Circadian City
- October 1, 2020
- Nowhere Studios
Get on Steam"Circadian City" is a life simulation game where you navigate both the Realworld and Dreamworld. During the day, manage your needs, earn money, and form friendships based on shared interests, while at night, enter the Dreamworld to craft, build, and farm in a setting shaped by your daytime activities. Find balance between your real and dream lives to progress in the game.
Mac OS
Nintendo Switch
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game has a unique concept that combines life simulation with farming elements, offering a refreshing take on the genre.
- The art style and environment design are charming and visually appealing, creating an engaging atmosphere for exploration.
- The developers are responsive to community feedback and actively work on improvements, showing potential for future updates.
- The game feels unfinished and has been abandoned by the developers, leading to frustration among players who were hoping for updates.
- Controls and UI are clunky and unpolished, making gameplay tedious and difficult to navigate, especially without mouse support.
- Many mechanics, such as the hunger system and quest guidance, are poorly implemented, resulting in a lack of direction and enjoyment.
- grinding16 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Reviews indicate that the grinding aspect of the game is perceived as tedious and frustrating, with players feeling that the gameplay lacks intuitive controls and rewarding progression. While some appreciate the unique blend of city life and farming elements, many find the experience slow and repetitive, leading to a sense of chasing one's tail without meaningful rewards. Overall, the game is seen as needing further development to enhance enjoyment and reduce grindiness.
“This world is so grindy for no reason.”
“I think maybe when this game is further into development it will be fun, but right now it just feels like grinding and chasing your own tail without any sort of reward to it.”
“It's stressful, tedious, and frustrating in more ways than one.”
- story14 mentions
- 21 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
The game's story is noted for its charm and unique character backgrounds, drawing inspiration from titles like Stardew Valley while aiming to create its own identity. However, players have expressed frustration with vague quest instructions and a lack of polish, which hampers the overall experience. Despite these issues, the narrative's emphasis on player choices and relationships offers a potentially rewarding and personalized journey, especially if future updates address current shortcomings.
“The story has its own charm; you can tell it's based off a selection of games, but they made it their own.”
“Games give quite a unique experience: your life, your dreams, your story.”
“Your story can change based on your choices, as simple as the hobbies you choose or the food you eat.”
“Now, I came to this game from Stardew Valley, Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town, and Gleaner Heights (all fantastic in their own right), and compared to those titles, this game seems to be lacking a lot of polish.”
“If you go to the quest giver for more details on the quest, your only option is to 'leave.' If you check your quest board menu, it just says to upgrade it with no details on how to do so.”
“I have been stuck on almost every quest for longer than I should because the dialogue is vague, there's no instructions in the journal, and the game is too early to Google it.”
- gameplay10 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
The gameplay has received mixed feedback, with players noting clumsiness in mechanics and a confusing tutorial, particularly regarding the hunger system. However, many appreciate the unique gameplay loop, beautiful graphics, and open-world exploration, drawing favorable comparisons to games like Stardew Valley. Overall, while there are areas needing improvement, the game shows potential for enjoyment, especially for fans of similar genres.
“I really love the graphics and the gameplay so far.”
“The gameplay loop feels new and is interesting.”
“Some mechanics feel more complete than others, and those feel and play great.”
“Just unusually clumsy in every way, gameplay-wise, tutorial-wise, plus in other common things like quick slots, to working all the time just to be able to eat.”
“The hunger mechanic is very aggravating.”
“Gameplay-wise, the pacing is strange.”
- graphics10 mentions
- 80 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the pixel art style and overall aesthetic, while others note issues such as scaling problems and a lack of polish. Many users express hope for future updates to enhance the visual experience, particularly in character graphics. Overall, the art style is generally well-received, but there are calls for improvements as the game is still in beta.
“I really love the graphics and the gameplay so far.”
“Nice game with cute pixel graphics.”
“The art style is beautiful and the open world aspect of the game is great, there's tons of exploration to do.”
“The controls, graphics, and interaction system really feel like they lack polish.”
“The graphics are underwhelming and do not meet modern standards.”
- stability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game is plagued by severe stability issues, with numerous bugs and glitches that significantly hinder gameplay. Even players accustomed to indie game imperfections find the extent of these problems unacceptable.
“This game is so insanely buggy.”
“This is not a difficulty assessment; it's the amount of glitches that it has.”
“I play a lot of indie games and have a high tolerance for bugs and glitches, but the issues in this game go much further than that.”
- music2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The music in the game is highly praised for its calming and immersive qualities, contributing to a relaxing experience that enhances gameplay. Players appreciate the harmonious blend of music and visuals, which encourages extended play sessions.
“I relaxed for 5 minutes to this music long enough to realize that I was going to be okay.”
“From the start, I really liked the music and colors of the game and continued playing for a few hours.”
- humor1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find the game to be highly entertaining and humorous, noting that it offers great value for its low price.
“Deserves its money already; it's very cheap and so funny to play.”
