Kingdoms and Castles Review (thespygorillas)
I know this is a long review but i encourage you to read it fully if you want to buy this game! especially if you read negative reviews and are doubting it.
This is one of the very good city builder games. There are a lot of city builder games but are usually way too complex, frustrating, lacking, or just generally dumb for lack of a better word.
TLDR; This game however had great gameplay which was balanced, fun, and lasting. it has great world lore / story telling elements even though this is a purely sandbox game. And the visuals were fun and consistent, with music you'l jam to. It also had great AI allies and foes that were smart and believable.
The gameplay this game offered was very good, it was balanced in the sense that it didn't need a very high learning curve to get used to it, it doesn't try to be unnecessarily challenging that it becomes frustrating, and it keeps you hooked and engaged for long stretches without getting boring.
The gameplay's depth was well made too, including many things to build and the way you progress through the tech was made in a really realistic and smart way.
The game doesn't have any story, but during gameplay there is AI kingdoms that can be built alongside you, and they offer nice mix up to your play throughs, sometimes they may be evil trying to take money from you, sometimes they're nice and shower you with gifts, and you can build relations with them, or ruin it and wage wars.
Other than that the world has vikings and dragons to add challenge but also give the world a sense of lore.
Visually it gives me the sense of a mix of low poly and cartoon and blocky style which was really fresh and it was made in a very artful and good looking way. The visuals are very well customizable but i wish they were more so, like the colors of the grass for example.
The music was amazing, though repetitive they never got old for me and i loved them, they also fit the atmospheres of the game very well.
Other things notable to mention : This game's AI is very interesting, For one the AI kingdoms start and build their kingdoms alongside you and it's fun to see them progress like you do. The enemy AI's is smart, always trying to outsmart you by attacking you from blindspots of your defences, and getting stronger as you get stronger, or acquiring backup when needed.
There is infinite worlds to build on, using a seed system similar to Minecraft's, but also letting you edit a world or make one from scratch, which i highly recommend.
This game has mod support too! Even though inactive right now, it has infinitely great potential, and its always very great to see devs encouraging mods.
The community of this game is very helpful and well knit too, especially if you go over to their very fun discord server!
A negative review mentioned its just like any other city builder or doesn't invent anything new, but i feel that it is an unfair observation because in that sense all the city builder games they refer to should be negatively reviewed too.
Or that its not very challenging and you can easily maintain your kingdom without trying very hard, and in my opinion thats a good thing, a lot of games tend to be so challenging that it goes from being fun to frustrating and doesn't let you to have a peaceful play through of a game to just chill and not have to worry that what you built can go all away because of one irreversible mistake.
And generally in my opinion this game is fresh and has a lot of unique elements and every time i played it, it hooked me for hours without boring me one bit.
This is a greatly impressive game for one developed by such a small yet very talented team. with phenomenal gameplay and visuals.
I greatly recommend the support of such games as they are the hope of guarantying a better gaming future, So yes it is worth every single penny, along with its DLCs!
A big thanks for the devs of this game!