'GOING MEDIEVAL': a nice little 3D indy game for those who love Rimworld, Dwarf Fortress, Stonehearth

[Brash_Endeavors 4,735]

Currently just started EARLY ACCESS though there is enough gameplay there to keep you busy for hours, especially if you are the methodical type who keeps restarting fortresses anytime you figure out a better way to do something.

 

 

Obviously it is NOT to the level of Dwarf Fortress, or even Rimworld, and might never be, but it has sufficient polish and not too many bugs for an Early Access so the frustration level is not high. There are quite a lot of Let's Plays and How-Tos on YouTube already if you want more details.  The art style is what I would call "simple but charming;" however if you love your eye candy, this may not be your kind of game. Learning to work the convolutions of its 3D z-layering is a little challenging and even frustrating at first, but nothing as complex as DF and the more I fiddle with it, the more I understand and appreciate it. The raiding system also is a tad simplistic so far but eventually you should be able to make caravans to travel the overworld and trade-and-raid other NPC settlements if you wish. Currently local maps are somewhat small, randomly generated but repetitive. There are temperature, weather, decay, and other complexities. Only three animals so far (wolf, deer, bunny) but more on the way. More biomes and diversity are also on the roadmap. Some have said editing the JSON files can unlock bigger maps than current, but I think the map size is fine for now, there is a dropdown to choose map size but so far there is only one choice.  There is a fair amount of simple customization (again, not to the level of DF/RW "Prepare Carefully" options), but enough so you can choose between a peaceful creative type mode, a harsh Survival mode, and a "Standard" mode that is between those two, in addition to being able to choose from very easy to very hard on each of those. And you can change the starting scenarios so if you get tired of Lone Wolf or 3 random colonists, you can specify something like seven overweight female religious cannibals with X perks and Z gear. 

 

 

 

 

It's a non-magical, primitive medieval world though it could get interesting seeing what modders decide to do with it. 

 

Dev ROADMAP has such interesting future plans as accumulating snow, natural caves, religion and diplomacy, caravans and trading, social systems, animal taming and husbandry:

 

 

 

I think it may be on a fairly even level so far with the release candidate (but never finished) Stonehearth, and a good choice for those impatient for the oh-so-slowly developing Dwarf Fortress upgrade to 3D, or who always wished Rimworld had z-levels. Like those two games, a lot may also depend on how enthusiastic of a modding community it attracts. It apparently uses JSON but I don't understand much beyound that. As I probably said three times now, it is nowhere as deep and complex as DF or RW. For a few people, that might be a good thing though. 

 

Currently it has like a 95% approval rating, I could see it possibly eventually getting up to Overwhelmingly Positive but only **IF**  Devs make good on their promises, and  a strong modding community develops. Those are big "ifs" but its still fun for now as a distraction, and I definitely recommend giving it a try. Price is $24.99, it's currently 10% off that for a few more days, and if you are really scraping up the pennies I hear you can find some cheaper deals on the internet. In addition to STEAM I think it might be available on Epic Games, GOG and maybe a few other platforms?

 

Nothing of course will ever replace WURM, but sometimes we all need a little break

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 3, 2021 by Brash_Endeavors

[Wulfgar 1,104]

Nice, I grabbed it for free at Epic Games Store a few weeks ago, now I will give it a try!

[Archaed 2,280]

I was bought a copy of this to play, so I'm keen on checking it out, rimworld is my jam and I'm keen to see how this goes.