Sengoku

 PC
Metascore
70

Mixed or average reviews - based on 13 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 13
  3. Negative: 0 out of 13
  1. Cheat Code Central
    Sep 13, 2011
    74
    This is not for everyone, but if you want a feudal Japan political simulator, it provides hours of entertainment.
  2. Absolute Games
    Oct 17, 2011
    72
    Sengoku offers only political intrigue. You set up a trap, fast-forward time until it springs, reap the fruits of our trickery, then rinse and repeat until you win. And if you're not well-versed in the history of Medieval Japan… well, good luck.
  3. PC Gamer
    Nov 9, 2011
    71
    The simple building system is very slow and expensive, often taking years, and enemy ninjas can destroy guilds or religious locations with ease. [Holiday 2011, p.77]
  5. Gamers.at
    Oct 11, 2011
    70
    Paradox Interactive remains true to its roots: Sengoku also provides sophisticated strategy for experts who do not shy away from tedious, lengthy training time.
  6. XGN
    Sep 30, 2011
    70
    Sengoku is a unique strategy game that focuses more on family trees and on politics than on actual warfare. As for most strategy games published by Paradox Interactive, Sengoku is meant for the hardcore strategist and isn't very accessible for mainstream gamers.
  7. Games.cz
    Dec 7, 2011
    60
    An unconventional trip to feudal Japan brings a lot of interesting principles that support political frolics to a great extent. However, this game is struck down by plenty of unfinished things, simplifications and limitations at the end of the day. It might still win your heart and let you enjoy it for long hours, but you have to be prepared to narrow your very own eyes.
  8. PC PowerPlay
    Oct 31, 2011
    50
    A poor interface and repetitive, hard-to-follow action unfortunately limit Sengoku's already niche appeal. [Dec 2011, p.64]
    All this publication's reviews
  9. IncGamers
    Sep 14, 2011
    50
    But while Sengoku has the stable basis of a game, its biggest problem is a feeling of emptiness.

Awards & Rankings

93
#93 Most Discussed PC Game of 2011

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 85 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 46 out of 85
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 85
  3. Negative: 20 out of 85
  1. andreks
    Sep 16, 2011
    0
    A fairly shameful display if you ask me. I spent thirty minutes flying around the map wondering what was going on. I should've learned fromA fairly shameful display if you ask me. I spent thirty minutes flying around the map wondering what was going on. I should've learned from the shoddy demo that it wasn't worth my money. Refund?… Full Review »
  2. tobas1
    Sep 20, 2011
    6
    I think that I am Paradox fanboi as i own or at least played i think every their Europa-like game. Some gave me more fun then other and forI think that I am Paradox fanboi as i own or at least played i think every their Europa-like game. Some gave me more fun then other and for example i love EU3 and after all expansions that i have it's just masterpiece for me - the same with hoi2. But with Hoi 3 they went to far for me making it just too big and complex. Here - in Sengoku - at least till patches and expansions (if there will be any) they went in totally opposite direction dumbing in down too much. Actually i think it's first game from series where i totally don't care about diplomacy and intelligence coz there is just no point. i use only 2 diplomacy options - declare war and royal marriage to get new breeding cow to get as much hairs asap. all other options or the whole plotting system is just waste of time. and when you even manage to persuade some neutral lord to join you, you will only get into your influence 1 untrustworthy bastard that will most likely start to plot against you anyway. It's much better (and doesn't even cost much more) to just conquer him. And this is my biggest problem with Sengoku - it's to easy to declare war - it cost you only some portion of honor points- 20 for example - and in the same time for every conquered province given to your vassals you'll get 3 points back. So basically attacking clan that has at least 6 provinces (80% of them) will cost you nothing - no tatered reputation and giving casus belli against you for every other country, no war exhaustion that would destroy you from inside with permanent war and so on. you just have to conquer those weaker than you to collect enough honor to attack another one. You dont even have to care for your own provinces as you can have only 5 of them, and every other have to be given to vassals. So you just permanently taking for yourself those conquered with best infrastructure coz computer will build them up much faster than you can anyway. So for me Sengoku is 90% focused at conquering and 10% for diplomacy, plotting and governing provinces. It's still fun but EU series was for me always about diplomacy. here you can manage with diplomacy skill of neanderthal.… Full Review »
  3. CaptainScrubby
    Sep 17, 2011
    5
    Click Expand for Full Review ================================================================================ A Comment on the Game, andClick Expand for Full Review ================================================================================ A Comment on the Game, and Paradox's Vote Rigging: Some of the negative reviews are well deserved, and some of the positive reviews are bogus upvotes by people sent here by Paradox directly from their Forums (pathetic Paradox, you've sunk to a new low). Paradox may be telling it's fanboys to upvote this game, but it has many inherent flaws most notably in it's interface. This isn't a case of the wrong person reviewing the game, and a lot of the negativity isn't because the game isn't "dumbed down enough". This is a case of bad choices being made in designing the game. ================================================================================ The Positive: The game shines in it's intrigue and diplomacy, though the diplomacy itself is somewhat lacking in personality, it presents a variety of options and allows for lots of interesting scenarios. The limited number of provinces that can be effectively governed also paves the way for a vassal system that gets increasingly complex and intriguing as you progress through the game. ================================================================================ The Negative: The interface is unintuitive, and there are a lot of simple things they could have done to make the interface more user friendly. Because of how the interface is set up, the game is practically inaccessible to anyone who hasn't already invested massive amounts of time in it. Improving the interface wouldn't be "dumbing it down" it would be improving the interface, which has needed doing for several GSG's now. Other problems include the cities and armies being poorly represented on the map (technically an interface issue, but I distinguish it from the general UI). Between resigning and reloading there also appears to be a bug that causes the resignation and load times to get longer and longer. In terms of military might, more troops = victory 99% of the time, making the military aspects of strategy a mere numbers and deployment game. ================================================================================ Closing Comment: Behind the many flaws there's a great game, but the flaws should not be ignored by an objective reviewer. The fact is that most will not even be able to access the game, not because they're unintelligent as many Paradox Fanboys arrogantly like to delude themselves into believing, but because the unintuitive interface and lack of tool tips creates a prohibitive learning curve and most just don't have the patience or the time. Paradox doesn't need to dumb down it's games but it does need to learn to improve how it displays information, a side bar displaying information under various tabs would help a lot, as would mouse over tool tips to explain options better would be an improvement, and a better display of troops and cities on the map with more defined borders, and easier to distinguish clans on the normal map view. Paradox can't expect to get positive reviews when it makes games that are virtually unplayable without prior experience, and no amount of shameful vote rigging will negate the flaws with this game… Full Review »
See all user reviews »