Going Medieval

Having spent some time with the early access build of Going Medieval I thought I would share my thoughts on this fun and interesting colony sim that I feel needs to have more eyes on it. I know that city-building games are a dime a dozen these days, but I think what we have here is one of the more interesting ones from the pack. If you like this style of game then I highly recommend that you take a closer look.

The Black Plague!

The story and setting of Going Medieval is pretty cool. The game has an alternate history thing going on and the black plague is far worse, far, far worse! It has managed to spread around the world and it has killed 95 percent of the population. Years later, things have started to calm down and it is time for the small pockets of humanity that are left to try and rebuild civilization.

That is where you come in! As you lead this new group of settlers and try to go from a basic wooden shack to a sprawling and thriving community of castles, buildings, and people who are happy, fed, and willing to fight off any threats that come their way.

The Building Blocks Of Life

There is certainly no shortage of medieval era city/colony sims that are out there. What I feel makes Going Medieval interesting is the building mechanics. Yes, you can build your city in the normal way, but this game lets you go deep and high! By that I mean you are able to build up and down, I had this awesome wooden building that was really tall, granted building something like this out of wood was not super smart, but it let me learn how I could do this when I had the resources to make a stone castle like this! This has some of the best actual building I have played in a game like this in a very long time.

People Make The World Work

As is the case in all games like this, you want your people to be happy and that is easier said than it is done. The basics of their needs are being fed and having a roof over their head. However, as you progress and your society builds, keeping people happy becomes harder. They all have their own needs and stories and watching them go about their daily lives, interacting with others and working can give you hints on what they need to feel better.

There Are Wolves At The Door

As you would expect in a game like Going Medieval. There are others that want what you have. You have raids that will try and destroy what you are trying to build. From wolves and bandits, it can be quite the struggle. You will need to make sure that your defenses are up to scratch and that you are ready for attack. I like this, but and I know this sounds crazy. I actually think that some kind of “fantasy” element here where you had monsters like orcs to fight would have been really cool. Perhaps this is something they could add in an expansion at a later date?

Pros:

• I thought the premise of the game was cool
• It looks far better than you would think
• The way you can build “up” is great
• There is a lot of things to worry about in this game!

Cons:

• It is very, very similar to Rimworld
• I do wish it had some kind of fantasy element