An EA code was provided, with thanks to ICO.
Since I spent some time with City Tales – Medieval Era‘s demo, I was happy to be able to play the Early Access version as well. After some time spent, I wanted to share my thoughts on changes and the game itself.
Playing City Tales – Medieval Era
City Tales – Medieval Era is a simulation-building game in which you play as a noble overseeing their territory. You need to allocate land for houses, churches, and other buildings, and you have several companions who can help you run them. As you build up more wealth, more homes, and upgrade your buildings, more and more people move into the area, giving you access to more and allowing you to build higher.
One thing I noticed when I started building my town is that the developers have added some decorative items, including little clothing lines, flowers, and other plants. It’s a fun little addition to add a lot more customization to your little town. Other than that, however, not a whole lot changed. You are still the head of the town, and you still have a limited number of named helpers to get collecting and creating buildings up and running. You still have to make fenced-in spaces for each of your building districts, and you can only put two or fewer civil buildings in each district.
So the gameplay loop is that you make a district, you put a couple of civil/processing buildings inside, then you man them with your companions until the building is self-sufficient, then you rinse and repeat. There are also quests that unlock new buildings and upgrades you need to make to progress the story. I think you are meant to make fairly small districts or replace homes with needed buildings as you can.
A Pretty Game with Gentle Music
City Tales – Medieval Era is a relaxing game to play. There aren’t events that I have come across that will kill your people or make them unhappy and leave. It’s a very chill time, and you can kind of play at your own pace, letting it run in the background. The music in this one is fantastic; it adds to the low-key feel of City Tales – Medieval Era.
It’s also a really nice game to look at with its pretty graphics and cute little cartoon-character friends. I like that the graphics aren’t trying to be hyper-real, but are focused more on being colorful and beautiful instead. Overall, I feel like the designer of this game absolutely nailed it.
The Pros and Cons of City Tales – Medieval Era
City Tales – Medieval Era has a lot going for it, with a gentle vibe and a whole lot of customization and things to do. You can build your town how you want it, go at your own pace, and really dive into all the elements as much as you want to. I spent a good 10 minutes planting wildflowers as I waited to build up some inventory of materials. I love how chill it is and how you can just take it slow.
My biggest issue with City Tales – Medieval Era hasn’t been changed from when I first played: the two civil building limit on districts makes it hard to upgrade homes. The upgrade system for homes requires that certain types of buildings are nearby; for example, one house might require a theater and a market within a certain distance while its neighbor might require a clinic and a well. These buildings take up an incredible amount of space, and none of them seems to reach far enough.
I feel like to be successful with City Tales – Medieval Era, you need to meticulously plan your town and where all the buildings should go. It’s a slow process, and you can’t always put things exactly where you want it to be because the slopes are too high or there is a stream in the way. I find the super slow pace a little boring to be honest; I think I much prefer a city builder like Foundation.
Overall, I think City Tales – Medieval Era is a great game, but it is just a little slower than I personally would want it to be.
Final Thoughts
I think City Tales – Medieval Era is a great relaxing city-builder type game. I am still not in love with the way that layouts work in this one, but I can see a lot of people who love the genre really falling into it. It isn’t for me, but if you like the idea of a really chill time where you build a medieval village, I would suggest giving City Tales – Medieval Era a try.
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