Sengoku

 PC
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

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  1. WL11
    Oct 2, 2011
    6
    Sengoku will never be a great game, though it could be a good one with a little bit of work.

    -Bugs: There are still plenty of them, some serious. For instance, players are being randomly defeated by a clan named "No Character". I had one game where I was unable to select my home territory. Sometimes, my court menu magically clears itself of courtiers, even though the missing courtiers    Sengoku will never be a great game, though it could be a good one with a little bit of work.

    -Bugs: There are still plenty of them, some serious. For instance, players are being randomly defeated by a clan named "No Character". I had one game where I was unable to select my home territory. Sometimes, my court menu magically clears itself of courtiers, even though the missing courtiers remain attached to my clan and can still be seen in the "Characters" menu. I also had a string of games in which my 18-year-old character started with a 36-year-old son. Time travel!

    -Graphics: Ugly, poorly anti-aliased text. Everything other than the text looks good.

    -Needs a more detailed tutorial, or better tooltips. The manual explains game concepts at a broad level, but the player can't get a quantitative breakdown of where some things come from. For instance, shock strength, ranged strength, and the leader's martial ability determine an army's combat strength. But if you don't know the formula that's used, you can't make informed decisions. The Civilization series gets this right, and Sengoku should too.

    The game isn't designed for replay value, and that's fine. If the bugs are fixed, it'll be well worth one or two plays.    … Expand
  2. LordStrongpant
    Nov 19, 2011
    6
    I tried the demo and it wasn't to my taste. I was hoping for something with a bit more action, and all I got was lots of adjusting spreadsheets. But some people will like this style of "intense strategy", so try the demo you've got nothing to lose.
  3. 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 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 thereI 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.… Expand
  4. CaptainScrubby
    Sep 17, 2011
    5
    Click 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'sClick 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… Expand
  5. 4-6-4-9
    Sep 16, 2011
    6
    It's a good strategy game, but I would be amazed if most people stuck around long enough to find that out. There is absolutely no tutorial, and the mouse over tips aren't always what you are looking for. If you haven't played any of paradox's previous games, and you don't like learning by trial and error, I would stay the hell away from this game. If you don't mind mind a steep learningIt's a good strategy game, but I would be amazed if most people stuck around long enough to find that out. There is absolutely no tutorial, and the mouse over tips aren't always what you are looking for. If you haven't played any of paradox's previous games, and you don't like learning by trial and error, I would stay the hell away from this game. If you don't mind mind a steep learning curve and some frustrating, what the hell do I do know moments, I would absolutely recommend he game. Because once I actually figured out what I was doing I loved it.

    One more thing, while this didn't bother me personally I'll mention it anyways because I know it will disappoint some people. If you like involved combat in your strategy games stay away, as this is more or less Risk where the larger army wins and it does the dice rolling behind the scenes.    … Expand
  6. Roybison
    Sep 16, 2011
    5
    Not much seems to happen, so I was a bit disappointed. Maybe I'm playing it wrong. I don't think Paradox have made a bad bit of software, I generally like them in principle, but I wouldn't really call it a game. I prefer real-time battles, or other Paradox games like Mount & Blade.
  7. Thefallenhun
    Sep 16, 2011
    7
    Well, its a competent enough strategy game, but I defy anyone to play this and not wonder, "Why am I playing this and not Shogun 2 Total War"? I'm really not a fan of this style of game to be qquite honest, and other than civ, I rarely tolerate a TBS that doesn't let me control my own troops instead of auto-determing battles based on strengths.
  8. Kiamet
    Oct 2, 2011
    7
    If you like feudal Japan, political intrigue and deep strategy, then Sengoku should not be your entry point into games featuring those things. It's a very rewarding game, but requires a lot of patience and experimentation before you can find satisfaction. Once it all clicks though, it's very addictive and allows for great storytelling - betrayal, marriages of convenience, epic battles.If you like feudal Japan, political intrigue and deep strategy, then Sengoku should not be your entry point into games featuring those things. It's a very rewarding game, but requires a lot of patience and experimentation before you can find satisfaction. Once it all clicks though, it's very addictive and allows for great storytelling - betrayal, marriages of convenience, epic battles. Most of this is inferred through the gameplay however - some imagination is required, since the user interface is all business. The overall design is like a very advanced German board game. I recommend checking out the demo first - there are also some developer videos that explain some of the mechanics.… Expand
  9. Fenchurch1
    Aug 30, 2013
    6
    Getting used to every nook at cranny of this game is not easy and initially things can seem very daunting. You need a clear and accurate plan of what’s needed to be done which I struggled to do with a lack of help. I’m not a fan of games that baby sit you through every little thing, but some kind of tutorial would have been nice to guide through the first months rather than just tool tipsGetting used to every nook at cranny of this game is not easy and initially things can seem very daunting. You need a clear and accurate plan of what’s needed to be done which I struggled to do with a lack of help. I’m not a fan of games that baby sit you through every little thing, but some kind of tutorial would have been nice to guide through the first months rather than just tool tips which you only discover when you find a new area to the game you never knew existed. Regardless of the mountains of information and lack of direction after getting into this game I found myself enjoying it. The strategy and setting in the game is enjoyable, design and graphics attractive although simple and winning wars against rival clans satisfying.… Expand
  10. piring
    Jan 12, 2013
    5
    Sengoku is a nice game by its own right, and personally it brings a very refreshing touch since there are few Grand Strategy titles that covers the Sengoku Jidai era. But I cannot say this game is perfect even compared to other Paradox titles, and actually this game leave a lot to be desired.

    The Good +++++ + The Character System is well-built, seems derived from Crusader Kings    Sengoku is a nice game by its own right, and personally it brings a very refreshing touch since there are few Grand Strategy titles that covers the Sengoku Jidai era. But I cannot say this game is perfect even compared to other Paradox titles, and actually this game leave a lot to be desired.

    The Good +++++
    + The Character System is well-built, seems derived from Crusader Kings (another Paradox title) that gives you many option to built your dream character. Sadly no ruler designer.
    + The Intrigue System allows player to easily overtake supposedly stronger enemy by assassination or conspiring with other lords. Also allows your vassals to easily overthrows you....
    + The Troop Recruiting System is slightly improved, you can quickly exploit it to build power
    + Actually easier to learn than other Paradox titles (damn you Victoria!)
    + Not too buggy this time eh?
    + Still Easily Moddable

    The Bad ------
    - Too war-oriented. Paradox' games are not known for its warfare system (except Hearts of Iron, which emphasize on it) but for its Diplomacy, Intrigue and Economic system. Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis, and Victoria (all Paradox titles) have done this admirably, in Sengoku you will spent much time waging war without having time to improve your realm, forging extensive alliance and conspiring. The loss of casus belli system is saddening

    - Despite its war-oriented gameplay. The system from CK stays: Raise Levy, send to enemy province who has fewer troops, hope they win, get the province, raise more levy. as CK is more politic-oriented that would be fine. But in Sengoku? It is disastrous.

    - The Large Factions are simply too powerful, within the first ten years you will find Japan divided between 3-4 Superpowers while smaller nations left cannot hope to fight them.

    - The Interface looks derived from EU: Rome which is NOT good. It's ridiculously hard to change between diplomacy and marriage (It keep tells me that my MALE faction leader cannot marry their MALE faction leader, WTH?). Overall, the Interface is not user-friendly

    - Shogunate and Emperors are USELESS. in feudal japan they still exert some influence and even build coalitions

    - Title system is less like a political tool and more like an achievement award you get when you kill 1000 zombies in the head.

    - Lack of tutorial. Inexperienced players would really find this confusing

    Conclusion

    Sengoku has many shortcomings, but it's still got potential. I felt this way when playing EU3 vanilla and when they released the expansions it become amazing. Paradox really need to work on this game if they want Sengoku to survive    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

93
#93 Most Discussed PC Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

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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. 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.
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  2. 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]
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  3. 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]
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