The city-builder genre in gaming has been around since the era of the classics, and even now, we see many new Indie and AAA game projects popping up now and then. While some of them remain generic, a lot of these games develop their own unique identity in the medium. The underlying question is whether City Tales – Medieval Era, currently in Early Access, repeats the same formulas or does it contribute something new to the genre?
City Tales starts off like any other city-builder, where you end up getting a deed to your land, and now you find yourself making a city from scratch. You aren’t left without resources and you are given some capable companions who will help you manage and run your city. You can assign them to different buildings to get the tasks and production done, though over time, your building becomes automatic. In fact, every production and resource collection building becomes automatic, which means that you can transfer your human hands to other important work that needs to be done.
The tutorial itself is pretty clear, and I liked how you are shown a projection of a mouse on the city field, showing you exactly how to build. Considering how the UI of city-building games are often harder to understand, City Tales does a good job of making an accessible and convenient UI. You are able to see all of your resources at the top of the screen, which makes it easier to manage them. You are also given tasks to complete and milestones to achieve, so if you keep following them, you will get to learn the basics of the game easily without feeling too overwhelmed. These usually consist of setting up some basic structures or doing simple activities, which you can complete in a few minutes.
You may, however, need to wait longer for tasks to get completed, especially if your citizens are busy crafting the materials you need to complete the task. Sometimes it may take you even longer, and you may get the urge to leave your keyboard. There is a fast-forward button, but you can only set it up to 2x. I feel like this is an issue that needs to be addressed in the coming updates.
City Tales has two dimensions of management, which I believe are one of its stronger points. There is a district which consists of your population, and this is also where you build your production buildings. Districts work automatically and for the most part, you would only need to upgrade them to increase efficiency. I believe a little more control during district management would have made it more interesting. Similar to the way you create your districts, you can also set up farms later after they unlock, which help with your agricultural needs to provide food and other necessities for the villagers.
The other dimension is setting up new buildings, which belong to a different category, and will help you with resource collection. The resource management part is actually a lot more complicated and adds a touch of challenge to City Tales. You also need to create production buildings within the districts and assign companions to them for the smooth working of operations.
To build anything you need resources, which you scrounge from the wilds around you. This does add more depth to the gameplay rather than just building facilities from only your gathered money, which is often seen in most city-builders. This also affects the way you would want to place your buildings in your city. For instance, you would need the Woodcutter’s cabin near the trees that will give you wood. This adds more thought to your planning and the way you want to architect your entire city design. You can also be creative with the placement of your districts for an appealing look and are given decorations to place around your city.
City Tales – Medieval Era definitely targets the audience that loves their games cozy. Since there is a lack of technology, your villagers will produce everything in those tiny facilities that require handiwork. There are a huge number of building options that keep your interest in the gameplay for a good while. You can build bakeries, taverns, workshops, tailor shops and a lot more. To do this, you also need to create buildings that will get your resources from hunting, fishing, lumbering, mining and more. This will also require you to strategize well for the well-being of your village and to increase your population and the gold you own. The small village that you created will eventually evolve into a bustling city.
Rabiya reviewed City Tales – Medieval Era in Early Access on PC with a provided review copy.
