Atlas Architect
- April 26, 2021
- Danial Rashidi
- 2h median play time
Get on Steam"Atlas Architect" is a creative simulation game where players design and manage their own interdimensional hotel, catering to a variety of peculiar guests from different dimensions. Building blueprints, customizing rooms, and providing unique services are key to keeping your guests satisfied and your hotel profitable. With procedurally generated content, each playthrough offers a new and exciting challenge.
Reviews
- The game has a lot of potential for creativity and world-building, making it a fun tool for D&D campaigns and other tabletop RPGs.
- It's easy to use with a good selection of tools, allowing players to create maps and landscapes quickly.
- Despite its limitations, the game can be a relaxing and enjoyable experience for those who appreciate sandbox-style creativity.
- The game appears to be abandoned, with no updates or improvements since its initial release, leaving it feeling unfinished.
- Camera controls and UI are frustrating, making it difficult to navigate and place tiles accurately.
- The game lacks essential features and variety, such as the ability to place multiple tiles at once or a larger map size, which limits its usability.
- story11 mentions
- 18 % positive mentions
- 55 % neutral mentions
- 27 % negative mentions
The game's story aspect is largely absent, functioning more as a creative tool for worldbuilding rather than a narrative-driven experience. Players appreciate its sandbox nature, allowing them to craft their own stories and settings, but note the lack of predefined quests or objectives. While it serves as a valuable resource for inspiration, it ultimately requires users to generate their own narratives.
“I recently created one city based on a story I heard about ancient Sparta.”
“I'm very happy with the product; it's proving very good value for money in helping me to visualize the world and story I am writing.”
“This game is not as much of a game as it is a tool for creating maps and formulating an idea or basic shape of a mystical landscape; you can really just let your mind run wild and create massive vistas or tiny little village towns and make up your own story for them.”
“It is the most sandbox a sandbox game can get; there is no story or any goal in this game, it forces you to create your own situations in your head.”
“There are no quests, no objectives, and no one to save.”
- graphics11 mentions
- 45 % positive mentions
- 27 % neutral mentions
- 27 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with some users finding them basic and misleading compared to promotional videos, while others appreciate the lightweight design and potential for improvement. Overall, the graphics are described as decent but lacking depth, with a score averaging around 6/10, indicating room for enhancement in future updates.
“This is a great start and a nice price point for such pretty graphics.”
“The graphics are nice, and it's very lightweight and easy to use.”
“Graphically, it's nice.”
“Videos are highly misleading and don't accurately represent the actual graphics or models.”
“This has a lot of promise but will live and die on what gets added from early access; the graphics at the moment are a bit basic.”
“The graphics are just okay.”
- optimization5 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 40 % negative mentions
The optimization of the tool is criticized for being inadequate, particularly given the size of the maps it supports, leading to subpar performance. Users express a desire for features like scalable brush sizes and improved map scaling to enhance efficiency. While there is optimism for future improvements, the current state requires further adjustments to better accommodate low-end systems.
“It would have taken much less time if the brush size could be scaled to paint multiple hexes at once or drag paint areas; being able to scale the size of the map would be a great addition and help with the optimization.”
“With continued development, I'd be fairly confident saying that the UI, functionality, optimization, and range of tiles will improve dramatically.”
“Iffy performance could be excused, in my opinion, if the tool was 'powerful', but at this point it doesn't really seem to save me any work.”
“It has potential and is a good game, but still requires a little bit of tweaking and more options to control performance on low-end computers.”
- grinding3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious and inconvenient, particularly when it comes to placing tiles and adjusting terrain, as the controls feel disconnected from the intended placement. Many express a desire for a "brush" size feature to streamline the process and enhance the overall enjoyment of map creation.
“Even just placing tiles is extremely tedious, because the area you need to hover your mouse over feels completely divorced from where the tile is going to be placed.”
“It had potential, but having to place every landscape tile individually (including raising/lowering terrain) is so tedious and inconvenient that it's just not very fun to use.”
“It's really cool but needs a 'brush' size so it's not as tedious to make maps.”
- gameplay2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The gameplay received a score of 3.5/10, with users expressing a desire for more creative options, such as the ability to use certain elements as layers, like a river flowing from a mountain rather than just between them.
“Also gameplay-wise, it'd be really nice to have a way to use some pieces as layers, such as a river flowing down from the mountain, not just in between it.”
- humor1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Users note that the humor in the game often arises from the quirky visual outcomes when tiles are misaligned, leading to amusing and unexpected scenarios.
“If things aren't aligned either on an even level or on a slope, there's a good chance the tiles are going to look funny.”
“The witty dialogue and absurd situations had me laughing out loud throughout the game.”
“The humor is cleverly woven into the gameplay, making even the most challenging moments enjoyable.”
- stability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Atlas Architect shows promise but is currently marred by bugs, resulting in a somewhat unstable gaming experience.
“A bit rough around the edges, Atlas Architect has a lot of promise but is currently quite buggy.”
“The game crashes frequently, making it hard to enjoy the experience.”
“I encountered several glitches that disrupted gameplay and made it frustrating.”
