Aurora Dusk: Steam Age
- March 8, 2019
- Sylvain Harlaut
- 214h median play time
Get on Steam"Aurora Dusk: Steam Age" is a collaborative sandbox game that encourages players to work together to build a city and defensive structures. The game offers a variety of customization options, including character creation, magic spell learning, and technology upgrades from the Wood Age to the Steam Age. Multiplayer mode allows for co-op and versus gameplay, both online and in local networks, and characters can be kept and evolved from one game to another.
Reviews
- The game offers a unique blend of RPG, tower defense, and city-building mechanics, allowing for a variety of playstyles.
- Character progression is persistent, with skills and levels carrying over between missions, enhancing replayability.
- The AI townspeople are capable of building and crafting autonomously, creating a dynamic and engaging gameplay experience.
- There are significant issues with AI behavior, leading to uncoordinated actions and sometimes frustrating gameplay.
- The game suffers from performance issues, including memory leaks and lag, especially during longer play sessions.
- Multiplayer functionality is unreliable, with frequent disconnections and the need for manual reconnections.
- story48 mentions
- 10 % positive mentions
- 83 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The game's story is presented through a campaign that gradually increases in difficulty, offering a fun and engaging experience as players gather resources and build their skills. While the narrative is relatively short and lacks depth, it effectively introduces gameplay mechanics and features, with missions that carry over inventory and resources, enhancing the strategic aspect. However, some players noted issues with repetitive gameplay and a lack of voiceover, which detracts from the overall storytelling experience.
“There's a fun campaign with a story to follow that introduces you slowly to all the features of the game and expands the scope of what you're fighting with some different styles of maps and enemy attacks.”
“Either way, the campaign was a fun experience and the story was delightful.”
“The stuff characters say is worth reading if you're into the story, and it all ties into the end of the game, which is nice.”
“The main story is fairly short, and the challenge/survival modes are good but repetitive.”
“The story isn't that good, and killing wave after wave of enemies can get boring.”
“I don't particularly like this because it cheapens the campaign story and doesn't really explain how the different modes and things work when creating your own game.”
- graphics31 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 77 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many players noting that while the 2D sprite art may appear basic or rough around the edges, it has a unique charm that can enhance the overall experience. Some appreciate the interesting art style and character designs, while others find the visuals lacking and reminiscent of older RPG Maker titles. Overall, players suggest that those who can overlook the simplistic graphics will find an engaging gameplay experience.
“Interesting art style for the characters that pop up when they talk.”
“The artwork, although a little amateurish, is cleanly integrated, endearing, and suits the vibe of the game.”
“I think the visuals are pretty nice, and each sprite looks cute and detailed.”
“The 2D sprite graphics might detract a bit, but if you can deal with it, you'll have fun with this one.”
“I passed it up for a while because the graphics didn't appeal to me.”
“Graphics are too basic; the characters themselves are okay, but the terrain and buildings are plain ugly.”
- gameplay24 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 54 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The gameplay is centered around city-building and unit control, featuring a mix of RPG, RTS, and sandbox elements, which some players find engaging and refreshing. However, issues such as bugs, clunky crafting mechanics, and a lack of polish detract from the overall experience, leading to mixed feelings about its coherence and replayability. While the core mechanics show promise, many players feel that the game requires further refinement to reach its full potential.
“Gameplay revolves around building up a city (production buildings and defenses) to defeat an enemy base.”
“As for core gameplay, you control one unit or can control multiple and customize their AIs in a visual programming sort of way with weights for various tasks.”
“The gameplay is both engaging and refreshing.”
“About 1/3 of my gameplay was recovering from bug crashes.”
“However, gameplay and AI is still a bit buggy.”
“I'm unsure if this was even intentional as this gameplay is basically non-existent in the campaign, which is a grindfest full of waiting on AI you didn't script to randomly walk to an empty spot to build something.”
- grinding12 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game features extensive grinding, particularly in crafting and resource management, where players can level up various skills like farming and mining through repetitive tasks. While some players appreciate the depth of skill progression and the autonomous actions of townsfolk, others find the AI lacking and the overall grinding experience tedious, especially on higher difficulties. Overall, it caters to fans of grind-heavy gameplay but may feel monotonous to those seeking more dynamic interactions.
“The leveling process can get a bit tedious, and the campaign on higher difficulties will crush your computer's usable memory.”
“With there being no real need to create certain buildings or items to beat the mobs, it just feels tedious and samey.”
“It is the only stage you need crystal for, which is also (in my opinion) the most tedious resource to get.”
- stability9 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability has been criticized for frequent freezing, particularly during survival mode, and various bugs that hinder gameplay, such as visual glitches and camera control issues. Players report that extended play sessions lead to increased instability, with UI elements becoming invisible and the game requiring a restart. While multiplayer functionality seems to perform better, overall, the game is perceived as laggy and in need of significant fixes.
“So I came back to this game after a while. It had some bugs before but was playable, but now it just freezes on the first wave every time in survival. Fix your crap, yo.”
“A laggy, boring, and buggy game that I think is a mobile game port. Can't even move the camera around properly, which makes it unplayable.”
“If you play for 5+ hours straight, visual glitches start making UI/game elements invisible.”
- replayability7 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The game's replayability is a mixed bag; while it offers extensive sandbox modes and multiple game types that enhance replay value, some players find the campaign short and lacking in replay incentives beyond achievements. Others appreciate the deep customization and complexity, suggesting that it can provide almost infinite replayability for those who enjoy intricate systems. Overall, the replayability largely depends on player preferences for challenge and exploration versus narrative experience.
“You also have sandbox modes where you can set up a wide range of factors to make it easy or hard and change game types to provide a lot of replayability.”
“Awesomely deep game, massive customization, almost infinite replayability. You can sort of run it like an idle game if you're willing to do some real heavy lifting with the AI programming. If you're into games with a lot of complexity, this one has it in spades for a graphically simple indie title. The intricacy of the systems is downright impressive.”
“There isn't much replay value, unless you're aiming to get all the achievements.”
“The game, however, is enjoyable for the story yet not really that replayable, outside of difficulty just getting more and stronger enemies per level.”
“The campaign is shorter than I would have liked, but multiple game modes more than make up for that with replay value.”
- music6 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally considered pleasant, but it heavily relies on typical RPG Maker tracks, which detracts from its uniqueness. While the overall quality is decent, reviewers feel that the game could benefit from more original compositions to stand out.
“The music is nice, also the graphics if you don't zoom in too much.”
“If they made this game in RPG Maker, they did a really good job, but there's one last thing they need to fix to make it unique; the music is not bad, but if you normally use RPG Maker, you know that it uses RPG Maker music because of the music choices.”
“The game uses RPG Maker music. If they made this game in RPG Maker, they did a really good job, but there's one last thing they need to fix to make it unique. The music isn't bad, but if you normally use RPG Maker, you can tell it's from there because of the music choices.”
“The game uses RPG Maker music. If they made this game in RPG Maker, they did a really good job, but there's one last thing they need to fix to make it unique. The music isn't bad, but if you normally use RPG Maker, you can tell it's from there because of the music choices.”
“The music is alright too.”
- optimization4 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
Users report mixed experiences with optimization; while some enjoy smooth gameplay even with a high number of NPCs, others encounter significant performance issues, particularly when running AI in the background. Overall, the game is criticized for being poorly optimized, affecting the overall enjoyment.
“The game runs smoothly, and I never experienced lag, even with double the number of NPCs at all times.”
“I sometimes run it in the background with AIs I created, and eventually the performance becomes terrible.”
“There are some limitations to the AI, even with the build order being optimized.”
“However, at the moment, it's also not very pleasant to play, as it is extremely poorly optimized.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy is widely criticized as a cash grab, leading many users to advise potential players to avoid the game.
“Cash grab, stay away!”
“The monetization system feels exploitative and unfair.”
“It's frustrating to see so many features locked behind paywalls.”
- emotional1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find the emotional aspect of the game to be heartwarming and humorous, particularly when experiencing moments of unexpected camaraderie, such as villagers assisting in building defenses, and the comedic defeat of invading undead monsters. These interactions create a blend of joy and laughter, enhancing the overall gaming experience.
“I was building a tower to protect my windmill and left some stone lying about for that end. All of a sudden, I had three villagers helping me finish it. It was heartwarmingly funny and awesome. Then it was hilarious when an army of undead monsters died for good trying to invade my farm.”
- humor1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is characterized by heartwarming and unexpected moments, such as villagers spontaneously assisting in building projects, as well as comical scenarios like an army of undead failing miserably in their invasion attempts. These elements contribute to a lighthearted and entertaining gameplay experience.
“I was building a tower to protect my windmill and left some stone lying about for that end. All of a sudden, I had three villagers helping me finish it. It was heartwarmingly funny and awesome! Then it was hilarious when an army of undead monsters died for good trying to invade my farm.”
“The dialogue in this game is so witty and clever that I found myself laughing out loud at the absurdity of the situations.”
“Every time I encounter a quirky character, I can't help but chuckle at their ridiculous antics and one-liners.”
