Kingdoms and Castles

 PC
User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 31 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 31
  3. Negative: 2 out of 31

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  1. hwanin
    Sep 17, 2021
    7
    When this game has been released it was one of my biggest hope to have a non-violent, but cute graphics game to play with.
    It was incredibly funny to see the NPC's descriptions "Happy to see road improvement", "Has bad teeth", etc. :)))
    I loved the simple fact that your only goal is to !build! a kingdom that is resilient to invading forces and mother nature, plus you had to always    When this game has been released it was one of my biggest hope to have a non-violent, but cute graphics game to play with.
    It was incredibly funny to see the NPC's descriptions "Happy to see road improvement", "Has bad teeth", etc. :)))
    I loved the simple fact that your only goal is to !build! a kingdom that is resilient to invading forces and mother nature, plus you had to always consider the happiness rate of your kingdom.
    I loved to build cities of prosperity.
    The graphics are lovely, the sounds are good, the map editor is also entertaining.

    Then the developers started to make radical changes or so-called improvements.
    The game that has been released has been changed from so many aspects that it's like a new game now, so after 1-2 years I stopped playing.

    If you buy it now and don't know how the game worked at the start (initial release), you will obviously like it, but developers should simply keep in mind that after the official release, only bug fixes should be made to a base game.
    Additons could be made as add-ons or expansions like this used to be before.    … Expand
  2. Sjalka
    Oct 8, 2018
    8
    Visuals:
    Great, clean voxel look. There are some VERY good models .. nice shading and texturing. But all in this very flat shaded look .. it is aesthetically pleasing and on the plus side, probably runs on a potato.
    Sound: It is a step up from a 1980 game console? Not much .. in other words, it is forgettable and poor... Complexity: This game is simple, very, VERY simple. There is    Visuals:
    Great, clean voxel look. There are some VERY good models .. nice shading and texturing. But all in this very flat shaded look .. it is aesthetically pleasing and on the plus side, probably runs on a potato.

    Sound:
    It is a step up from a 1980 game console? Not much .. in other words, it is forgettable and poor...

    Complexity:
    This game is simple, very, VERY simple. There is no tech tree, no terrain elevation, no real environment. There is no economy to speak of and due to the simple minded AI, defense is also rather a joke.

    It has the complexity of a mobile game on a phone that you spend about as much attention to as you can while you are paying attention to something else. Or in other words ... it is too simple.

    AI/Opponents:
    They are dumb .. and sadly the AI does not provide ANY challenge - at all. Furthermore there is no variety .. and no real computer opponent but only spawned raid parties.

    Well .. with so much negativity .. why would i still give it an 8/10? Because i do not think the game aspires to be more. It is forgettable, simple and satisfies the most casual gamer .. that is on a busride for 20 minutes or so. Expecting a "Supreme Commander" or a "C&C" might not be fair.

    The only problem is the lack of a serious AI opponent.

    For this purpose .. there still is the Anno series.    … Expand
  3. Thorkks
    Jul 25, 2017
    8
    Do not expect depth or too much complexity. Is a fun builder, a cutie Cities Skylines. Its fun, and it delivers :D
    if you want something serious, we have Cities Skylines, maybe Civlization.
  4. Skyrush
    Feb 5, 2018
    2
    Good game, i have lost my progress twice.
    Recommended for everyone that likes starting games over and over again
  5. noxrain
    Apr 20, 2021
    7
    While this game surely isn't the best in its genre, I definitely enjoyed my time in this. I appreciate the art style and it's a fun game but there is nothing new really that you wouldn't have seen in 100 similar games before. It's still getting updated almost 4 years later which is super cool and if you can pick it up at a low price point, I encourage you to do so and try it out for yourself.
  6. PimN
    Feb 28, 2018
    7
    Not the best city builder out there by any stretch, but for the asking price of $US 9.99 it is worth it.

    The artstyle is clean and simple, it is great to look at. The game has a severe lack of depth, within 3 hours I saw pretty much everything in the game, and by 10 hours I completely understood how to maximize efficiency. At that point, the game becomes very easy. The game is still    Not the best city builder out there by any stretch, but for the asking price of $US 9.99 it is worth it.

    The artstyle is clean and simple, it is great to look at. The game has a severe lack of depth, within 3 hours I saw pretty much everything in the game, and by 10 hours I completely understood how to maximize efficiency. At that point, the game becomes very easy. The game is still being updated, with new content coming. The random generation works well, and provides some variation to have you come back once in a while to this relaxing city builder, but eventually after 15 hours, the different saves got too similar for my taste.

    So, the lack of depth is both a good and a bad thing. It's a relaxing experience, and while it lasts it's great, but once you get to the point where you understand everything there's little reason to play it. However, at that point, I already got my money's worth out of this game.    … Expand
  7. RagingKilledMe
    Aug 8, 2017
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Kingdoms and Castles is a game in which you can build your own medieval city. The main objective of the game is to build and grow your own city (at your own pace and in your own style) while keeping your city safe and your people happy. The game features 3 difficulty settings; Paxlon (which is a peaceful sandbox), Sommern (which is the normal difficulty setting, and features raiders and dragons), and Vintar (which is similar to Sommern, but harder).

    There are no other modes to play the game. All you can change except from the difficulty setting (and regular settings) is your landscape and settlement, which isn't very appealing, since all landscapes are very similar. These landscapes include grass, water, trees, annoying decorative rocks, and stone and iron available to quarry/mine. Other than that, there are clouds that move around the map. The grassland is also varying in three ways; Barren (not available for farming), Fertile (available for farming) and Very Fertile (available for farming, + it gives bonuses for farming).

    You start the game by picking your landscape and placing your Keep somewhere on the map. From there on out, you can start creating your dream city. Using your resources wisely is the hard part. There are limitted resources. You can get more wood by chopping off of trees (which usually stay down) or by getting yourself a Forester, which cuts trees and replants them. Iron can be obtained by placing an iron mine onto iron available to mine, stone can be obtained by placing a quarry onto stone available to mine. These are the basics to getting resources, which you can use to build houses and city requirements such as a hospital, a well and roads. Gold can be obtained by building treasure rooms, and is often needed for town buildings. Food can be obtained from farms and orchards. Hovering over city improvements tells you from the get-go what every building does. It's really pleasant to know about it all from the start. Other resources contain charcoal (usually for bigger houses), tools (for industrial activities like those from the Foresters and Miners), and armaments (for the 2 harder difficulty settings in which your village might get attacked and you're in need of an army). By having such limitted options and clear descriptions on each building, the game is really easy to understand. This comes at great cost of the fun you're having while playing. Personally, I felt like I'd seen it all after 2 hours of gameplay. Especially when you've played bigger city building games like Cities: Skylines. The enemies are funny, in a way that you can't take them seriously, but they're a fun addition to the game.

    The graphics aren't all that spectacular; it's very simplistic. In being simplistic lies both its strength and weakness. The game doesn't feel very immersive or realistic, even for a medieval city builder. The low-poly art style is cute and fun, but won't keep you interested for too long. The way clouds disappear and rain falls are fine within the art style. The graphics are simple and lack any appeal, other than a reminder that this game is made by two people, which clarifies it's simplicity. The shadows are solid. Other than the drawn graphics; the text sometimes vanishes a little (like a broken typewriter), but not annoyingly whatsoever. I haven't spotted any visual bugs or glitches.

    The audio, just like the graphics, are simple and cute. A simple tune encourages you to play the game. The weather effects (lightning and rain) are spot on. Other than that, it lacks what the game lacks: length. It's just too simple to be played for more than a few days.

    In conclusion: Kingdoms and Castles is a basic, yet fun addition to the genre of city building simulation games. The atmosphere of medieval simplicity is refreshing, yet the game doesn't deliver enough depth to be standing out in any way. It's a game that will probably take max. 10 hours for a casual gamer to play. It's a solid title, but is just very similar to other city builders, without much difference, which makes it a mediocre entry.    … Expand
  8. 1kaese
    May 12, 2018
    8
    Fun little Game that is still being developed. You kind of know everything about the game after one or two playthroughs, which will take a few hours, but thats fine for me. I had a lot of fun during those hours and that's all I'm asking from a $10 priced game. Finding out, how to build your city, so industries and population happiness are in balance and you've got enough worker forFun little Game that is still being developed. You kind of know everything about the game after one or two playthroughs, which will take a few hours, but thats fine for me. I had a lot of fun during those hours and that's all I'm asking from a $10 priced game. Finding out, how to build your city, so industries and population happiness are in balance and you've got enough worker for everything without your population starving is fun in the early game, while seeing how big your city can actually grow makes the fun in late game.… Expand
  9. ireviewbadgames
    Aug 15, 2018
    9
    Upon release, I had my fair share of doubts for this newly-minted RTS/City-Builder game. It wasn't great ( though I wouldn't say it was terrible) and from the actions of past, scummy developers, I had written it off as another disappointment that would languish in the pits of abandoned Steam games.

    I was pleasantly surprised to see I was plainly wrong- the humble, talented folks behind    Upon release, I had my fair share of doubts for this newly-minted RTS/City-Builder game. It wasn't great ( though I wouldn't say it was terrible) and from the actions of past, scummy developers, I had written it off as another disappointment that would languish in the pits of abandoned Steam games.

    I was pleasantly surprised to see I was plainly wrong- the humble, talented folks behind Kingdoms and Castles have displayed a great interest in building and polishing their game, adding new and exciting content to a game that I firmly believe already justifies it's very fair price of $10.00. From what I've read of their announcements, I can only see the value of their game increasing and a growing, happy fan-base.

    The game as is contains mostly basic content that you would expect: gathering resources, building structures, converting peasants into specific laborers/soldiers, fending off attacks, etc. If you enjoy traditional medieval RTS/City-Builder games (the Stronghold series comes to mind) then you will most likely enjoy Kingdoms and Castles.

    They've already released free, new content with the promise of more on the way. I'm inclined to believe them and would suggest picking up this title the next time it's on sale or even right now.    … Expand
  10. Wisim-PlanetDE
    Feb 1, 2019
    8
    Kingdoms and Castles ist ein tolles Spiel. Wachse und kümmere dich dabei um Ressourcen, vor allem Nahrung, ein gutes Heer und Zufriedenheit der Einwohner. Dem Spiel fehlt es lediglich am Content.
    Lies mehr auf: https://wisim-planet.de/review-errichte-dein-koenigreich-in-kingdoms-and-castles/
  11. hoanns
    Jun 6, 2020
    2
    too simplistic. its a mobile game .
  12. tylerkade
    Jul 31, 2020
    8
    My review lifted from Steam
    Kingdoms and Castles is a fun, cutesie, relaxing game to play where you build your own cute kingdoms, and have the option to defend it from Viking invaders and dragons randomly.
    the only major con of this game is that you can pretty much do everything it has to offer in a relatively short amount of time, which does suck a bit, hopefully updates add more stuff    My review lifted from Steam
    Kingdoms and Castles is a fun, cutesie, relaxing game to play where you build your own cute kingdoms, and have the option to defend it from Viking invaders and dragons randomly.
    the only major con of this game is that you can pretty much do everything it has to offer in a relatively short amount of time, which does suck a bit, hopefully updates add more stuff to play with.
    EDIT: There is a lot more to do now, every update improves the game greatly.

    Pros
    ===
    Artstyle is simple, and adorable
    Easy to learn
    Endless gameplay

    Cons
    ===
    Can do everything the game has to offer in a short amount of time
    Hard to master    … Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
71

Mixed or average reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 11
  3. Negative: 1 out of 11
  1. GameStar
    Dec 15, 2021
    68
    Kingdoms and Castles is plain and modest in a good way. However, due to the lack of content, there is a lack of long-term motivation.
    Read full review
  2. Worth Playing
    Aug 16, 2018
    67
    Kingdoms and Castles is a solid effort, especially coming from such a small team. The game lacks longevity, but at $10, it may be worth picking up by those who enjoy base-building games but don't enjoy the difficulty and complexity that often comes with the genre.
    Read full review
  3. CD-Action
    Oct 30, 2017
    70
    A couple of minutes is enough to get the hang of Kingdoms and Castles and become hooked despite lack of campaign or multiplayer. [10/2017, p.76]
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