Jon Shafer's At the Gates

 PC
User Score
5.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 15 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 15
  3. Negative: 5 out of 15

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  1. kirkwall
    May 13, 2019
    5
    At the Gates has enormous potential, but sadly as of May 2019 it is very glitchy (though playable). There have been no updates for the past three months though it was released only 4 months ago. This suggests the developers have moved on and the game will remain deeply flawed. My hope is help is on the way to make this game the outstanding game it could be.
  2. xergiok
    Apr 11, 2020
    6
    More than a year since its official release this is still a provocatively unfinished game. But to Jon Shafer's credit, it is still very addictive. The heart of the gameplay is not warfare or politics but resource management and survival. Do not come into this expecting a 4x experience. The initial challenge comes mainly from managing your production chain well enough during summer so thatMore than a year since its official release this is still a provocatively unfinished game. But to Jon Shafer's credit, it is still very addictive. The heart of the gameplay is not warfare or politics but resource management and survival. Do not come into this expecting a 4x experience. The initial challenge comes mainly from managing your production chain well enough during summer so that your clans don't starve during winter. Eventually, you have to figure out how to transition from an unsustainable foraging based economy to a farming based economy. You have to carefully find a balance between making sure your clans have enough food right now and investing enough in production of non-food based resources so that you can escape your nomadic lifestyle later. If you're too short sighted, you'll deplete a lot of resources and might find that your opponents have already claimed all the best land. If you're planning too much ahead, your clans will starve.

    Once you've settled and established a kingdom, you can start shifting your focus towards warfare. It is perhaps for the best that the "early game" takes so long, because the late game is very unsatisfying. Combat is boring, the AI is rudimentary, diplomacy is barely existent and you can't even properly vanquish your foes! You can take their settlement, but you can't use it for anything and control will eventually revert to the original owner, even though they're defeated. Similarly, you can capture enemy buildings, but they will be all but useless to you, because there's a penalty for owning captured clans (and you can't do anything about it). These things make the game world feel static and limited and removes all incentives for conquest. I also find it very disappointing that there is no game customisation or map settings to play around with at all – just a 'new game' button.

    I really can't recommend the game as a product, because it's not what it claims to be. But if you like economic sims and don't care for the other advertised features, then it is still a fun game. Just don't expect to find a reason to keep playing, once you've stabilised your economy.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

84
#84 Most Shared PC Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
63

Mixed or average reviews - based on 25 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 25
  3. Negative: 4 out of 25
  1. CD-Action
    Dec 11, 2019
    55
    At the Gates would need another year of fixes in Early Access to be relevant. As of now it’s a true diamond which never got the chance to shine. [03/2019, p.71]
  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Apr 4, 2019
    40
    An attempt to make an alternative to Civilization that failed because of not finishing its ideas and old technology. An unstable and buggy game with a lousy artificial intelligence won’t be interesting, even if it is signed by a great designer. [Issue#293]
  3. PLAY! Zine
    Mar 4, 2019
    50
    Jon Shafer's At the Gates is sadly lackluster in comparison of its maker's past titles like Civilization V. It presents some innovation for the genre, but has serious failures in some of the basics of 4X games and poses as a weird package with big need for some quality of life updates.
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