Builders of Greece
- February 27, 2024
- Strategy Labs
- 20h median play time
Get on Steam"Builders of Greece" is a city-building and management game set in ancient Greece. As a ruler, you must make world-shaping decisions, command your subjects, and construct magnificent structures to make your Polis glorious. Overcome challenges and unexpected events to create a prosperous city and ensure its survival in the ancient world.
Reviews
- The game has a solid foundation with beautiful graphics and engaging city-building mechanics, reminiscent of classic titles like Caesar and Pharaoh.
- Developers are responsive and actively releasing updates to fix bugs and improve gameplay, showing commitment to enhancing the player experience.
- The game offers a unique setting in ancient Greece, with a variety of building options and a technology tree that encourages strategic planning.
- The game is plagued with bugs, particularly with the save function, making it unplayable for many players and leading to lost progress.
- Pathfinding issues for transporters and a lack of meaningful military mechanics detract from the overall gameplay experience.
- The game feels incomplete and lacks content, with only one playable map and limited scenarios, leading to a repetitive experience.
- graphics19 mentions
- 47 % positive mentions
- 37 % neutral mentions
- 16 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the Greek aesthetic and immersive design, while others criticize the visuals as outdated and underwhelming for a 2020 release. Despite some graphical glitches and performance issues, many find the overall presentation appealing, though improvements are needed to enhance the experience. Overall, the graphics are considered decent for the genre, but not without significant room for improvement.
“Builders of Greece is an immersive city-building game that brings ancient Greece to life with stunning graphics and authentic architecture.”
“The graphics are nice, and the camera feature is fine.”
“Graphics are great for this type of game, would like the option to configure my own keys for camera movements, but overall a very good game.”
“Unfortunately, in the times of 2020 and beyond, games of this genre should not still have graphics and animations quality in a state that someone would actually refund a game, go buy a 2006 game, and then feel better rewarded.”
“The visuals are rough... maybe they'd have been considered good some 10 years ago.”
“All the logic interface and graphics are like 10 years ago.”
- gameplay18 mentions
- 44 % positive mentions
- 39 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The gameplay is engaging, blending city management, resource allocation, and strategic planning, but it currently suffers from limited warfare mechanics and repetitive events. Players have noted issues with AI behavior, a clunky camera, and a lack of depth in construction and military options, suggesting that the game needs further polish and additional content as it is still in early access. While some mechanics are interesting and the overall experience can be enjoyable, many feel that significant improvements are necessary for a more satisfying gameplay loop.
“The gameplay is engaging, combining city management, resource allocation, and strategic planning.”
“The mechanics are very good, and I think the gameplay is pretty smooth.”
“Still early days, but the gameplay is fun and good.”
“As it's in early access, I have a few suggestions for improvement: enhancing the AI behavior to make city interactions more dynamic, adding more historical events and challenges to deepen the gameplay, and refining the user interface for a smoother experience.”
“A few events will occur during your gameplay, and they will always be the same, which is a bit of a shame.”
“Camera is clunky (and too close), roads look like they are a simple brown line, the gameplay loop is not satisfying, the war minigame is like the 90's war video games, constructing just doesn't feel good compared to other games... really need to polish details to feel good, don't buy now.”
- optimization9 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization is a significant concern, with players reporting severe performance issues, especially in the late game and with high population counts. While there are some improvements in building ranges and achievements, many users find the game unplayable at higher speeds and on medium graphics settings, leading to low frame rates even on capable hardware. Developers have acknowledged these issues and promise future optimizations, but current performance remains a major drawback.
“Optimized all service building ranges, etc.”
“The achievements work fine now too, and the building optimization was really needed.”
“The biggest problem at the moment is optimization, but as the developers promise, by the final version of the game this will be fixed.”
“I think this game has massive potential, but without further optimization it quickly becomes unplayable.”
“The biggest problem at the moment is optimization, but as the developers promise by the final version of the game this will be fixed.”
“Because the performance is not playable, even after only 3 hours on a medium graphics setting, I only have 10 fps with a new gaming PC.”
- stability8 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability is heavily criticized, with users reporting frequent crashes, graphical glitches, and significant pathfinding issues that hinder gameplay. Many players find the experience nearly unplayable due to these bugs, particularly during saving and loading processes, leading to frustration and a recommendation to avoid purchasing until improvements are made. Overall, the game is perceived as being released in an unfinished state, lacking the necessary testing to ensure a stable experience.
“Additionally, addressing some of the reported bugs, such as occasional crashes when saving the game, graphical glitches in certain building animations, and pathfinding issues for citizens, would greatly enhance the overall experience.”
“The concept is good, but the game is so full of glitches and stutter that it's almost unplayable.”
“Everything freezes and forces you to ctrl+alt+delete and go to the PC task manager to close the game.”
- music3 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- -67 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally praised for its immersive quality and thematic fit, enhancing the overall experience. However, some players find it becomes monotonous over time, which may detract from long-term enjoyment. Overall, it contributes positively to the game's atmosphere, despite some technical issues.
“The variety of building options and customization, along with the immersive soundtrack, make it a joy to play.”
“Great music, lovely graphics, a grumpy but not hopeless personality, and a solid core premise.”
“The music gets really monotonous after some time, but it does fit the theme well.”
“The soundtrack lacks variety and quickly becomes repetitive.”
“While the music complements the atmosphere, it fails to engage or excite over time.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, particularly due to the repetitive nature of rituals required to increase worship grades, with some expressing a desire for more visual differentiation of temples to enhance gameplay clarity.
“When you assign a temple to a god, the color trim (or theme) of the temple should change so you have an overview of which god is where. Do temples do anything? It feels like at the moment they don't; only rituals heighten the worship grade, and it's tedious to click every 30 seconds.”
- story1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The game currently offers players access to one of eight campaign missions and one of eight maps in sandbox mode, suggesting a limited but structured narrative experience that may expand with future updates.
“The story feels incomplete, as there are only a few campaign missions available, limiting the overall experience.”
“With only one of the eight campaign missions accessible, the narrative lacks depth and engagement.”
“The sandbox mode offers just one of eight maps, making the storytelling feel disjointed and underdeveloped.”
- replayability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The limited availability of only one playable map significantly hinders the game's replayability, making it challenging for players to find new experiences.
“I can get over the fact that at the moment there is only one playable map, although it makes replayability hard.”
“The lack of variety in missions really limits the replayability; once you've seen everything, there's not much incentive to go back.”
“After completing the game once, I found little reason to replay it since the outcomes and experiences felt too similar.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Reviews indicate that players feel misled by the game's advertising, as the actual quality of buildings, particularly the more expensive ones, does not meet expectations. This dissatisfaction suggests that the monetization strategy may rely on promoting features that are underwhelming in execution.
“This game is nowhere close to what I imagined it to be. The buildings are poorly designed, especially the ones that are supposed to be the most expensive and important 'great looking buildings.' There are only 3 or 4, and they are ugly, including the Agora.”
“The monetization in this game feels exploitative. It seems like every feature is locked behind a paywall, making it frustrating for players who don't want to spend extra money.”
“I was really disappointed with the monetization strategy. It feels like the developers are more interested in making money than providing a fun experience for players.”
