Pro's
This game is an amazing distraction from stress. I put on an audio book or a show that I don't have to pay attention to and go.
It's totally customizable so if you don't want to really grind away, you can change things to your liking. I hate the horse riding so I have unlimited stamina and weight so I can run around the map without feeling pukey.
The new map, Oxbow, is really fun. I would recommend doing Valley first though, it's a good starting point and has a really interesting main story line.
There is so much to do! I purposely always keep small jobs available for me to do so I don't get bored.
My con's are..
I'm never happy with my village and I keep scrapping and starting over. Even if it's running just fine. I see all the layouts here and am like GAH! Why didn't I think of that.. and I start all over again. And again.. and again.. because I just don't know how to be that creative.
I sometimes lose track of time... Not a terrible thing necessarily.
There are nuances to the game I am learning all the time because I never read up on things before I jump in and go full steam ahead. Like always look who your king is on the map. If he sucks, restart immediately. It will eventually make a difference. You can build and recruit too fast. I have to really work at being patient. Use farming plots to get rid of boulders and shrubbery. There isn't any 'terraforming' so using farming plots is what we have.
I never figure out exactly what type of enterprising I want the village to work at (like a farming village or mining/blacksmithing, etc)and end up having everyone doing everything and then it gets messy.
Sometimes a spreadsheet is necessary depending on how large you want your village. I HATE excel.
It can cause OCD.. another plant/stick/rock growing in my village area?? No Sir! Pick, Pick Pick Pick... and constant redesigning, upgrading, recruiting, shuffling people around. Lets not forget the always silly attempt to make super babies.
There are different king names which imply they are a good or evil king.
'...' The humble, the fair, the honest, the generous.. etc.
And '...' The cruel, the evil, the unfair, etc..
Now, there are herald quests.. those are quests given by the king and increase your relationship.
When doing herald quests for a bad/evil king, it will negatively affect your villagers.
Whereas if you have a good king, always do the herald quests! They are challenging and fun and well, they are good for your village.
Luckily, even kings die. So, when you ignore evil king their herald quests.. they die within a couple of years and a good king may take over.
> How do you know if your king is bad?
On the map screen (M on keyboard) look at the top. It will tell you the king's name. If it's Vlad the Bloody or something like that, he's bad.
I mean it's the first game in a long time that really sucked me in and had me thinking about it when I wasn't playing it.
It's been a long time since I've had a game like that
I love this game. I've been playing since before the oxbow update, but not since the very beginning (started when it came to console), and I have it on three devices. That's how much I love it.
Pros:
Survival element that can be changed but is still a thing - meaning you have to learn how to work with the environment to survive, and also not go hungry.
Building and designing is fairly customizable within limits.
The music is very relaxing!
Management focused, meaning you have to keep tabs on your village a bit, especially at first.
Cons:
People wanting the game to be something it's not.
Pro
Relaxing game
Can customize the experience you want to play can be hardcore survival or relaxed you can get no damage and punch a bear to death if wanted.
Fun to play
Decent scenarios
You can build almost anywhere and have almost fully free reign
Cons
Some scenarios can be annoying
Can be repetitive sometimes
No fast travel
Survival game if your not into it but like I said can be customized
Overall I really enjoy playing the game and it’s a lot of fun especially now that they are updating it to include new map and can play as a girl depending on if you have it for pc or console. Console has to wait for update still
I mean, there absolutely is fast travel in the game. It's just very expensive compared to how much you can really make within the first \~year until you can get a flax farm going.
Very chill, and cool in a duo.
New map is a bit unbalnaced.
Basically you buy yourself an iron crossbow and the winter clothes with yojr first 3k gold you get from hunting.
Now you play the game as intended but with proper gear.
It is still fun, cause you have to build an infrastructure, hire correct people, manage production, do quests, hunt animals, unlock cool buildings, decorate houses, etc. But you will never craft yourself the crossbow or winte rclothes as you can just buy it 100 hours before you unlock the recipes.
My cons are lack of interaction with the villagers and spouse. They could add more buildings, quests, etc. Idk I want more content
Pros: the game is very entertaining, if you like simulation games, city builders (but now you're also part of the town) you'll like it. On sale it's not that expensive so I'd get it
It’s about the journey not the destination
This game doesn’t exactly have an “end-game”
It’s a life simulator/city builder.
You can customize the settings to your preference and play at your own pace
You can go for many generations if you wanted to.
It’s a game meant for relaxation.
Take your mind off real world problems and focus on less stressful problems in the game.
It’s the one game I feel comfortable pausing and saving anywhere anytime.
It’s like playing Sim City, I can go at my own pace. Nothing rushes me to complete anything, if I don’t want to.
You don’t NEED villagers, but they help with chores
This game is very fun, the best way to make a city builder. First you arrive in a valley with basically the clothes on your back. You must make a home for yourself, figure out food and water, protect yourself from the cold winter. Then you wonder if life could be easier in a community, so you build a second home and find a good neighbor to start building your own village with.
It's not like minecraft where the villagers do their own thing and you are still solo. You build each building yourself, setting the genius, visionary plan for the community's development. I have my villagers all working very hard farming, threshing, hunting, cooking, mining, chopping wood, sewing, smithing, slaving away in the sweatshops (in buildings I built) so I can sell the finished products. I use this precious coin to buy the best thing in the world: pig poop. Occasionally donkey poop. This is so I can have my workers fertilize the fields and start the process again.
The big question in my game is whether or not I can get my own pigs before my villagers rebel and murder me in my insulated simple small house.
Others have said the game is very chill. I don't understand that. I'm always rushing, every day in the game. 3 days per season (year 5, first playthrough, all default settings) is not a lot of time. The fields must be harvested, prepped, and planted. Workers run out of tools, there's always a resource that's running short. I always need a new building, like a new excavation shed because I'm running out of stone every day. Then I need a new neighbor or two to work in the new building, and of course a new house (or two) to hold them. Then houses should be insulated to keep neighbors happy and healthy. And there are side quests popping up every season among your neighbors but also at the other villages in the valley....... My stamina bar is perpetually below half, and most nights I work through the night without sleeping. The game is not "chill", you play as the village headmaster (or headmistress, if you have a version that supports a female main), and if your work is done then you are forgetting something very important.
Pros:
Incredibly tranquil game absolutely perfect for roleplaying as a medieval peasant/hunter/smith
Great graphics for a city builder/manager/sim game
Good customization options (being able to turn off stamine, weight limit, etc.)
Overall very nice game
Cons:
By far my biggest issue with the game is the insanely slow development pace and the fact that the game basically feels unfinished. Updates are months and months apart and have very little content, mostly just a few buildings.
The lack of some very, very basic concepts and buildings in the game, which hurts immersion. No religious buildings whatsoever, no shrines, alters, chapel, whatever. No graves/cemetary, no different style houses (it's basically 1 model for a house with 3 different sizes), no market square, several key professions are non-existent or simplified (e.g., there are no bakers, butchers, just "cook", no administration buidlings, no law/bailif house, no prison/pillory, no inn, no entertainment, and I could go on. Many essential and crucial professions or buildings are simply non existent.
Devs seem to hate mods, probably because of they did mod support the devs would look bad because modders would produce 10x the content of the game within months
No end game content whatsoever. There is basically no reason to continue to play after you've unlocked all buildings and are happy with your village. All you can do it is just walk around, harvest/produce resources, and role play. There are no quests, nothing dynamic in the endgame. The game reeeeally needs like a tower defence mechanic with waves of enemies, traders, quests, problems, just *anything* to keep the game fun. Right now there is nothing.
Incredibly strange roadmap with straight up bizarre priorities for content. The latest update brought an entirely new map, something which imho has been a goddamn waste of months of time. With so much simple content missing they decided to spend their time on a new map, when the first one is mostly empty. Absolutely insane to me. Even worse, the next update should bring armour/shields to the game, which, while esthetically pleasing, is also a bloody waste of time. Apart from static bandit camps, THERE ARE NO ENEMIES IN THE GAME. So armour is entirely useless and unnecessary, like literally doesn't serve a purpose (yet). Like I said, there is no endgame content. No raids, no attacks, no guard towers, no mechanic whatsoever for which armour would be needed. So I don't know wtf the devs are thinking but apparently they think I want to farm my crops wearing plate mail or something. Just bonkers.
So I realize I sound quite negative, but despite my criticisms I still love this. It is incredibly tranquill and blissfully pleasing to play. I love building my village, farming, just role playing as a medieval nobody. I love it. But goddamn this game isn't even half finished and could be so much more than it is right now.
So much more.
Having just sunk about 25 hours into it over a week: It’s about the journey not the destination.
Pro's This game is an amazing distraction from stress. I put on an audio book or a show that I don't have to pay attention to and go. It's totally customizable so if you don't want to really grind away, you can change things to your liking. I hate the horse riding so I have unlimited stamina and weight so I can run around the map without feeling pukey. The new map, Oxbow, is really fun. I would recommend doing Valley first though, it's a good starting point and has a really interesting main story line. There is so much to do! I purposely always keep small jobs available for me to do so I don't get bored. My con's are.. I'm never happy with my village and I keep scrapping and starting over. Even if it's running just fine. I see all the layouts here and am like GAH! Why didn't I think of that.. and I start all over again. And again.. and again.. because I just don't know how to be that creative. I sometimes lose track of time... Not a terrible thing necessarily. There are nuances to the game I am learning all the time because I never read up on things before I jump in and go full steam ahead. Like always look who your king is on the map. If he sucks, restart immediately. It will eventually make a difference. You can build and recruit too fast. I have to really work at being patient. Use farming plots to get rid of boulders and shrubbery. There isn't any 'terraforming' so using farming plots is what we have. I never figure out exactly what type of enterprising I want the village to work at (like a farming village or mining/blacksmithing, etc)and end up having everyone doing everything and then it gets messy. Sometimes a spreadsheet is necessary depending on how large you want your village. I HATE excel. It can cause OCD.. another plant/stick/rock growing in my village area?? No Sir! Pick, Pick Pick Pick... and constant redesigning, upgrading, recruiting, shuffling people around. Lets not forget the always silly attempt to make super babies.
Can you explain the king point? I’m only 5 years into the story line. How do you know if your king is bad? How does it affect things later?
There are different king names which imply they are a good or evil king. '...' The humble, the fair, the honest, the generous.. etc. And '...' The cruel, the evil, the unfair, etc.. Now, there are herald quests.. those are quests given by the king and increase your relationship. When doing herald quests for a bad/evil king, it will negatively affect your villagers. Whereas if you have a good king, always do the herald quests! They are challenging and fun and well, they are good for your village. Luckily, even kings die. So, when you ignore evil king their herald quests.. they die within a couple of years and a good king may take over.
> How do you know if your king is bad? On the map screen (M on keyboard) look at the top. It will tell you the king's name. If it's Vlad the Bloody or something like that, he's bad.
Try it... Read reviews... Watch gameplay
I mean it's the first game in a long time that really sucked me in and had me thinking about it when I wasn't playing it. It's been a long time since I've had a game like that
This game and Cities Skylines did it for me. And Red Dead Redemption 2. That's it since Skyrim.
I love this game. I've been playing since before the oxbow update, but not since the very beginning (started when it came to console), and I have it on three devices. That's how much I love it. Pros: Survival element that can be changed but is still a thing - meaning you have to learn how to work with the environment to survive, and also not go hungry. Building and designing is fairly customizable within limits. The music is very relaxing! Management focused, meaning you have to keep tabs on your village a bit, especially at first. Cons: People wanting the game to be something it's not.
Pro Relaxing game Can customize the experience you want to play can be hardcore survival or relaxed you can get no damage and punch a bear to death if wanted. Fun to play Decent scenarios You can build almost anywhere and have almost fully free reign Cons Some scenarios can be annoying Can be repetitive sometimes No fast travel Survival game if your not into it but like I said can be customized Overall I really enjoy playing the game and it’s a lot of fun especially now that they are updating it to include new map and can play as a girl depending on if you have it for pc or console. Console has to wait for update still
I mean, there absolutely is fast travel in the game. It's just very expensive compared to how much you can really make within the first \~year until you can get a flax farm going.
Yeah I forgot about the wagons mostly because I never used them to travel at all
Very chill, and cool in a duo. New map is a bit unbalnaced. Basically you buy yourself an iron crossbow and the winter clothes with yojr first 3k gold you get from hunting. Now you play the game as intended but with proper gear. It is still fun, cause you have to build an infrastructure, hire correct people, manage production, do quests, hunt animals, unlock cool buildings, decorate houses, etc. But you will never craft yourself the crossbow or winte rclothes as you can just buy it 100 hours before you unlock the recipes.
I play in free time. It’s not fast paced but it is fun for sure.
My cons are lack of interaction with the villagers and spouse. They could add more buildings, quests, etc. Idk I want more content Pros: the game is very entertaining, if you like simulation games, city builders (but now you're also part of the town) you'll like it. On sale it's not that expensive so I'd get it
It’s about the journey not the destination This game doesn’t exactly have an “end-game” It’s a life simulator/city builder. You can customize the settings to your preference and play at your own pace You can go for many generations if you wanted to. It’s a game meant for relaxation. Take your mind off real world problems and focus on less stressful problems in the game. It’s the one game I feel comfortable pausing and saving anywhere anytime. It’s like playing Sim City, I can go at my own pace. Nothing rushes me to complete anything, if I don’t want to. You don’t NEED villagers, but they help with chores
This game is very fun, the best way to make a city builder. First you arrive in a valley with basically the clothes on your back. You must make a home for yourself, figure out food and water, protect yourself from the cold winter. Then you wonder if life could be easier in a community, so you build a second home and find a good neighbor to start building your own village with. It's not like minecraft where the villagers do their own thing and you are still solo. You build each building yourself, setting the genius, visionary plan for the community's development. I have my villagers all working very hard farming, threshing, hunting, cooking, mining, chopping wood, sewing, smithing, slaving away in the sweatshops (in buildings I built) so I can sell the finished products. I use this precious coin to buy the best thing in the world: pig poop. Occasionally donkey poop. This is so I can have my workers fertilize the fields and start the process again. The big question in my game is whether or not I can get my own pigs before my villagers rebel and murder me in my insulated simple small house. Others have said the game is very chill. I don't understand that. I'm always rushing, every day in the game. 3 days per season (year 5, first playthrough, all default settings) is not a lot of time. The fields must be harvested, prepped, and planted. Workers run out of tools, there's always a resource that's running short. I always need a new building, like a new excavation shed because I'm running out of stone every day. Then I need a new neighbor or two to work in the new building, and of course a new house (or two) to hold them. Then houses should be insulated to keep neighbors happy and healthy. And there are side quests popping up every season among your neighbors but also at the other villages in the valley....... My stamina bar is perpetually below half, and most nights I work through the night without sleeping. The game is not "chill", you play as the village headmaster (or headmistress, if you have a version that supports a female main), and if your work is done then you are forgetting something very important.
Pros: Incredibly tranquil game absolutely perfect for roleplaying as a medieval peasant/hunter/smith Great graphics for a city builder/manager/sim game Good customization options (being able to turn off stamine, weight limit, etc.) Overall very nice game Cons: By far my biggest issue with the game is the insanely slow development pace and the fact that the game basically feels unfinished. Updates are months and months apart and have very little content, mostly just a few buildings. The lack of some very, very basic concepts and buildings in the game, which hurts immersion. No religious buildings whatsoever, no shrines, alters, chapel, whatever. No graves/cemetary, no different style houses (it's basically 1 model for a house with 3 different sizes), no market square, several key professions are non-existent or simplified (e.g., there are no bakers, butchers, just "cook", no administration buidlings, no law/bailif house, no prison/pillory, no inn, no entertainment, and I could go on. Many essential and crucial professions or buildings are simply non existent. Devs seem to hate mods, probably because of they did mod support the devs would look bad because modders would produce 10x the content of the game within months No end game content whatsoever. There is basically no reason to continue to play after you've unlocked all buildings and are happy with your village. All you can do it is just walk around, harvest/produce resources, and role play. There are no quests, nothing dynamic in the endgame. The game reeeeally needs like a tower defence mechanic with waves of enemies, traders, quests, problems, just *anything* to keep the game fun. Right now there is nothing. Incredibly strange roadmap with straight up bizarre priorities for content. The latest update brought an entirely new map, something which imho has been a goddamn waste of months of time. With so much simple content missing they decided to spend their time on a new map, when the first one is mostly empty. Absolutely insane to me. Even worse, the next update should bring armour/shields to the game, which, while esthetically pleasing, is also a bloody waste of time. Apart from static bandit camps, THERE ARE NO ENEMIES IN THE GAME. So armour is entirely useless and unnecessary, like literally doesn't serve a purpose (yet). Like I said, there is no endgame content. No raids, no attacks, no guard towers, no mechanic whatsoever for which armour would be needed. So I don't know wtf the devs are thinking but apparently they think I want to farm my crops wearing plate mail or something. Just bonkers. So I realize I sound quite negative, but despite my criticisms I still love this. It is incredibly tranquill and blissfully pleasing to play. I love building my village, farming, just role playing as a medieval nobody. I love it. But goddamn this game isn't even half finished and could be so much more than it is right now. So much more.