---

The Battle of Polytopia might appear entertaining game at first, but it falls steeply after just few hours as game lacks any refinement or substance. This explains its good ratings on Steam. The other half are coming from people who played it on mobile where it is a good game and rates it the same on desktop.

---

This game has that addictive mobile quality. It is easy to start. It gives you accessible satisfaction as you click, upgrade and conquer. It is visually attractive. Progress is rapid and you are bound to always win. Game is designed around three-staring every nation which gives you immense amount of gameplay trying to perfect your playstyle. Challenge in this game stems not from strategy or tactics, but from perfecting your gameplay.

This is mobile game mascarading as a desktop video game. It simply doesn't hold up as mobile games are inherently inferior. Gameplay cannot keep people playing for long. Its systems are not working. Content is sparse and expensive. Besides nice visual style and easy to get into nature, this game offers nothing and earns to take away from you everything in form of microtransactions.

Here are just few systems which do not work in this game:

• Brain Dead AI
  AI in this game runs via a poorly built script. This script is incapable of anything more complex than manufacturing troops and sending them your way. It never even bothers to improve their own tiles.
  https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3203160325
  
• Economic clickfest
  Every tile needs to be clicked on in order to be improved. It becomes just tedious over time.
  
  
• Disbalanced
  Something like super-soldiers make everything else obsolete. Game encourages steamrolling everyone else which is not surprising since entire gameplay revolves around high scores. Some nations can also access late game units from the get go. Balance is non-existent even for such a simple game.
  
  
• High Price
  This game is expensive for what it offers. Then there are even more expensive microtransactions. For a nation which is nothing more than a same generic nation with different picture and different tech unlocked at the start. The value is simply not here. It would be fine on mobile, but not on desktop.

People compare this game to Civilization series. However, this comparison holds up only in most superficial way. What is grand strategy? It is plans which you set into motions. Strategies which you decide to execute. Epic wars which you fight during those periods. Diplomacy and espionage to influence global stage. Achieving dominance through finances and technology. Does this game has any of that? No. Its gameplay might as well be replaced by Microsoft Paint as all you do is painting map with your colors. The only actual gameplay comes from trying to paint map quicker. Sure, it is the end goal of other grand strategy games too, but it is missing all the steps which makes those games meaningful. It is like making an FPS game where you all keep respawning in the same room and shooting each other. It would miss all the points which makes game actually meaningful. Sure, a lot of those games do not execute those things well, but at least they try to do that. Trying is by far better than giving up and degrading to lowest common denominator.

At its core it is an over-priced mobile game. It seems entertaining for first few hours, but that is it. It lacks any features to make it entertaining in the long run. Its style, easy to get nature creates a dopamine rush into the brain not too dissimilar from found in mobile games. Half of its systems simply doesn't work. The point of this game is trying to perfect your run, but with child-like ease of the runs, what is the point? Difficulty is based on ever more ridiculous multipliers for an AI and equally cheesy strategies from people. Be my guest if this sounds like a game for you.

Calicifer's Reviews

If you are interested reading full review or want to discuss something with me, please follow the provided link. I do not allow endless discussions under my reviews, because it rarely ends well.