Dystopika - Chill Cyberpunk City Crafter

TLDR: Good, relaxing but very simple city-builder game.
Watch a review (maybe mine? https://youtu.be/OCCvOw--gFI?si=O6mzCwTVZPlR5N31 ) before you buy so you know what you are getting.

Full Review:
Dystopika is a cyberpunk city builder developed over one year by a single Dev, Matt Marshall. This is reflected in the Price, complexity and development schedule of the game, but is not in any way a criticism.

This is one of those games where you need to be fully aware of what you are getting before you get it, and whilst the game info is very clear about what it is, I see some other reviews stating they were disappointed or got bored quickly. This is not like a traditional city builder where you manage finances,services,population, traffic and much of the other minutiae you would expect in a more realistic city builder.

Dystopika is a game rooted in aesthetics and relaxation. Think of it like a zen sand garden, but instead of moving sand you are placing buildings in a Blade Runner-esque dystopian world. This is the main game play element here, pick, place, rotate and scale buildings in your cyber punk city until it looks and feels as you want it to. There is a light painting tool which allows you to selectively light your city and a great camera mode to photograph the end result. There are also some small decorative pieces that you can unlock and place on buildings for some customisation also.

But the main game play is Pick, Place, Rotate and Scale, that is it.

Now depending on who you are and where your expectations are set this may be a problem for you. That is why I recommend doing some research first and watching some game play, as to leave a bad review for the game on that basis when it is so transparent about what it is would be disingenuous.

The game looks beautiful and was inspired by the Dev's travels around Asia and films like Blade Runner and Ghost In The Shell. For me I got really powerful Blade Runner vibes, giant holograms, advertisement airships that fly around the city, hover vehicles and the architecture of the buildings themselves all screamed Blade Runner to me. If you remember the opening scene to Blade Runner where the camera pans over the City you will know exactly what I mean.

Speaking of camera work, once you city is complete and looks as you want it to there is a great camera mode where you can fiddle with loads of different environmental and camera effects to take some beautiful shots of your city. Rain, fog, time of day, light colour and direction, exposure, lens flare and a host of other options make the photo mode a joy to play with and capture what you have created.

In Summary:
If you want a beautiful game with very little learning curve that you can pick up and put down almost instantly and put as much or as little thought into as you want then this is great. Its the kind of game you play to decompress after a hectic day and just make something beautiful quickly and easily.

If you are looking for cities skylines or games of that ilk then this is not the game for you, do not expect hours of game play per session or massive amounts of unlocks and customisations (although more are coming).

This game does exactly what it says on the tin, and does it very well. Just make sure you read the tin!

Well what can I say after ~80hrs playing this game I absolutely love it and cant wait for any upcoming DLC. This game has received a fair amount of stick for its controls and buggyness and it's true the game is not perfect but does not deserve the bad wrap some have given it.

This is a first person RPG set in Bohemia (central europe) in the year 1403 where you play Henry, the son of a blacksmith who gets wrapped up in the power struggles of the nobles and royalty of the time. If I had to pick a game this was most similar to I would say Skyrim but please don't go into this game expecting that experience as you will be dissappointed. Whilst similar in many aspects this game has an incredible focus on realism. You must eat, drink and sleep and suffer debuffs for not completing these things in a timely manner. You also begin the game completely useless for the situations you find yourself in and it takes some time to level up and master the necessary skills to be effective in combat for example.

While speaking of combat the game has a very new take on combat with melee weapons requiring the use of a radial system to strike opponents and also block incoming strikes. I will admit I spent quite some time struggling with the combat system when I first started playing, compunded by the fact that the in game tutorials do not do a great job of explaining they system. This being said after some practice and a couple of youtube videos I really enjoy the in game combat now to the point that I wish Skyrim adopted the same combat system.

The game is not perfect I have had issues with the draw distance for characters clothing so they look like paesants from a certain distance however armour and weapons suddenly appear when you draw nearer and I also had a few issues getting through some doorways. If you have played a Bethesda game close to initial release you will find nothing to surprise you here and the developers are releasing patches frequently and have solved many of the initial issues already.

If you enjoy your first person RPG's but have craved something a bit more realistic (there is no magic or elves in this game) then I would highly reccomend giving this game a go. It starts a bit slow but once it gets going it is great fun and having just finished the game I am already thinking about playing through again!