Rise of Venice

 PC
  • Publisher: Kalypso
  • Release Date: Sep 27, 2013
User Score
7.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 81 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 81
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 81
  3. Negative: 18 out of 81

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  1. carlgt1
    Sep 28, 2013
    7
    It's a good solid game in the Patrician & Port Royale tradition sort of a cross of both. I'm keener on the trading side of things and not the "pirate battle" stuff which I get sick of pretty quick. I find the map a little hard to see; supposedly there are things marked on it (pieces of treasure maps) but I'm having a hard time seeing them. Overall it's a solid trading game.
  2. wasabigirl
    Oct 3, 2013
    9
    You either love it, or you hate it. There is nothing in-between. If you are already played and enjoyed Patrician or Port Royale, you buy this one blindly.
  3. AlienWired
    Oct 5, 2013
    8
    This game is very under-rated and EXTREMELY addictive. If you're into trading games of this sort.

    I've owned Patrician since it first came out, Patrician 4 is nice, however, it pales in comparison to this, which plays nearly identical, however, it's just "more", I wished Patrician 4 was like this game in most ways. Being able to place my own buildings where I wanted would have been    This game is very under-rated and EXTREMELY addictive. If you're into trading games of this sort.

    I've owned Patrician since it first came out, Patrician 4 is nice, however, it pales in comparison to this, which plays nearly identical, however, it's just "more", I wished Patrician 4 was like this game in most ways.

    Being able to place my own buildings where I wanted would have been nice, for example. Not sure if the road networking has been implemented in Rise of Venice, if not, it should have been, like in Patrician, even though in Patrician 4 getting to the road network seemed a bit hard(for me, still not there yet, started playing RoV instead.)

    8.3 would be more realistic and still even then a bit under-rated.    … Expand
  4. eehbiertje
    Sep 29, 2013
    4
    The game is good in many ways if you have played the patrician port royale games before

    some things are done nice but in my opinion its the same repeating that the whole series was about... trade up to get some cash buy few production buildings and produce the rarest stuff and sell it for big profit unending stream of cash I yet again made the mistake of playing this game and    The game is good in many ways if you have played the patrician port royale games before

    some things are done nice but in my opinion its the same repeating that the whole series was about... trade up to get some cash buy few production buildings and produce the rarest stuff and sell it for big profit unending stream of cash

    I yet again made the mistake of playing this game and finding it dull/boring/repetitive after 3/4 hours
    this will be the last patrician/port royale/rise of venice game for me...

    KALYPSO makes great games the only problem lately is. they are always lacking replay value and alot of essential gameplay elements..

    conclusion: PLAY: if you like repetitive tasks games DON'T PLAY: if you are getting bored after doing 2/3 hours the same stuff and don't feel like you accomplished something    … Expand
  5. TJarnold92
    Sep 27, 2013
    10
    This game does what it is meant to do, simulate trade during a period, perfectly. If you are expecting something else, than you will be disappointed, but if you are looking for a deep simulation and are a history nerd in general, there is really no alternative.
  6. Bumbajack
    Sep 27, 2013
    9
    I am a fan of strategy games and have also played the prequel Patrician IV. Whilst I was a little overwhelmed by the massive feature set and a very marginal tutorial in Patrician, Rise of Venice does everything right for a fan of complex strategy simulations like myself. Loads of features, a really smart AI and a great tutorial with a lot of helps. Also the new engine looks great and theI am a fan of strategy games and have also played the prequel Patrician IV. Whilst I was a little overwhelmed by the massive feature set and a very marginal tutorial in Patrician, Rise of Venice does everything right for a fan of complex strategy simulations like myself. Loads of features, a really smart AI and a great tutorial with a lot of helps. Also the new engine looks great and the mood of the Renaissance times in Venice is transported very well and atmospheric.… Expand
  7. OveMelaa
    Sep 27, 2013
    10
    This game is a real gem. I have played Port Royale 3 and Patrician IV but this one is better in many ways. Sure, the core gameplay is still the same but there are many new additions and gameplay tweaks. RoV seems to be more balanced and with less bugs than the other games from Gaming Minds. Its still a pretty hard game to get into and needs alot of time to figure out how things work butThis game is a real gem. I have played Port Royale 3 and Patrician IV but this one is better in many ways. Sure, the core gameplay is still the same but there are many new additions and gameplay tweaks. RoV seems to be more balanced and with less bugs than the other games from Gaming Minds. Its still a pretty hard game to get into and needs alot of time to figure out how things work but once you get the hang of it it is fantastic. I recommend this to all players who are willing to invest some time into it.… Expand
  8. Kluge
    Oct 4, 2013
    4
    Rise of Venice is a very standard ship trading simulator, which has copied everything from previous games in the sub-genre. It does this well... I experienced only one bug, though it was a critical bug which ruined my campaign play (there was a mission where the goal spawn never spawned). Otherwise, it's well-polished. With RoV, the sub-genre's been given a fresh coat of paint (though...Rise of Venice is a very standard ship trading simulator, which has copied everything from previous games in the sub-genre. It does this well... I experienced only one bug, though it was a critical bug which ruined my campaign play (there was a mission where the goal spawn never spawned). Otherwise, it's well-polished. With RoV, the sub-genre's been given a fresh coat of paint (though... identical games didn't come out more than a couple years ago, so this isn't particularly needed). It suffers the same problem as similar games, where there's quickly nothing interesting to do once you've figured out the trade mechanics. You cart product from an area which produces the product (or where you produce the product) to somewhere where they don't produce it, and take the profit.... over and over. I frankly think EVE Online has effectively rendered this subgenre obsolete or it would, if it weren't subscription-based. You can cart goods around and arb all you want in EVE, and it's plenty more deep and interesting when the buyers and sellers are real people, instead of waiting for consistent, predictable goods consumption having trading being just a small part of a much more grand picture helps a lot in maintaining engagement, too. Ship combat in RoV is quite clunky, and for whatever reason, I consistently had trouble getting the ship I was controlling to board enemy ships when I was right up alongside the enemy vessel, so I eventually just stopped manual ship combat and switched to automatic battles. This also isn't uncommon for the subgenre. Overall, I'd say it's shockingly unambitious, very forgettable, and merely a facelift for people who may not have already played almost-identical games. I mean it's not a "bad" game it's just a knock-off of something I've already played. If you have played almost-identical games, well... Why pay to play what amounts to practically the same game twice?… Expand
  9. FlyingHoshi
    Sep 30, 2013
    9
    Been playing this game almost nonstop since launch and I have to say, it is an excellent trading sim that will suck away hours of your life.

    First off I have to say this...the game is not broken. The low review score by IncGamers is based on reviewing the pre-release version of the game, not the "actual" game released to the general public on the 27th. I have not run into a single bug    Been playing this game almost nonstop since launch and I have to say, it is an excellent trading sim that will suck away hours of your life.

    First off I have to say this...the game is not broken. The low review score by IncGamers is based on reviewing the pre-release version of the game, not the "actual" game released to the general public on the 27th. I have not run into a single bug that was mentioned, and have to believe the reviewer is plainly not a fan of this type of game....

    ....since...

    This game knows exactly who it is meant for... those who enjoy building trade empires, manipulating economies, "indirectly" influencing city development, managing trade routes, and building supply chains for production, during a period (in this case, Renaissance in the Mediterranean), with a little bit of political intrigue.

    Though this game does offer a little action with sea battles, this is definitely secondary (...though if you want, you can play the game this way without trading at all, pirating other trade conveys and capturing their ships and goods which you can then either sell or add to your fleets...). This game is about trading...plan and simple...and if you enjoy this and other trade/management/supply chain sims, then you will definitely enjoy this game.    … Expand
  10. kark
    Oct 1, 2013
    9
    As tropic 4 This game is pretty good, I'd love to play this game many times, but of course some will not like it, but I think it is very good.My score 9/10
  11. Scritty
    Nov 20, 2013
    10
    While I do have rose tinted specs regarding Patrician 2 and 3 this is probably better than both of those.
    It's as good as if not better than Port Royale and better IMO than PR2 and 3.
    The plot/politics side is greatly enhanced from the previous games and trading has been smoothed (but not nerfed) The need to keep a pen and paper handy just to see if a route is profitable or not is no    While I do have rose tinted specs regarding Patrician 2 and 3 this is probably better than both of those.
    It's as good as if not better than Port Royale and better IMO than PR2 and 3.
    The plot/politics side is greatly enhanced from the previous games and trading has been smoothed (but not nerfed) The need to keep a pen and paper handy just to see if a route is profitable or not is no longer required.
    That was always annoying. There you are, in front of a £1500 PC, using a calculator to work out whether buying bricks from Barbados and selling them at St Kitts was worth it or not. It didn't really add to the game.

    Well that's all fixed now. The GFX are good, the combat is optional (good as I have no interest in it) the gmae is a solid deep trading and strategy game.

    Some of the reviews pro and player seem a little annoyed that it isn't a pirates and swashbuckling game and review it as if it SHOULD have been.

    Guess they don't understand the real pleasure of a deep logistics and trading strategy game and maybe next time the pro game review sites are handed a game like this to review and the editor is working out who to give it to then some of those who have reviewed this should just own up and say "You know what I just don't 'get' this sort of game maybe give the review to someone who does"

    Would they give the next CoD or Battlefield game to someone like me to review someone who can't stand FPS's? I don't think so.    … Expand
  12. masc
    Sep 30, 2013
    8
    Fun game with just a few flaws when it comes to the UI, Steward options and the ship battles.

    Regarding the UI the most obvious problem is that a lot of the information about your company is scattered throughout different screens. Problem with the stewards is that you can't tell him to buy from a specific ware a certain amount if the price is below x. You can just tell him to buy all    Fun game with just a few flaws when it comes to the UI, Steward options and the ship battles.

    Regarding the UI the most obvious problem is that a lot of the information about your company is scattered throughout different screens.

    Problem with the stewards is that you can't tell him to buy from a specific ware a certain amount if the price is below x. You can just tell him to buy all wares that are below price tag x. You can't even limit the amount of wares he buys. This last one goes for you ship captains as well.

    Ship battles are chaotic and no fun at all to play by yourself. However the player can always choose to handle ship battles automatically by the AI.

    Other than that a word on mod-ability: I do not understand why this developer is making it people so darn difficult to mod anything. Every file in the archives is encrypted. This is in no way community friendly and by my mind not really contemporary. For this alone I deduct one scoring point.    … Expand
  13. Uzumakitony
    Oct 8, 2013
    2
    There are games that make you smile, and those that make you cry. Terrible graphics, terrible strategies, terrible waters. Just terrible. A Simply woeful game
  14. Tengen
    Nov 10, 2013
    10
    The game is exactly that what it claims to be: an economic simulation with tradings and industries.
    A shame that this title as well as GMS' prequel "Port Royale 3" got bashed by ignorant reviewers, who misunderstood (or were too lazy to read on it first) and assumed that it's going to be a pirate action. The strategical depth is very thorough, the graphics are WAY better than its sequels    The game is exactly that what it claims to be: an economic simulation with tradings and industries.
    A shame that this title as well as GMS' prequel "Port Royale 3" got bashed by ignorant reviewers, who misunderstood (or were too lazy to read on it first) and assumed that it's going to be a pirate action. The strategical depth is very thorough, the graphics are WAY better than its sequels and the gameplay is smooth.
    The story might not be the best but this game isn't about the story. The story is simply a tutorial.

    Overall, a successful simulation for the deep strategists out there.    … Expand
  15. CityBuilder
    Oct 8, 2013
    5
    It's an okay game if you're into trading simulation games, however to me it really doesn't bring anything new to the genre. It seems to me that what this really does is to add in some items, or rather change some items that users had demanded to be changed in the earlier games like Patrician IV.

    I do admit that I like the whole idea of being a Venetian trader much more than the earlier    It's an okay game if you're into trading simulation games, however to me it really doesn't bring anything new to the genre. It seems to me that what this really does is to add in some items, or rather change some items that users had demanded to be changed in the earlier games like Patrician IV.

    I do admit that I like the whole idea of being a Venetian trader much more than the earlier games premises but beyond that I can't really say that this is any more than just an average trading simulator.

    The user interface unfortunately feels very dated to me, it feels very similar to the old Sierra/impressions city building games with the way that they have a bar over on the right that is of securing your view of the game world. And the ship battle user interface is probably worse than the standard interface is used on the rest of the game. It feels very much like it was just tacked on to have something in their for the game's release.

    The sound is just so so. And it suffers terribly from voice over stuttering that apparently is not just my game as watching YouTube videos of this game you can just see how many people actually have this voice over stuttering in their game. About the only thing to do with the sound that is decent would be the music, I found the music to be very relaxing and it fits very well with the game but that's not nearly enough for me to score the game any higher than a 5 out of 10

    The game world is just okay to look at it's nothing really to write home about the ships a rather bland and the actual landscape is also rather bland however the water is quite pretty.

    As a trading simulation game is basically does that, trading, and it does it over and over and over and over and over again, basically you're going to be doing trading throughout the entire game which consists of little more than either moving or producing a product in one area to another area in the game that does not have that product, if doing that does not sound like an exciting thing to do for you then you probably don't want to skip this game.

    Final thoughts: if you can pick up this title for under $20.00 and enjoy trading simulation games such as the Patrician series of games then you might as well go ahead and pick it up so that you can experience the new area (Venice), however I would not suggest picking it up at full price of $39.99 if you've played the previous games as it's really just little more than the same.    … Expand
  16. Cyraga
    Jan 3, 2014
    6
    I really do enjoy this game. I wish I could love it, I do.

    The trade is fun, creation of trade routes is fairly easy and intelligent. Maybe I was just bad at Patrician 3 but I found trying to maintain a production line was torturous and literally caused me a few sleepless nights as my brain refused to shut down after a 5+ solid hours of fun each day. Rise of Venice takes most of that    I really do enjoy this game. I wish I could love it, I do.

    The trade is fun, creation of trade routes is fairly easy and intelligent. Maybe I was just bad at Patrician 3 but I found trying to maintain a production line was torturous and literally caused me a few sleepless nights as my brain refused to shut down after a 5+ solid hours of fun each day. Rise of Venice takes most of that stress from you with a solid system that allow you to delegate managing how many resources are needed by your business assuming your trades go off unhindered. Very handy.

    The genuine disappointment with this game is the campaign. I've just given up on it after for the 4th (ish) time I've been given a quest along the lines of "assemble a super strong fleet and arm it to the teeth by yesterday as I have something much stronger than you to kill by this afternoon". Then when you inevitably fail you're punted back to your latest save to try and work a miracle recovery.

    It doesn't add anything to the campaign except an eye-roll and a groan knowing that I may actually be physically unable to progress.

    Also the game often fails to register your completion of goals within missions. I had a mission to sell 80 things of wine from Syracuse to Venice. I did just that and saved, figuring I could wait out the clock. Wrong, the trigger failed and then I failed the mission, getting punted back to my save with 2 days to accomplish a 6-day objective. Fail. I was quite fortunate as when I went back to Syracuse and bought 80 things of wine the trigger only THEN registered.

    A potentially great game torn down by an awful campaign. Sure most of the joy to be had is probably sandbox, but for the fairly time starved like myself I personally look primarily to the campaign for the game experience.

    Could be great, but is instead adequate.    … Expand
  17. Jonlaw98
    Oct 8, 2013
    9
    Rise of Venice has come a long way since the Strategy/Simulation games have been released, Rise of Venice starts in the Renaissance era where you start by building a reputation by buying and selling basic items and eventually progress to recruiting soldiers along with advancing through different empires to take over. Paying attention to detail is important because at certain times of theRise of Venice has come a long way since the Strategy/Simulation games have been released, Rise of Venice starts in the Renaissance era where you start by building a reputation by buying and selling basic items and eventually progress to recruiting soldiers along with advancing through different empires to take over. Paying attention to detail is important because at certain times of the day, you will notice when to buy and sell goods to earn profit.

    While Rise of Venice is a simulation game, there is plenty of missions and trading to be done in areas such as Rome, Athens, Alexandria for example. Your objective is to build a reputation is any of the different places. When you progress through the game and raise your rank, more items and convoys are available to trade such as boats and goods from different places.

    What else does Rise of Venice have to offer?

    An interaction with other friends or players in Multiplayer with up to 4 people.

    Pros and Cons

    Some of the things throughout the game I liked include the great atmosphere, what I mean by that is, it's not always dark and rainy... which usually sets a mood in the game. If you like Strategy and Simulation games, Rise of Venice is very addicting because of the mission variety and the ability to rank up and the endless amounts of playtime you can have with friends.

    The things I noticed about Rise of Venice that could be easily fixed include, more instructions to the new gamer who is picking up a simulation game for the first time. The learning curve is quite steep for this. Although you can change the speed of the game to progress faster, the time it takes to rank up can be confusing because it takes a long time. Finally the most important issue was some of the missions are extremely difficult and can cause a huge loss in resources because it is not clear on what the objective is.

    Overall, I really enjoy this game and with a little time and effort, I think Kalypso Media did an excellent job with this game and will provide many hours of entertainment.
    - My personal score for this game would be a 9/10

    Publisher & Developer Kalypso Media
    Genre: Strategy/Simulation
    Platform: PC (Steam)    … Expand
  18. starthink
    Nov 4, 2013
    7
    If you like game serise Age of Exploration(made by KOEI) or Port Royal series, this game also you'll be like. But I feel this game is lack of contents. Only one short single story. I think need more characters and randomable or hidden stories(event).

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
66

Mixed or average reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 17
  3. Negative: 2 out of 17
  1. PC PowerPlay
    Feb 3, 2014
    60
    A competent, niche title that never fully realises its potential. Fills a gap in the modern game library but little more than that. [Feb 2014, p.88]
  2. PC Gamer
    Nov 5, 2013
    77
    Free-flowing strategy with a wealth of features. An element of grind, but plenty of satisfying moments too .
    Read full review
  3. Games.cz
    Oct 30, 2013
    70
    Rise of Venice finds an interesting angle on the trading history. However, it's a shame that virtual Venice is filled with rats and troublesome pigeons. It's a fail they were not swept out entirely. Anyway, we've just been playing a beautiful strategy game with one very ugly bug.
    Read full review
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