it's a well-made game but it's weird that this is the one that picked up all the hype. if we're being completely honest there's nothing here that's going to set the world on fire, but its systems - the ones that are here, anyway - work together in ways that many comparable games (early access resource-managing city builders) simply don't.

i'm still a sucker for historicity and small-scale operations in this kind of game so i love how this has been tailored around small populations (even in the battles), forcing you to be really deliberate with how you place buildings and allocate your workforce. i wish there were more interesting decisions in how you negotiate with the terrain beyond just "place food buildings in green zone", but that's not really part of the vision for this version of the game, not in the way i'm imagining. there are teasers of features to come, though, that i think could push this towards being an actual standout among its genre. implementing "smell" and similar environmental factors that limit the placement of your buildings could easily make up for a map that is (gorgeous! but) perhaps too generous to the player in this build.

i don't want to make it sound like the game completely lacks challenge. natural resources and population are already fairly important to play around, since you're probably stretching your workforce fairly thin before you even bother with the combat. it's possible to cook up the cushiest possible starting scenario and still burn through your starting allowance of seasonable weather and minted currency in such a way that leaves you in a rut: unable to construct at a reasonable rate, unable to trade, unable to fully staff the buildings to keep your existing industries going. the selection of buildings in the game are also fairly customizable (for a game this far from release), allowing players to expand or modify buildings to push their production, consumption, and efficiency in different directions as needed.

in short - if you read nothing else - i'm not really wowed by this yet, but with a start this strong i'm expecting that to change by the time it makes its full release. it really needs some more features that create some friction for the player beyond resource management, because right now that's where most of the game lies. it's a promising beginning, but i hope the dev isn't going to allow themself to be bullied into changing their plans for the game based on impatient early access feedback. trust the vision.