City States: Medieval Early Access Impressions.

It’s very likely that surviving in the medieval era was far from easy. From bandits, the plague, and war-torn cities, it was never easy to survive as a peasant. However, do we ever wonder what it’s actually like being a part of the Lords that try and run these towns? This is where City States: Medieval comes in, to give us this experience and insight as to what it was like trying to be a Lord in these times.

City States: Medieval is an RTS style experience close to the lines of Warhammer Total War. You’ll build up towns, raise armies, and try to conquer the lands. But unlike Warhammer Total War, there are many more complexities and systems that you’ll need to learn in order to tame this Medieval land.

When you start a new campaign, you can pick from only one or three lords at present. Which Lord you choose will determine the story and path that you will take while you play. I would also highly recommend to play with the tutorial for the first time when you’re choosing your campaign, as it goes through all the systems that you will need to learn and trust me, you’ll need to know them all.

Once you start, you’re given a town, a hamlet and a single army from here you have to build up. Let’s start with the towns as they are your primary way of getting resources. By selecting a town you can build up the buildings that are needed to get stone, wood, silver, and food. You can also build military buildings this way but there’s also another way, one that allows you to be more hands-on with how the town is built.

With the leader in town, you can physically enter it and take control of the building process. You can see the exact locations in which you are able to build buildings, and can choose where to build them to be the most efficient. But in this mode, make sure you’re using your peasants because they are the only ones who can produce most of the resources you need to keep building.

This process is quite useful as you can actually get the buildings you need built immediately. However, you have to take into account that your time here is limited. This time limit is refreshed every month so try to use your time wisely and spend it between each town or Hamlet as you see fit.

Now, with all this emphasis on time you’re right to assume there are no turns to City States: Medieval. As it is an RTS, everything goes and there is no stopping, so plan your moves accordingly, especially how you’ll move your army. One wrong move, and you will find yourself in the middle of a sea battle, half strength, and unable to win.

And there’s more to battle than just having a strong army as making sure you have a good composition is also important. Making sure you have the right balance of physical units, ranged units and siege engines is crucial, especially when you are planning to take another town. But to get the military units that you need, you’ll need to make sure to research them first.

Research, just like any other experience like this, is a highly needed arrangement from getting new buildings and new units and choosing what to research first is a bit of a challenge, but you also have to make sure you have all the necessary materials to research what you want. In City States: Medieval, you don’t just need the right amount of coin and time, you will also need to make sure you have the right trade materials as well to research. And the only way to get these is, you guessed it, by trading with other empires. 

In City States: Medieval, you are a trader Lord, setting out to buy and sell all sorts of materials. Building trade buildings in your towns is one of the ways you can get trade resources. The other is by buying it from other towns.

This is as simple as taking an army over to the town and trading with them. This is a crucial thing to learn as there will be times where you’ll need to head over to another town to buy specific resources. Then, knowing whether to buy the resources for research or keeping your town satisfied, is crucial to know exactly what you need to buy.

Now unlike most in the genre, City States: Medieval makes your hero a vital part of how you play. If you take them to another city state, their influence can help with negotiations, but the real power is with the military. If the hero is not present in a battle you can not take control of the units in the fight, leaving you only the option to cross your fingers and pray the defences will hold.

The visuals of City States: Medieval are rough, unfortunately, and often on the duller and less vibrant side. The sounds add a bit of energy to the world and helps bring you into the medieval feel they are going for. The battles feel alive with the sound of swords clashing and arrows flying.

In all, City States: Medieval is a great time to be had, despite its disappointing visuals. With plenty of options on how to play and what strategies to use to help you make the most of what you have, there is plenty for you to explore, take and sell to the highest bidder.

May the winds of commerce favor you, my friends.