Towns

 PC
User Score
3.9

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 124 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 124
  2. Mixed: 18 out of 124
  3. Negative: 72 out of 124

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. HatterEth
    Nov 10, 2012
    5
    I first played this game in its alpha state back in April 2012. At that time the developers had spoken of improvements, added content, bug squashing, and the like, all while stating that Towns was still in Alpha. Fast forward half a year and while new content/mechanics have been added, the bulk of the old problems remain. Ranging from management/intelligence of your townsfolk to theI first played this game in its alpha state back in April 2012. At that time the developers had spoken of improvements, added content, bug squashing, and the like, all while stating that Towns was still in Alpha. Fast forward half a year and while new content/mechanics have been added, the bulk of the old problems remain. Ranging from management/intelligence of your townsfolk to the ability to control their actions(including the wonderful flood of flour on one's screen or suicide missions across the map).

    Sadly, the game is still in alpha state, despite the dev's insistence to its playability. It *can* be played, with much effort and disregard to logic/intuition. The addition of new content, while interesting, is easily missed by the core mechanics which still fail to function properly. There is much room for improvement, and its current price is laughable given its alpha condition. Even if such a title is thought of as trivial by the devs as well as the die hard fans. There is much potential in this game, but sadly, its current state and its marginal progress after 6 months leads me to believe this game will never reach its full potential.    … Expand
  2. apaeth
    May 18, 2013
    5
    Very disappointing. This game had the potential to be a great game but they stopped short. The AI is about as dumb as it gets. The developers may know how to code but they are severely lacking at understanding the importance of time management, efficiency and resource management when it comes to a city building game. Simple things like providing food becomes a logistical nightmare andVery disappointing. This game had the potential to be a great game but they stopped short. The AI is about as dumb as it gets. The developers may know how to code but they are severely lacking at understanding the importance of time management, efficiency and resource management when it comes to a city building game. Simple things like providing food becomes a logistical nightmare and never ending click fest. The interface is terrible and requires that you constantly verify your building levels otherwise you waste time and resources. Mehhhh......… Expand
  3. FurthestFlung
    Apr 7, 2013
    6
    As a Dwarf Fortress player, I really, really want to like this game. It promises to be Dwarf Fortress without the horrible interface. It's... just not, however. It does have a better interface, mostly. You actually just set how much food you want produced at all times, and townies will butcher the cows on their own to fulfill your quotas that's a solid improvement, at least.As a Dwarf Fortress player, I really, really want to like this game. It promises to be Dwarf Fortress without the horrible interface. It's... just not, however. It does have a better interface, mostly. You actually just set how much food you want produced at all times, and townies will butcher the cows on their own to fulfill your quotas that's a solid improvement, at least.

    However, the problem comes with the whole "goal of the game" thing. Dwarf Fortress just lets you do whatever, and is robust enough of a game to make doing whatever crazy thing that comes to mind actually rich and enjoyable. Towns, however, lets you build your town's most basic functions in just a few minutes, then tells you to mine down for the rest, where you encounter the dungeons that are the "real" part of the game. To clear these dungeons, you need heroes, which are beyond your control. Basically, you just run an inn for the heroes who do all the game for you while you just wait for them to finish mopping up.

    Then your townies run in and get eaten by monsters because you can't tell them not to pick up shiny items the monsters drop, much like Dwarf Fortress's notorious mob rushes for the socks of dead goblins years ago. Heroes and townies drop like flies at the lower levels, but there's nothing you can really do about any of that, as combat is nothing but dumb luck against monsters that are just ever-increasing numbers, and nobody listens to your orders when it comes to monsters, anyway.

    Basically, this game is just Dwarf Fortress without the attention to realism, and five years of development behind, but with a better interface. That, ALONE, would still make it a recommendable game, except that you quite honestly have nothing to DO during all the time you spend "playing" the game, but watch the ant farm run itself.

    The only times you are forced to act are when caravans come or sieges come and sieges are a massive pain because of interface problems, at that. The only thing you can do in this game is build more of your town, and even that is ironically best done down in the dungeons, repurposing the old rooms rather than building new ones.

    There's the potential for a brilliant game, if it could just solve some of Dwarf Fortress's old problems, and actually set out to create some new territory of worth to fill, but the pathway from here to there is a loooong one, indeed.    … Expand
  4. Billick
    Nov 12, 2012
    7
    To say that Towns is a bit rough around the edges might be an understatement. The tutorial is a train wreck. The AI needs some major work. The attack animations look awful. It can be difficult to find things in the UI at first. Despite all this, I can't stop playing the darn thing.
    Towns has a similar game play style to Dwarf Fortress. Instead of directly controlling your "townies",    To say that Towns is a bit rough around the edges might be an understatement. The tutorial is a train wreck. The AI needs some major work. The attack animations look awful. It can be difficult to find things in the UI at first. Despite all this, I can't stop playing the darn thing.
    Towns has a similar game play style to Dwarf Fortress. Instead of directly controlling your "townies", you give them orders, and they carry them out... eventually. Prioritizing which orders to give is the trick of the game. Give too many orders, and your townies will run around aimlessly, and become unhappy from being overworked. Additionally to townies, you can attract heroes to your town, who will explore the dungeons below the town, giving you access to the loot that they drop. The graphics are retro, but charming. If you're not sure if Towns will appeal to you, I'd suggest trying the demo. Oh, and avoid the tutorial at all costs.    … Expand
  5. pavilion76
    Feb 26, 2013
    7
    I first found out about Towns during a Steam sale, and they offered a demo, I liked it. Although Towns can use a better interface, do not get the wrong idea; the interface is manageable. It is its own game, There is no real genre for it. For the most part, it has some RTS elements, because you don't play as (an) individual(s), it also has some sandbox capabilities too. But I must agreeI first found out about Towns during a Steam sale, and they offered a demo, I liked it. Although Towns can use a better interface, do not get the wrong idea; the interface is manageable. It is its own game, There is no real genre for it. For the most part, it has some RTS elements, because you don't play as (an) individual(s), it also has some sandbox capabilities too. But I must agree with the rest of the comments, the game feels very underdeveloped. One almost has to get some mods so the game runs better.… Expand
  6. MartialDoctor
    Nov 21, 2012
    5
    I will first state that all these negative comments about how this game can not be played are not true. I played this game a good 10+ hours without any issues. It took some time learning all the little nuances but, with the help of wiki and youtube, I was able to get all of my answers.

    That being said, though, I find this game to be very average. It's just a time sink, imo. Once the    I will first state that all these negative comments about how this game can not be played are not true. I played this game a good 10+ hours without any issues. It took some time learning all the little nuances but, with the help of wiki and youtube, I was able to get all of my answers.

    That being said, though, I find this game to be very average. It's just a time sink, imo. Once the game mechanics are figured out, it's simply a way to spend endless time managing your town. Much micromanagement is needed as the town AI still needs work.

    But my main issue is simple: the game is not challenging. Even on the highest level, I found the raids to be too easy to defend against, even with wood (the lowest kind) of armor and weapons. And the economy is overly easy. You never have to worry about resources once you get the hang of this game... there's no challenge in gathering the main resources needed. Only in the ways you allocate your people and managing them to make sure they get everything correctly.

    Also, there's no leveling up or skills of townspeople. Everyone can do everything equally well, except for fighting, which there are abilities in.

    If a challenge was added and the UI / AI improved, I would probably change my mind. But, as is, it's just too easy.    … Expand
  7. WhiteTalpa
    Jun 9, 2013
    6
    Ok game however the development of the game has added some cool new features but in some ways the game has actually taken a step back... i'm not sure what the future holds for this game, but for the price i would recommend buying it.
  8. Stormsson
    Aug 21, 2013
    7
    I think this is quite a funny game, even if it could be much better:
    the interface is quite lacking, and the interactions are not so various as it might seems.
    This said, i find it funny and entertaining.
  9. hobbint
    Aug 24, 2013
    6
    Lovely concept, and later versions may refine it to a jewel. As for now (version 13a, Aug 2013) it is mostly frustrating for the player to feel genuinely feel the immense potential, but lose all interest when citizen upon citizen will literally starve themselves to death while completing even simple tasks. If the materials are not next to each other, they will run around the mapLovely concept, and later versions may refine it to a jewel. As for now (version 13a, Aug 2013) it is mostly frustrating for the player to feel genuinely feel the immense potential, but lose all interest when citizen upon citizen will literally starve themselves to death while completing even simple tasks. If the materials are not next to each other, they will run around the map collecting them until they die.

    The game also lacks an adequate reward system for reaching further into the realm. The deeper you dig, the more apparent it becomes that keeping your town well-fed is such a burden that the citizens just do not have time to haul back the more valuable materials to craft the most coveted equipment... and ultimately realizing that nobody in the game actually needs it: hero upon hero will enter the town and kamikaze the monsters one by one.

    6 for the entertainment lasting up to 65 hours according to my Steam counter. The learning curve takes the player through many fun-to-experience phases: learning how to control citizens that you actually can not control, learning how to optimize the food chain and learning how it is a bad idea to kill all cows on the map.    … Expand
  10. Kabsef
    Oct 15, 2013
    5
    I bought this game when it was still in early stages (early 2012), I didn't like it much then, I decided I would wait and see if it got better, and it did, but not much. I feel that some of the mixtures in game play were very bad choices and the game is very difficult to understand in the beginning and also very harsh. The game weirdly kind of quickly paced, which doesn't make much sense,I bought this game when it was still in early stages (early 2012), I didn't like it much then, I decided I would wait and see if it got better, and it did, but not much. I feel that some of the mixtures in game play were very bad choices and the game is very difficult to understand in the beginning and also very harsh. The game weirdly kind of quickly paced, which doesn't make much sense, I find that some frogman or other weird enemy is attacking my people the minute I start the game and I have no defense. The game is very slow to start up, which doesn't suit it's quicker paced world. It is very hard to get into and I've just given up on it. If the game was like 3 pounds, all this could be excused... but it's not, it's like 7 pounds.… Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
tbd

No score yet - based on 3 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 3
  3. Negative: 1 out of 3
  1. PC Gamer UK
    Mar 3, 2013
    55
    This is not a town you'd want to visit for too long. [March 2013, p.99]
  2. PC PowerPlay
    Feb 6, 2013
    30
    It's not really worth going to town on this one. Try one of those crazy finished games. [Feb 2013, p.80]
  3. Everyeye.it
    Jan 7, 2013
    60
    Towns is a game with great potential who suffers from many technical problems which undermine the gaming experience.
    Read full review