm, Forage, & Hunt to Survive
Living in the desert isn’t easy, but the magical abilities that force the protagonists to isolate themselves also helps them make the most of the environment. Farm, forage, and hunt to scrape by in the sparse desert of Eastern Oregon.
Unravel a Mystery
Guide Shane and Áine through the twists and turns of their search for answers about the monster attacks that threaten their fragile livelihood. Where will this undertaking lead these unlikely adventurers?
Forge Relationships
Survival isn’t just about finding food and shelter. It’s also about making life worth living. The support and attention of loved ones, romantic and otherwise, will bolster your spirit and give you strength.
Fight & Prevail
A homesteader isn’t usually well-equipped for armed struggle, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Stand shoulder-to-shoulder with your sibling to defend your homestead against magical monsters.
Cook & Craft
Frontier cuisine is more about filling bellies than making an impression - scrape together what you can to conquer scarcity. Overcome challenges with tools and handicrafts that you create.
Dynasty of the Sands
Dynasty of the Sands
An Ancient Egyptian City Builder – focusing on Survival, Expansion and Creativity.
From humble beginnings, build a paradise along the banks of the Nile and let your people prosper. To achieve such a feat, a grand city, abundant resources and careful planning will be required.
You start from humble beginnings, a collection of mud and straw huts, from which you will develop a grand city.
Dynasty of the Sands takes place in an open world environment, with seasons, a day/night cycle, weather, wildlife, disease and more. These systems challenge the player as they develop a city to sustain a growing population.
The gods pose an ever present threat, and appeasing them is the only way to avoid their wrath. Building statues, shrines, temples and giving sacrifices are just some of the ways to pacify them.
Constructing your city is a balancing act. The needs of your villagers, the environmental pressures and the gods make this a challenging experience. However perseverance will be rewarded with a golden city of riches.
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Villagers must be provided with Water Sources, Food, Shelter and Entertainment to ensure they remain happy and healthy.
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Resources will be required in abundance. Primary resources like Mud and Flax can be grown and extracted. Secondary and Tertiary resources like Mud Brick and Pottery must be crafted within a series of production buildings.
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Vast amounts of quarried rock are required to construct your Pyramid. Sandstone blocks and limestone casing become a valuable commodity as you expand your monument. Completion of Pyramid levels grants power from the gods, used to unlock technologies and avoid the gods wrath.
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In-depth environment, day/night cycle, weather, wildlife, disease and many more systems are constantly changing and evolving to create a dynamic and engaging game experience.