This PC game comes from a couple of guys that seem to have mostly made mobile games, but it looks intriguing.
I played it a bit in early access, and enjoyed what I saw. Will have to dive back in.
Same here. I didn’t realize it released yet. I’ll have to check it out this weekend. I remember enjoying it during EA.
This looks like the game I wanted Majesty 2 to be … aside from the graphics, anyway. I think I’ll give it a shot.
Hearthlands is a throw back to the old Sierra city building games like Emperor and Zeus. I played it during EA but backed off until release. Now I have something else to play this weekend!
Question. I see a lot of weapons shops in that image. Is military a large part of the game? I tend not to like conflict or external pressure in my city builders so its kind of a big issue for me.
The game apparently has this:
[quote]
Build an army and protect your city from monsters and invasions
Trade and conduct diplomacy with neighbor realms, or go to war with them[/quote]
hmm thanks. Yeah that doesn’t look like my thing. Thanks!
Rod,
You can start games with Passive Rivals, which means there’s no combat with neighboring realms.
Oh wow! I reverse course! Thanks! I will check it out then!
It was in Early Access? I guess that already explains why my steam account owns it then…
Guess I should try it out!
Watching some guy play it it strikes me as more like Settlers than an Impressions city builder. Is that a fair assessment?
It seems like more of an Impressions city builder. The art style is similar to Settlers but the walker mechanics are more similar to Impressions.
At least the walkers are smart and go where needed. I don’t think I could handle another walker game otherwise. Will pick this up soon…
From my limited play thus far, it’s quite fun and has some decent complexity. It also doesn’t overly punish less-than-optimal play unless you set it up to do so from the get-go (giving yourself less starting cash, raising difficulty levels, more grumpy neighbors, etc.).
On the flipside, if you don’t pay careful attention to the tooltips and help options, you can do some goofy things without knowing it (“Hey, I’ll make this farm have 500 plots!” … when a farmhouse can only cover 24).
Also, managing the storage (and distribution) facilities is a key skill, imho. I first set them up to accept everything (default) but then found how messy that could be.
I spent awhile playing this last night, and I would say that the description “Impressions game with smart walkers” is pretty good. There’s also a research system–two of them maybe? I haven’t gotten to the magic stuff yet–and racial variations that basically dictate what goods you use for food and drink.
Now, the dopey looking characters? Those are totally The Settlers!
Overall, I got into the system of balancing my economy, which is a thing I think this does well. The resource chains have a little more crossover than I am used to from Impressions games, which keeps things interesting. There’s enemies on the map like spider dens and warlock towers, but I’ve only encountered them as part of the campaign, which sets you up with an army before any threat emerges. I gather the game is meant to be played on randomized maps, which is different from the Impressions games (not necessarily in a way I love). I’ve just been in the campaign, so I don’t know how that works.
The interface I found to be different from the standard city builder, but it actually has some merit. You can right click or left click on a building or character and they both bring up the same screen, but when you release the right click the screen goes away. So there’s a “quick check” option and a “dive in” option for every bit of information.
So this is… fine. Lethis is a more faithful Impressions clone, if that’s what you’re looking for, and also better looking. But this might have a slightly stronger economic model. I just don’t know that I want to look at this game much longer or entertain the idea of holding off giant spiders and dire wolves as part of my city builder. Back to my replay of Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom.
I’m working through my backlog and decided on this. It interested me and had a high enough steam rating (86%) that I thought it would be fine… except it’s as dull as dishwater. I posted this Steam review:
I’m a big fan of Settlers, and I like the impressions City Building series, which meant I want looking forward to playing Hearthlands. But it’s such a drag. I’d say only play this game if you like:
- Waiting for stuff to happen. Specifically for numbers representing good stock to reach certain levels.
- Doing the exact same thing on each map
- Knowing that there’s a precise ration of primary:secondary buildings, but the game not always telling you, so you have to work it out with trail and error, and then write it done once you’ve figured it out.
- Not understanding why the peddler has both a radius and a walker.
- Not being able to figure out why good X isn’t making it’s way to vital building Y, despite building Y being next to it and also being next to 3 other buildings of the same type that have 100% input for that good.
- All the buildings looking exactly the same
- Combat being mostly “produce lots of units that die to units with massive HP bars”
Overall, the game is dull and completely uninspiring. i.e. Usually the tutorial or introductary mission provides a glimpse of what the game could be and teases you into thinking that more exciting things await. After playing the tutorial you’re easer for what’s to come. This happens in countless other games, and when it does happen you know you’re playing a “good” game. But in Hearthland the tutorial and first 3 missions in the game are basically identical to each other and, as far as I can tell from a quick custom mission, to the rest of the game. i.e. there’s 0 depth.
Go buy Factorio, Settlers or Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom (GOG) or something like that instead.
I guess I need to hit-up the Talk Me Out Of My Backlog thread before I embark on playing through it…
I really wanted to like it but I agree with your review entirely. Just not engaging.
Yep. I loved the idea, bought the game, got frustrated and then watched some lets play videos.
After about a half hour of these videos, I realized the game was just infinitely too much work to overcome design limitations to be enjoyable. Seems like something where I’ll hopefully love Hearthlands 2, but this one is now collecting virtual dust.