Foundation

A fun and surprisingly deep game. It's very uncommon to find a city builder that is both cozy and reasonably challenging. There are still some QoL issues that should be ironed out, but overall it's a great experience with a good amount of replayability. You will have to manage and balance production chains and trade constantly as you build your city, and unlike some other city builders, the trading and tax system allows you ample time to recover before a production shortage destroys half of your population. New villagers are constantly passing through in small groups and can be recruited with a single click, so you don't have to wait for people to have kids or anything. The game provides you with objectives as you progress, they are straightforward in the beginning but require more planning and problem solving as your city grows. There are no enemies, although one of the progression paths is "military" themed - you are basically supplying the crown with resources rather than doing any fighting yourself. I absolutely love the organic, gridless city growth. The cities look natural and will gradually become shaped to complement the landscape instead of just big ugly squares like in similar games. Placing walls and building large structures is effortless, you are only limited by your resource stockpiles. Villagers make their own roads as they move back and forth. The most frustrating thing IMO is the inability to view your maximum storage space for each item without counting each storage individually. This makes adjusting your trade volume a bit annoying, but it's still just an annoyance more than anything. Traders are constantly passing through and it doesn't affect the actual gameplay much, but the devs clearly weren't intending for people to min/max, so if you are that kind of person it may be a bigger issue for you. If you like medieval city builders, this is worth a purchase. Up there with Farthest Frontier, but more cozy and takes itself less seriously.