Recent reviews by eyesabitdull

I have 600 hours on this game, and I have been waiting for this expansion for a while now.

I have no idea what I expected, but somehow waiting all this while for this to come out and playing so many hundreds of hours in between waiting for it to release, just made getting it so underwhelming.

Yeah, okay, cool, we have a 3D rendered Court room. But it's a fixed camera? I can't even properly look around without going into photo mode?

Sure, there are other new additions. But, the Royal Court was the big deal they were making right?

Is this all there is to it?

I mean, sheesh, i bought the Deluxe Edition at launch and even I still feel underwhelmed.

Regardless, the base and core of the game is as solid as ever - so there's value to the base game. But this addition more often than not feels like many others have said, "should have been available from the start."

Oh jesus christ, how the hell did I get sofa king obsessed with this game?

More than 400 hours clocked in, 400 HOURS.

This is, by far, the most hours i've ever invested into a game in my entire gaming life since I was a wee little boy in 90's when my dad got me a Sega Mega Drive II from a garage sale. It is absolutely insane to think that out of all the games that I've played in my entire life (now in my 30's) that this stupid game, where you only really looking at a damn map the entire effing time, is the game that has absorbed me so deeply.

I both deeply regret ever picking this up, and by god, do I sure as hell enjoy this game more than almost any game I've played.

The only thing I can say about this game, to anyone who is interested, is that you have to ask yourself:

Do you have the time, and do you have the imagination?

Because that's really it about this game.

The mechanics and systems are simple, by nature, but it's the narrative flow that you create on your own and how you can slowly change the entire map according to how you want it to be.

Start off as some lowlife count who is no older than 8 years old, rise to a Duke,die a King, only to see if your offspring can contain what you built, or destroy it. Make your own Christian faith, overthrow the Pope, and install yourself as the new Pope of your new religion. Find a secret, or a hook, to force someone to marry your child so you can break into their royal bloodline and disintegrate an entire nation filled with your dynasty at the helm of almost every important title in the region.

It's limit is your imagination, but I will admit this game does lack variety (for now) after many hundred hours. But the fun of just screwing up the world is a lot of fun if you have the time and the imagination to do so.

So play the game if ya do, and avoid it if you don't.

And definitely watch at least one video on youtube of a playthrough - NOT TUTORIAL - of the game to learn what's possible to do in the game.

You're probably looking at this game because you've played Crusaders King III

I have been looking for a game like this in many years and I'm glad I finally found it.

For those who are into sim games. management games and text-based RPG games such as Crusader Kings or many other games in the similar vein - this is another great entry in your library.

The twist is that you're a politician set in a fictional world fresh off from winning an election in a nation filled with a turbulent and chaotic history, and you have to decide and set forth a course for your nation and either take an aggressive approach to your opposition, or work together with them.

It's a very interesting game, and with the power of imagination painting the world in your head as you read the story line by line, it becomes an electrifying game that jolts your senses with every victory or failure you experienced in the game.

Absolutely loved this game.

Two things that only really bum me out, however:

1) There is no backtracking in the game, all decisions are final

For my first two - three attempts, I thought this was perfectly fine.

But with any game with decision to be made that alter the course of your play through, sometimes a poor decision can be made because of a mistake caused by external forces (wrong click, wrong button, cat jumps on your keyboard), or sometimes you thought you were going choice was going to expand the story, and not end it.

But once you're in your fourth or fifth play through, it becomes really quite tedious to go through certain dialogues over and over.

I did find a fix, however, by copying the entire folder with the save file, and just pasting it in a new separate folder. If I hit a snag I didn't like, I just copied the file in the separate folder, and replaced the file in the games saved game folder.

Again, this is something I feel someone on their fifth or sixth play through would be bothered about - not on your first try.

Devs should just have an ironman mode and a storyline mode, that's all i'm saying.

2. There is no second term

Man, do you know how hard it is to get to your second term in this game?

It's a bloody shame that once you get re-elected you're faced with a black screen and text to make some choices that happen in your second term - but it's just that you don't get to see it, or even play it.

I love this game, I do. And that's i'm knocking on it for not letting me play more of it after working so hard to get my second term.

Imagine in Sim City you worked your city up to profit earnings by the fifth year and it ends because that's how long being a mayor in a city lasts and the game ends.

Or if CK3 just ends when you die, and you're not allowed to play as your heir because that's not how life works.

What i'm saying is....somebody needs to make a game like this but with a mix of CKIII, Sim City, and Suzerain Politics and Story.

Love this game, stop reading this review and buy it.

In the first 3 days after I bought the game, I spent almost 40 hours playing it.

if that doesn't somewhat tell you that this game has been very enjoyable, idk what will.

But allow me to provide some insight on why I enjoy this game the most out of a lot of other city building games.

1) The joy in simplicity:

What I love most about this game honestly how somewhat forgiving this game can be. There's no real threat that will destroy your playthrough and making your heartache beyond the common occurrences if you don't plan things properly.

It's a simple, relaxing, city building game with a pretty low bar of entry.

There's so much joy to be had at building a small little village that turns into a town with little to panic over too much. It's a game that's perfect for you if you just want to unwind, and build a quaint little town for a few hours.

2) It's all in the details:

You can literally see your buildings being built little by little over time as the foundation is built, and the pillars go up before eventually topping it off with a roof.

I absolutely love and adore this as that's something I feel is woefully missing in a lot of city building games like Anno, for example.

What's even more impressive is if you actually read the developers blog, and how he basically breaks down the amount of work and detail the team puts in designing the elements that comes with planning and designing each individual building and the steps that the NPC's will take to build it.

The developers literally even create a timeline for each building is made, with things like resources required and milestones for the builders in each phase as you see them acquire such resources and reach such milestones by the exact time and date they (the builders) plan towards.

And there's even more details that I miss in my playthrough that I only realized after reading the developer blog posts like how each production building actually shows the work being done in detail, or how every door in every building operates dynamically.

It's really cool, and I just love the amount of work put into it.

3) Music to my ears:

Look, this game doesn't have some top notch orchestra music playing in the background, but there's something about the choice of music that helps elevate this sense of relaxation while playing the game.

It's simple, but again, it just oozes a sense of "just kick back, relax, and enjoy building your town man" to it.

I do hope more songs get added in though!

4) Where does the future lay?

Having played this in April of 2021, and seeing videos of others playing online, there seems to be a slow burn of progress of updating the game over the years.

But almost every person whose video I watched about the game had mentioned how with each update, the game just adds something better and better and it almost always compels them to play a new play through as the joy of building is so prominent in this game.

I'm hoping that the game continues to update, and perhaps, in a faster way.

But again, I do not want the developers to rush at all.

i love everything about the game, and I love the amount of work and detail they put in.

There's some bugs here and there, most prominent for me is white arrow lines showing up after I played over 24 hours or so, but seems to be resolved by re-loading the game.

Hoping that get's fixed soon, but other than that, fantastic game!

If someone told me this damn game would suck 33 hours of my life, I would of take one look at the store page and go "nu uh."

Yet, here I am.

This game feeds on the "just one more turn" itch as you meticulously try to max out your fighter stats before each fight, figuring out what needs to be trained on according to your preference - and for the most part, it's really fun and seriously addicting.

It opens up as you learn skills, and begin to know how and when to utilize combos and orders for your character to get out of those tough moments. The gameplay loop is straightforward, but the journey through it can be exciting.

More times than not i've raised my hands and pumped the air as my fighter conquers a new division, especially the Pro League as that took way longer than it should have and despite being quite leveled, it took way more hours than expected to come out on top.

My issue is this:

I HATE THE DAMNED ITEMS IN THE GAME.

Items in this game can be used to heal, boost, or even provide advantages in a fight. In essence, they're completely illegal in real life boxing - but in this game, it's necessary.

It can get really damning when your fighter beats the crap out of an opponent when the fight starts, seeing the opponent get to the end of his health bar, and then see the opponents corner throwing a bunch of heals and boosts that turn the fight around with those boosts.

This is most prominent during Pro League.

Granted, I learned how to utilize those items on my fighter after each damning loss in the Pro League due to the over reliance of the NPC's on items that make every fight a chess battle with making you time when and where to use items - but goodness do i wish that there was an option to turn it off.

Other than that, it's a great game with a weak way to end the game.

Developer, if you're reading this, for the love of God:

Add a cutscene when you win a belt.

It's so damn sad to conquer a league and not have any sort of celebration shown for it.

Buy this game if you love boxing simulations, or sim games in general.

Disappeared off the face of the earth for 3 days, made my family and my girlfriend worried sick as I didn't return any phone calls or messages for a 72 hour period and almost destroyed my relationship when I finally reappeared after a 3 day binge playing this game the minute I bought it.

10/10 - would do it again.

But really, in all honesty, if you're the type who's meticulous, has OCD, an addictive personality, likes to get high while gaming: DO NOT BUY THIS GAME.

If you value your social life, or if you have any integral responsibilities that you can't afford to turn away from: DO NOT BUY THIS GAME.

In fact, I've no idea if I can wholeheartedly recommend anyone to buy this game because I find it far too addicting to play.

There's always some army to go out and hunt, there's always a war that breaks out, a settlement to defend, a castle to to besiege, and that noble who wiped your entire army that needs to have his head rolling on the floor and a single "I'm just going to play for just a little while to get something done off my list" can turn out to be a 6 hour playtime in a blink of an eye.

And then there's the mod community, which is a must to play this game as it's an Early Access game with many features still in development, and just tinkering with mods can also consume hour and hours of sifting through pages of mods to see what could streamline your play through more efficiently.

Pretty sure I spent 3 hours doing just that the day before I wrote this review.

But let's get to brass tacks:

(1)

Q. Does this game have bugs?

A. Yes. But nothing game breaking (unless your using incompatible mods).

(2)

Q. Is there issues that needs to be addressed?

A. Like any Early Access game, yes.

(3)

Q. Should you wait for it to come out of Early Access?

A. If you've played Warband, yes. If you haven't, you'd find enjoyment with what already is implemented in the game and even more pleased once you add mods or when the game updates in the future.

(4)

Q. Is it fun?

A. It is if you find enjoyment in creating your narrative to the game's story in your head and are petty enough to hold grudges to characters in a video game that you would spend hours and hours to plot the death of nobleman who wronged you 15 hours prior and begin hunting down his entire clan members and wipe them off the earth.

TL;DR - BUY THIS GAME AT YOUR OWN RISK (because it's pretty damn good.)

So, I tried the game during the free weekend.

I didn't like it at first, but I was free for the day and I had nothing else I wanted to really play.

So kept at it. Next thing I knew, I was building my own house, crafting my light armor, and all that typical survival stuff.

I honestly began to like it. But then, I realized I was still at the first starting area - grinding my way to building a shelter, trying to stay alive, and getting materials I needed.

But when I tried to explore, it was a little harsh out in the wild.

But fine, I grinded for better armor. But then somewhere during that time, it just hit me.

I'm spending an absolute large number of hours just grinding, trying to get materials, and barely even exploring and seeing the world out there because I was just not well-equipped enough to get that far.

It was then I realized that this game is a game where you can't enjoy the labor of your work in a short span, you can't just craft your armor and head out to enjoy the world because you're going to hit a wall - and that wall is probably going to be a sandbeast.

And then you die, and then you have to restart your crafting from scratch, and then takes more time, and more grinding.

It's just not enjoyable as I'd like it to be because I don't have all that time to invest in this game.

I enjoy it as it is, but I wish I could just enjoy it more without the tedious amount of grinding.

I spent 5 - 6 hours on the game, and most of it was me running from my house, grinding materials, running back and forth.

Is that fun? I don't know, I HAD fun. But I also had nothing else to do.

It's the question of where I felt my time spent was worth it, and the answer is NO.