I’ve really enjoyed this game so far. Though it’s in early access, the first two eras feel complete, even if balance, pacing, and UI still need a bit of work.

I cant wait to see where this heads. It could be super replay able due to the scoring system, but I do hope they add an unlimited play mode in the future.

Early Access - only the first two eras and two city centers available right now. The map is huge and offers many starting locations. I am having a blast and hope they will add more content in the future. Replayability to some degree thanks to all the events and factions that can change your experience. The game is creative, feels fresh and I like all the different mechanics that get pretty complicated very quickly. I like to support a dev that really tries something new - so thumbs up!

A pleasant and fresh take on city-building. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but there are some new ideas in there, it looks beautiful, and it has that one-more-turn addictive core. That's about it.

It's a shame that they only included the Ancient and Medieval ages in the Early Access release, but it's reasonable. There's plenty of progression to be had in those two ages, a single run took me ~7h, which is plenty for a first version at this price-point.

Anyways, the game is not ready to handle the city scales you would naturally develop beyond the Medieval age. It struggles performance-wise, I was frequently at or under 30 FPS in the mid-game with high-end hardware, and it was not really possible to improve it much by changing the settings (except making the resolution uncomfortably low). But frankly it was not such a bother for a game like this, I barely noticed it, I was too engaged in the progression. Also they will need to do something about the maps, by the time I was done in the Medieval age there was absolutely no space left, and it's too hard to clear forests to make more.

Anyways, none of the issues are critical and they are reasonable for a first Early Access version.

The way this game fuses Civilization-esque ideas such as wonders and ages into a natural and sprawling city builder is just spectacular.

City-building in Memoria Polis is easy to understand, and simple to work with. Yet at the same time, it doesn't feel like the game's playing itself for you. You are in control of how your city grows, but you don't have to worry about the fine details like road & traffic management. As you place down important buildings, the game will generate districts around them using the "Attraction" system. The more interesting buildings you setup in an area, the more people will want to live there. And slowly, these districts will fill with residential purposes in a way that feels natural. However, any unattractive, noisy, and disruptive buildings will detract from the attraction level of an area, causing fewer people to want to live there, and fewer districts to form. This system is organic and stands out from other city builders, making the gameplay of Memoria Polis feel truly special.

Compared to other city builders, Memoria Polis has a very unique identity. The core idea is that the past shapes the future, hence the name. You can't destroy old cultural buildings or districts, but you can evolve and modernize them. The choices you make in earlier ages impact everything you do later on, and the passage of time is a very relevant mechanic. You only have a limited amount of time in each age. And as each age passes, old buildings will deteriorate, forcing you to spend resources to repair, and once repaired, evolve. This can be a pretty tedious mechanic in my opinion, as it slows down the momentum and excitement of entering a new age. This is especially true if you've built a lot of cultural buildings. Now the game does let you pick some key cultural buildings to save from deterioration as you enter a new age, and this number does scale depending on how many you've built. However, you can very quickly get to a point where there's too many to repair them all. And while this does kind of make sense given the game's theme, this aspect feels artificial considering the fact that the repair cost for buildings is much higher than it was to build them originally, even to the point where repairing's much more expensive than just building an equivalent building from the next age. But since you can't remove them (yet), they kind of just sit there as permanent stains on your city. The developers have stated they are open to the possibility of allowing circumstantial cultural building removal, but we'll have to see how that works out if implemented. This is only a minor issue, and it's not as bad in the game's endless mode as you get infinite time to repair your buildings.

Despite the game having just come out recently, I've barely run into any bugs at all. It's way more polished than any of the other early access games I've had experience with, and I appreciate that. Currently, the game only has 2 of the 4 ages planned, and the 2nd age is missing some content like a wonder and a few buildings. But the developers are hard at work with the remaining ages and content revealed in a recent roadmap to be coming very soon. Endless mode does tend to crash occasionally, so make sure to save often. I have not experienced this issue in the game's regular mode.

Memoria Polis feels great to play, especially since it's only in early access. And I'm very excited to experience the entire game once it fully releases, as well as each update along the way. 8/10

So ah... im kinda flaberghasted by this game. It came out of nowhere. Is it a city builder? yeah, kinda. is it like civ. well yes, in a way. Is it unique? absolutely! It has this sort of hypnotic relaxing quality along the lines of Dorfromantik, but also has an engaging system ballence dynamic like City Skylines, and yet also does bring in modifiers that are Civ like.

While, at the time of writing, there is a major crash in chapter 2, and it also ends at chapter 2, this game has bones, and spirit, and i can tell it will soon have flesh.

While distinct games, Manor Lords and Memoria have to be some of the neatest historical/sim/strat or should i just say, indie games to come out.

A cautious yes.

As an analogy: imagine you're present at the birth of Venus. Right now, all you can see is sea foam--but you know Venus is going to take form eventually.

Similarly, the game as it stands is bare-bones, in some ways hardly a game and more a tech-demo for the city-building system, but the fundamentals of what makes the game unique are so wonderfully done, so well-implemented, that I'm willing to be astonished with what it develops into.

So, no, at this point, I wouldn't argue that Memoriapolis is worth the money. Half the game just isn't there, the game ends after the second (of four) eras, and the second era has a number of buildings that have dependencies on unimplemented mechanics. There's a knowledge/"tech tree" system whose nodes are probably 75% non-operational. You can build walls (I think? I never actually bothered, but you're prompted to as an optional objective), but so far as I'm aware there are no raids or military implemented yet. And on and on. The game is actually rather easy just because there aren't many systems to balance.

HOWEVER. HOW-EV-VER!

This game has a FANTASTIC skeleton, and I don't mean that facetiously. The unique organic construction system--where you build no roads or houses, they're just sort of automatically pathed and blocked out--is, so far as I've been able to tell, pretty flawless. I've seen no evidence of "miszoning" or weird bugs or anything. It's smooth as butter. The faction system, too, works very well--it doesn't do much now, but that's a matter (I think) of slowly adding complexity as development goes on. There's only one map right now, but it's a pretty varied and interesting one, and I have no difficulty expecting we'll get more.

The skeleton of this game--the reason it's set apart, the reason it works as uniquely and captivatingly as it does--work well, smoothly, and unobtrusively.

Unless you're a big fan of city builders, I'm not sure I can recommend it *as it stands right now on November 1, 2024,* just because it has so far to go to flesh out that amazing, well-designed, well-implemented skeleton. I enjoyed playing it, I'll enjoy following it, and I'll enjoy (I'm fairly certain) what it'll develop into. But for most, it's just not there yet.

As an early access, this is overpriced. It's less than half of the intended game right now. They're planning on overhauling some of the systems in place too.

As for what it is currently, it's got a nice soundtrack and an all around beautiful vibe. This is a very "hands off" simulator. You don't directly place roads or housing districts, the game does it for you based on other stuff you build. It's a refreshing change of pace as somebody that's played too many "place every single chair" style builder games recently.

From looking at the forums, the dev seems committed to a vision that includes non-conventional design choices. For example, you'll get choked by resource storage at some point, with no option to build something like a warehouse to hold more resources, and the devs have said this is intentional.

While the game is very much still in early access, it already has a replayability factor for me. The organic growth of the cities around major buildings is the USP and certainly gives a real world feel. I've barely been able to get a proper handle on the faction mechanics, so far concentrating on production lines and improving resources. They too will benefit from the planned expansion of the game, as well as new maps and the changes outlines in the 1st patch.

I'd recommend buying it now and adding it to the roster of 4X / city builder / business running games you play obsessively for a month or so before dropping for another, until you eventually come back round... What, just me?

Nice game, but it’s not a traditional city simulator as one might expect. The design limits are restrictive, especially when it comes to roads and layouts, which are more for visual effect rather than functioning as real infrastructure.

This feels more like a city governor simulator where you manage a map, similar to a 3D version of Microcivilization. The 3D aspect isn’t even necessary, it could have been a 2000s style browser game (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing).

It can be enjoyable, but it wasn’t what I expected or what I’m primarily interested in.

Absolutely love this game and the developers deserve all the praise and support for such an innovating concept.
This is an organic city builder/management with some elements of Anno, some of Civilization and some of Foundation (for the roads being organically generated, although you can orient them when placing stuff; they can't be demolished, so do it carefully). You can choose the orientation of your character at the start of the game, and at the beginning of each era. This gives different bonuses and some additional buildings.
The city grows around the cultural buildings you place, and their category influences that of the neighborhood's inhabitants: artisans, merchants, scholars and so on, each with different bonuses, buildings preferences, and dislikings. Different factions will increasingly fight quite a lot between them, so organizing the placement of buildings is a deeper than expected mechanic. Plus, placing stuff in order to get the layout and aesthetics you desire, as well as optimal production, takes time and I suggest playing at normal speed which is a perfect pace (and I NEVER play these games at normal speed).
There are also buildings to manage commerce and administration, as well as of course the production buildings. Resources are not infinite, so it's not a set and forget thing: moving and upgrading them is vital.
Most importantly, it's a city builder with a scope and an endgame: being the most influential and grandiose city ever. To achieve this, you'll need to gain cultural points through your buildings, which in turn will also advance you through the progress tree and unlock new stuff and bonuses; and through building wonders, unlockable in each era. You get a score at the end of each era, and they stack up until the last era.
The architectural background of the developers is evident. All buildings have character and are aesthetically pleasing, and the urban layout grows organically but according to how well you plan your buildings, production and ornamentation.
There is one large map atm with like seven different starts, but apart from that, there are already several elements for replayability, since you can characterize your city in many ways; the endgame being still missing, all the replayability is given by the city building and management experience itself.

Don't listen to some reviews (mostly with one or two hours of play, by the way): this is not a puzzle game at all! Unless we have different definitions for puzzle games. There is no proximity requirement for production buildings; their positive (attraction) or negative (disturbancy, in the case of production buildings) influence determines the success, size and characteristics of the neighborhood. The production chain is similar to the Anno games, but simpler. It will get tricky with time though.
The military/international politics is mostly a series of diplomatic pop ups; it comes with some costs/benefits and sometimes unlocks special buildings; it grows in the Middle Ages but it's still simplistic, its greatest benefit as of now is to provide some historical context and character IMO. However, I'm proud of being thanked by the Byzantine Emperor for my decisive role in their resistance against the Ottoman siege nonetheless.

Also, I think most haven't gotten to the Middle Ages which is far more difficult than Antiquity: most of your old buildings will decay and you'll have to choose whether to restructure them (at high costs) or see them slowly decay and being swallowed by the houses, a super cool feature for a Rome-born like me; production will become problematic and you'll have to commerce for food, or for the bricks you need to build that Dungeon you want so much. Factions will grow in number and in rivalries. You'll have a harder time plopping up buildings upon buildings.
I don't know if this is difficulty switch is a lack of balance due to early access, or if it's intentional: in the latter case, it's really genius and historically viable too, because you go from a prosperous era in which you have it (too) easy and swim in food, resources, p*ssy and money, to one where your lovely Forum crumbles in ruins, you run out of food, you can only make an important building once in a while, citizens happiness is gone and the Ptolemaic Faction has zero trust in you because they have the Dominican Faction next door.
By this stage, it's not easy at all, although there's hardly something like "losing" or "being fired", since that's not the scope. I'd still like Antiquity to be more challenging, but I don't have the finished game at hand for a proper evaluation.
I also love that you place another city center at the change of Age: if you want to keep it in your old nucleus, demolish some non-upgradable building before changing Age to make space.

Of course it's still a work in progress, and it features 2 of the 4 Ages, some aspects need balancing, but it feels like a finished game; the aesthetics are pleasing, the scope is grand, the mechanics are deep and articulated, the pace is relaxing but you'll hardly find yourself doing nothing and just watching the city growing. The music is a relaxing ambient genre which is ok, it's not that important in this type of game for me. Making it more complex with a style for each era would be a further plus of the game, but it's ok like this honestly. As I said, some balancing is needed since some features are not entirely relevant or decisive, and the difficulty goes up and down. But I think that with the four ages, the gameplay experience will be very very VERY satisfying.