This is either an impressive mobile game or a meh PC game, depending on your perspective. I got this on sale and still think I paid too much. That being said, it has its charms. There is no "massive medieval metropolis with thousands of inhabitants", but there are a couple hundred people on a tiny map with an awkward tiled layout. This game has one huge advantage though: it exists. I think at least half of the city builders I've gotten excited about in that last decade have crapped out in early access, if they even made it that far. This game is done, it runs fine (I haven't had any of the bugs mentioned by others), and a pretty good array of maps and scenarios to choose from.

Unbelievable trash.

Foremost, it's a freemium game at its worst, with non-stop purchasing prompts (and no indication what will trigger those prompts until you click on something) despite the hefty initial price tag and the fact that, ostensibly, the game only has a single DLC that you can even purchase. [Apparently, this vibe is based in purposeful developer intent, as others have noted this game as being a very lazy translation of what was originally a freemium mobile game.]

Further, straightforward information feedback doesn't exist in the game (as per that typically provided by tool-tips), and interface quality is sorely lacking (meaning any information you CAN find is a pain to get to and, further, that basic game tasks are too often a pain to manage).

The game is a muddled mess, and many elements are sabotaged by the game's design [just the most recent thing as I closed the game, the fact that I couldn't turn in quests (which give account XP) because the scenario had ended], while others are vague, unpolished, or come across as frustratingly freemium [this regardless of whether or not you can actually pay to improve things- note, for example, the poor game speed balancing other reviews have already commented on, which can't actually be resolved in any way]. Look, the gameplay doesn't seem to stand out from any other mobile game (and the presentation is worse than most), so why on earth are we paying $20 (or even just a Humble Choice selection) for this?


Forget finding anything distinctive about the game, the game is just annoying start to end, even before the game's terrible freemium-esque design and unreasonable base fee are factored in. That is to say, even if all the elements were otherwise properly corresponded to the $20 purchase cost, you'd still have to deal with the fact that the developers released the game in a horribly sloppy, messy, and unfun state.


So, in summary? If you like paying $20 for an Early Access game, that's actually structured similar to a free game that you need to make additional payments on (but at the same time, won't even let you pay to improve most elements), then.. uh, well, have you considered throwing your money away on me, instead? Or even just burning it? Making paper airplanes? Paper mâché? Basically anything'd gotta be better than spending it on this..

It's certainly not the worst game I've seen on Steam, nor the worst payment dynamic I've seen on Steam, but it's likely the worst combination of both factors I've ever come across thus far. It's akin to repeatedly paying someone to punch you in the face- they may not hit as hard as the guy who is willing to do it for free, but why on earth are you choosing to go this route at all?




The real pity is, as mobile games have repeatedly proven, the demands for making building sims appealing are incredibly low, so all the developers had to do here was *not* create a dumpsterfire of bad decisions. Even if the game had been mediocre, that would have been enough for many of us.. and if the developers had just spent a bit more time improving the game interface, information feedback, general performance, and whatever else, then the game would have at least managed mediocrity. As-is, apparently exploiting customers (now with the assistance of Humble) is more favorable than putting in just a bit of actual effort.

In short, this seems to be yet another Steam developer best left avoided in the future.

There's a reason why this game goes for 90% off during "sales". The sale price should be the original price.

You know, this game's fine. Casual, pretty relaxed. Some of us like it that way.
Not buggy, Good sounds, art, etc.

But I'm not going to recommend it.
It's ok to have a small reminder that your game has DLC on the main screen or something.
But THIS game has all it's DLC on the build menus, in your way, reminding you that you don't own that.
Worse, they put a Quest in your way that can only be accomplished with the DLC, so you can stare at that forever too.
The take up a chunk of the mission selection with the DLC.
It's all pretty slimy and gross.

Honestly, this game is just an awful mobile game port. I love this genre, but hate this game and its implementation of it.

First, yes, this was on the store a couple of years ago. But, HandyGames was acquired by THQ Nordic, so I'm assuming that's why the relaunch. Now, this is a mobile port, but it's a decent one. This is a fun little medieval city builder with nice cartoonish graphics. So far, I haven't seen any references to "tapping" to select anything, so that's always promising. Plus, there's a v-sync option now. If you owned this game before, you'll know that the lack of v-sync was maddening. Give it a try if you like city builders.

The game plays like a mobile game, which isn't surprising as it appears to be a port from a 2012 mobile title.
The campaign is just one long tutorial which is unnecessarily dragged out and divided into 10ish seperate missions that reset your progress between missions. The game doesnt appear to get any deeper than what the tutorial teaches you.

The core gameplay loop consists mostly of waiting for either materials to be gathered, buildings to be built or the next trader to arrive to speed up the terribly slow workers and builders. The game offers you a 5x timewarp option and there is very little reason to ever play this game at 1x speed. Even on 5x most of the time is spent sitting around doing nothing. You slowly unlock passive upgrades to your town by grinding an exp system through various tasks and achievments, however the gameplay doesn't provide much motivation to grind this game any longer than a few hours.

There are vastly superior games available at the 20€ pricetag that this game demands and its probably still overpriced with its current 8€ sale.

Haven't played for amazingly long but i am actually quite enjoying this for what it is. Thought it'd be just another unfinished early access type deal where there's barely anything to do but i was sorely mistaken. Mechanics are a bit harsh but are manageable when you learn about them properly. everything is interconnected and flows well under the right conditions. you will restart a few towns early but after that you should be running smooth. just don't overdo the population before the resources, they run out fast if you're not careful. Can recommend definitely, especially during sale.

Another good game where developers broke all the joy by a paywall...

Where do I even begin? I have played the townsmen series since I first laid eyes on it through my mobile phone way back in 2004. It was amazing! Every time you build a city, it looked gorgeous. With simple grid work to help you map out and plan your city well enough. Each time you upgrade your building, the whole look of the building changes and that kind of excites you like seeing the difference once it levels up. I can't say the same for this version of the game however.

You can't see through building when placing roads or decorations, there is no grid to help you plan your road layout around your buildings. Buildings don't change their look when they upgrade to the next level. There is no nostalgic feel to the game anymore. Its slightly more difficult to create a beautiful city when you don't have the freedom of decorating your city the way you want to. Its so difficult to demolish roads once you place them behind the building.

I would really love to see some major changes to the game and make it better and I will definitely change my review if those changes are implemented. I really love playing this game but its the little things that really puts me off as its a game that I grew up playing.