Songs of Syx

Difficult is an understatement, you need to manage so many things at once and more often than not are going to end up redoing half of the city you just built to add in a bakery or lavatory but my god is it enjoyably painful, the devs have clearly put heart and soul into this, im gonna break down the good and bad (in my personal opinion). [h1] THE GOOD: [/h1] Graphics are reminiscent of older strategy games, think total war medieval 1, command and conquer, age of empires and it just scratches that itch for the good old days of gaming. immense levels of satisfaction when things end up going right, like i said at the start the game is difficult, it will take time to learn and the tutorial only teaches you the basics, the rest you have to figure out yourself. the amount of detail and effort you need to put in to your city is quite realistic, you have to manage the food production and balance it out with how much crop your growing, too little and your people will starve, too much and it will rot away in storage before you get to use it, is there enough toilets and places for your people to wash themselves, is there enough hearths to keep them warm, is it going to be logistically sound for the placement of your warehouse to where things are coming in from to be stored. are the work sites within reach of the houses or will i need to make yet another estate close by to fulfil the best production possible, there are mods that literally break down just info on all this stuff to assist you but i find it more fun trying to get it right through trail and error/ the building in this game is detailed you need services within reach of populous areas to make everything run smoothly the combat is interesting, I dont believe they have fleshed it out enough yet but it is still rather enjoyable apart from one main thing that i will get into later, spears and cavalry seem to be the most efficient in combat where as archers seem to fall off, i wont go to much into detail as half the fun is trialing this stuff yourself. [h1]THE BAD[/h1] The main issue with the game is the learning curve, thats what i believe will put people off playing, with a more in detail tutorial i believe this would assist players in finding it easier to play, although the community is surprisingly good at offering help with things. DISEASES.... at some point you are gonna have an epidemic on your hands, they are difficult to work with and again there isnt really much information in game about how to curb them, wells, hearths lavatorys and physicians are the best defence agaisnt this but as your population grows it becomes unrealistic logically to build the required amount of each to curb an epedmic. combat, when you finnaly start facing large armies, it becomes more of a you can only defend as if one unit reaches your throne, it dosnt matter if you start fighting that unit, they will capture your throne, i have seen this be commented on by a fair few members of the community and i havnt personally had this happen as the highest amount i have fought so far was 91 soldiers. stuttering, as expected with a game that simulates so much at once, you will have stuttering at some point in your playthrough, im only encountering it currently when the game saves, and my pc is ok i guess, not top specs but definitly not botttom. deffinetly recommend this game if you are into games like rimworld but wanted more size and depth to the game but found dwarf fortress too much, this game is somwehat inbetween . take your time and learn as you go, failure is a chance to learn more about the mechanics of the game

Incredible game, highly addicting. This is a game for those who love the process of building and growing a Rimworld base, for those who love the Civilization games but crave some other feeling, for those that love a good economy system, and for those that just love the process of maxing out in a city builder. I've barely touched the surface of the potential playtime when writing this review. Don't be overwhelmed by how much there is to this game, even in early access; it has been incredibly rewarding to learn and understand the game, and I'm thrilled to utilize what I've learned in my next run. I've also never played a game where I felt like I could sense the creator's love for programming and systems quite like this one. That might be a strange comment, but as a graduate math and data student, this game just rubs me the right way.

A very interesting game that reminds me of the Wizard of Oz: fantastic until you peel back the curtain. I love seeing the sheer mass of my people constructing monuments in seconds. I really enjoy the breadth of the systems. I like the potential. But, the depth is shallow, and none of the numbers _feel_ right; I feel like the emergence has been handicapped in pursuit of breadth/balancing. Combat is a toss-up, my rag-tag band of 50 poorly trained peasants do really well at max speed (they always die at regular speed, is game speed a combat factor?). Building is solved, I know the best blueprints for my residents. Food tends to always point me towards orchards or grain, or a fish run depending on the map. Even with a change in map layout, after a few playthroughs, everything feels 'solved'. I like the scale of population this game can support, but an optimized Rimworld/Dwarf Fortress feels so much more deep and robust. Some other comments mention depth, but I feel these are confused for breadth. There are hardly any decorations. Slave mood and revolts are predictable. Buildings are barely upgradable, and their upgrades hardly change the playstyle. Races have specific likes and dislikes and it's all very formulaic. Nobles (as in, the NPC, not the title) don't matter. The game becomes a wide, shallow pond very quickly. I recommend this game if you're interested in seeing examples of relatively well-optimized, high agent/NPC-count games -- but not so much for an immersive settlement builder.

This game is incredible. It blows my mind it was mostly developed by just one guy. If you love city builder, simulation, automation (factory), or RTS games, you'll probably love this one. I'm 20 hours in and have barely scratched the surface of what this game has to offer. Summary: You pick a race to play as. The game generates a "world map", and you pick your capitol location; each location has different resources and drawbacks/advantages. The game then generates dozens of other kingdoms in the same map. Then, you "zoom in" to your capitol, where most of the game is played and where you actually build up your capitol. You start out with 10 settlers and work your way up to thousands (haven't gotten that far up yet). Along the way you unlock new technologies, new problems arise (like crime, famine, disease), diplomacy with other nations, raids, and more. I have not fought other kingdoms yet but I know you can form armies and take over their lands by force if you want. You are free to be a tyrant or a generous ruler. You can indoctrinate, enslave, or unite. You can be a pure race, or allow immigrants from other races to join you. Random events will sometimes happen like angry gods, trade deals, or extreme weather. Your citizens have preferences, religions, loyalty, and happiness and if you don't please them they will leave or rebel, or even go insane. There are dozens of resources, dozens of mechanics, and statistics bonuses and effects out the wazoo. The game is a firehose of information when you first start, and the learning curve is like a cliff, but once you learn the basics the game does a good job of introducing mechanics. What I like about this game is that as you progress, you definitely get a lot more powerful, but it also introduces new challenges you have to overcome, keeping it from getting boring. For example, when you first start out you are very unlikely to be raided, because your settlement has so few resources, but as you become more wealthy you need to start investing in armies. Also, as your population gets larger the citizens expect more from you to stay happy. I still have much to learn, but I'm loving it! 10/10 game

The basics of something amazing. But too much is "left to the reader" to figure out. The community seems to love it though even as a rimworld/DF veteran, I can't wrap my mind around it all yet. Review will change to positive if more was explained in-game (or the wiki was properly updated lol). Very shallow Tutorial, llike 80% of the game is never even addressed let alone explained. And everywhere I look it's "go ask in the discord". No. I don't want to play a game through ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Discord. The wiki is like 10 versions outdated and is useless. And the reddit is full of "oh but I like all the added difficulty every new version", yeah great that means newer players will have it even harder to try and get into it. Research is done differently than in other games of this kind - bit frustrating too; you have to keep people dedicated to research or your society collectively "forgets" what a hospital looks like. Research in itself is also extremely rough when you're starting out. I have no clue what to focus. A difficulty setting to allow you to (maybe partially) "keep" research, or a way to carry over done research when resettling would be a great improvement. Too many things are locked away behind expensive technology. And in some cases no idea what really generates knowledge points - how do you get admin points even. It's not explained anywhere afaik? No tutorial on combat, tried after some trial and error. Tac Battles are just smash into each other, flanking/surrounding didn't do ♥♥♥♥ to enemy morale so I hope that's updated in thef future. And then everyone died trying to siege a nearby town and my town got hit with a plague at the same time. No tutorial on racial relations (apparently V71 introduced mass race riots when you try to mix peoples). No tutorial on nobility. No tutorial on anything except really the bare basics. I haven't been following development or anything, so it's really rough to get into. Even something like farming is a lot of "ehhh, you'll figure it out". I watch some youtube video and I discover I can use canals and such in a way to increase yield. A quick little tooltip or a page that shows you how to do it efficiently in the game's system would be greatly appreciated. It feels like, from what I can gather, is that you have to build a big military and economy to only support that. Use it to go conquor neighbours, who then send you basic goods tributes, so your citizens can be happy, and you grow bigger and get an even larger army, etc. Which conflicts with the super in-depth city mechanics? I'm always "almost" out of food even with loads of farms/bakeries, always close to running out of free people to do jobs, I just can't do it, it seems. You need so many raw resources just to sustain yourself (barely), expansion is really hard. Which, sure, part of the game but it takes ages to get anywhere - only to then get cursed or epidemic or whatever, 20 deranged idiots who need "psychology" which is locked behind a million research points... I'm sure someone who started a few years ago and played for the last 20 versions will laugh or be mad at my review, but at this time I just don't feel it. I'll give it more time, though. It's really got something cool under the hood.

This issue might be unique to me, but i struggle getting into this game. Even after sooo many attempts. From the looks of it, this game seems to have every element I'd love and would be perfect for me. But the issue is the initial learning curve is so unappealing and tedious, with so much unnecessary text and information overload that I'm finding it demotivational. Of course, I don't mind there being a lot of elements to learn over time. It's more a matter of how the inital learning learning curve is executed and how i wish it was implemented better. Like in games where instead of giving you the entire UI all at once, they just gives you one step at a time as you naturally familiarize yourself with it. I'm keeping my hopes up for this no longer being an issue in the future.

I've been feeling increasingly disappointed with the direction PC gaming has been heading. With the rise of AI, the flood of sloppy releases that aren't memorable, and hardware prices continuing to climb, it feels like a lot of what made me fall in love with PC gaming is being lost. That's why Songs of Syx stands out as such a brilliant example of what a great game can be. Not just because of how deep and engaging it is, but because of the way it has been built and continues to evolve. The relationship between the developer and the players feels genuine. It's a game the looks like it's being shaped through passion, care, and constant refinement rather than just being pushed out. I love that the demo is essentially the game itself, just without the latest update. That version alone is where I spent many hours, and it captured everything I loved about playing on PC. I've put 40 hours in the paid version and about the same in the demo, and still haven't delved fully into the skill tree or the larger mechanics of a city yet. I've only made a small town. This game really is one to be explored and played over and over rather than consumed and forgotten about in the library. Keep up the great work!

There seems to be beautiful potential if you can get past how unfriendly and unwelcoming it is designed to play, but I could not. It almost seems anti-player in how convoluted the interfaces function. There simply has to be a better way.

Songs of Syx is an incredibly immersive blend of city‑building and grand strategy. Watching your tiny settlement evolve into a massive, living empire feels genuinely rewarding, and the world pulls you in with its atmosphere, scale, and depth. Every choice matters, every crisis tells a story, and the result is one of the most satisfying strategy experiences out there.

There needs to be a slider for the lavatory noises. You put down a single one to service your people and all you hear are diarrhea noises the rest of the game.