So what exactly is this game??

[WarMaster GoreHowl]

I really like settlement management and strategy games. Like stronghold, mount and blade, kingdoms, Majesty....

So hows the strategy / settlement management stuff in this?

[madrigal]

It's nothing like Mount and Blade. Don't know anything about the others. The game loop is like Valheim. You collect resources, make armor and crafting stuff, defeat a boss, move to next biome and do the same with the next boss.
Each settler you recruit does one job plus basic crafting. So you get a farmer, fisher, rancher, miner, blacksmith, etc. You can also recruit guards to help fight and defend the settlement.
You have to build a house for each settler, make them furniture and keep them happy, so that part is like Rimworld.
Then you build a wall around the settlement and defend against raiders, so kind of like Rimworld again.

[Faust]

It's a top-down "terraria-like". Main gameplay revolves around your character that you personally control. You explore, collect, craft, fight, progress further. Settlement management is a secondary and frankly optional mechanic in this game, although it's still shockingly robust. Your villagers require a domicile and a source of food. They have a somewhat rudimentary happiness system where their happiness depends on how impressive their domicile and diet are.

The benefits of having even a rudimentary village are quite tangible. Depending on the profession of the villagers you can have them work your farms, fish, mine, tend to your animals, craft your consumables, patrol the outskirts of your village, even have them make and equip their own gear.

I decided to have a meme playthrough where I would refuse any villagers that demanded I pay them to recruit them, so all I had to work with were the 2 mages I saved from a dungeon, a stylist I saved from a pirate, and the same pirate that I defeated in battle, all of whom joined for free. That was very little compared to what I could have had if I actually recruited people. Even still, those 4 were able to work a small farm to grow and cook enough high tier food and potions to keep themselves exceptionally happy as well as supply me with top tier consumables.

Occasionally your settlement will also get raided. Due to my refusal to hire guards and my laziness in equipping my villagers with level-appropriate gear, I would just solo-repel every raid myself, but supposedly you can build fortifications and traps and equip your villagers with gear to fight back on their own, with a proper village being able to defend itself without your intervention.