April 15, 2020
Luminous

Circle Empires Rivals

Circle Empires: Rivals has something for everyone. For beginners is a straightforward approach to the RTS that’s full of options. For experts is a faster RTS that streamlines the process. While personal biases might prevent me from enjoying it as much as other genres, there’s plenty to love if you wanted Circle Empires’s unique charms with friends.

88%Game Brain Score

gameplay, graphics

story, stability

89% User Score Based on 782 reviews

Critic Score 80%Based on 1 reviews

Platforms

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About

Circle Empires Rivals is a single player and multiplayer casual real-time strategy game with fantasy and warfare themes. It was developed by Luminous and was released on April 15, 2020. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and positive reviews from players.

In this fast-paced multiplayer RTS, you and your friends will take control of your own tiny kingdoms and conquer a world made of circles. Each one is overflowing with enemies to fight, monsters to hunt and loot to horde – but watch out... Friends can quickly become rivals!

Genres & Tags

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89%

Audience ScoreBased on 782 reviews

gameplay20 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

Circle Empires: Rivals offers a fun and engaging RTS experience with a variety of game modes and unit types, making it enjoyable for both casual and strategic players.
The game features a leveling system for units, adding depth to gameplay and encouraging players to keep their units alive for stronger armies.
Multiplayer mode enhances the experience, allowing for cooperative play and competitive matches, which many players find enjoyable.

The game suffers from balance issues, particularly with AI difficulty levels that can be either too easy or overwhelmingly difficult, leading to frustrating gameplay.
Multiplayer matchmaking can be problematic, with players often struggling to find games or facing lag issues during matches.
Some players find the gameplay repetitive and simplistic, lacking the depth and complexity found in other RTS titles.

gameplay
60 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
60%
7%
The gameplay is characterized by simple mechanics and a variety of units, making it accessible for players who may not want to engage in high-level micromanagement. While the game offers fast-paced action and a decent amount of content, some players find the gameplay repetitive due to a lack of variety among leaders and clunky unit control. Overall, it provides an enjoyable experience, especially in multiplayer, but could benefit from more diverse mechanics and improvements in AI scaling.
- “You should try this game, it possesses fast gameplay and hundreds of different units, all combined with a randomly generated circular world to create a series of unique plays.”
- “Very fun game, simple graphics but really fun gameplay, 10/10 would recommend, you can play this for hours non-stop, sure it does get kinda repetitive but it's just so fun building a huge army and crushing anyone in your path.”
- “The matches are quick, the gameplay is fierce, and your blobs of troops will be clashing in circles at every turn.”
- “The concept and gameplay itself is okay, but the variety between leaders is sorely lacking.”
- “This makes the gameplay too symmetrical and repetitive.”
- “Lots of units, a few buildings and quite a few unlockable leaders, but the gameplay is pretty basic and the unit control is pretty clunky.”
graphics
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
43%
19%
The graphics of Circle Empires Rivals are described as simple and straightforward, with a unique aesthetic that some players appreciate. While the visuals are relatively low-key and lack customizable settings, the game's fun gameplay and engaging mechanics compensate for its graphical limitations. Overall, players find the art style enjoyable, even if they prefer the original graphics and UI layout.
- “Circle Empires Rivals is a wonderfully straightforward RTS, with multiplayer (including co-op), plenty of selectable difficulty levels, and a particular aesthetic art style which I like.”
- “Units can level up and have different visuals than their base counterparts.”
- “The game doesn't even have graphic settings.”
- “Overall, the game has a relatively simple style for both the combat and graphics and is fairly easy to get into.”
- “Though, I personally liked the original graphics and UI layout better.”
replayability
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
43%
19%
The game boasts high replayability due to its diverse content, multiple play modes, and strategic depth, allowing players to approach challenges in various ways. Users appreciate the ability to adapt strategies based on resource management and terrain, which enhances the overall experience and encourages repeated play. Overall, it is considered a worthwhile investment for those seeking a game with significant replay value.
- “Haven't played a lot yet but I can tell there's a high replay value given all the different play modes and settings available.”
- “Building defenses such as walls and towers, and forcing opponents into choke points on difficult terrain can really change the outcome of a battle, but knowing when to spend your limited resources on improving trade routes or researching technology can also make a much bigger difference later in the game, so there also doesn't seem to be necessarily one right answer to every situation which, again, adds replayability to the game.”
- “But despite this seeming simplicity, the game actually has more depth and breadth than some of the bigger name RTS titles, and the amount of content also gives it additional replayability.”
- “The replayability is very high.”
story
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
70%
30%
The reviews indicate that the game lacks a significant story, focusing instead on flexible gameplay options that allow players to choose between quick or extended missions. This design caters to varying player preferences but does not provide a narrative experience.
- “No story.”
- “I have attached a gameplay video if you are on the fence, going through an easy mission.”
- “Easy game time (you can play a smaller mission which you can beat quickly or have a drawn-out game if you want).”
humor
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is generally well-received, with players finding it funny and entertaining, particularly enjoying the intro video and the chaotic gameplay. However, some users express frustration over technical issues and a lack of online players, which detracts from the overall experience. Despite these drawbacks, many find the game addictive and appreciate its comedic elements.
- “The intro video made me laugh, and I love games with tons of units and craziness happening, which is the vibe I got.”
- “I had to stop because it was too addictive... as simple as it looks but extremely funny.”
- “Funny game, but what a shame; nobody is playing it online. I bought it to play it online.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game is noted for its impressive stability, especially for an early access title, with users reporting it as largely bug-free and polished. While some quality of life improvements are suggested, there are no significant bugs or glitches affecting gameplay.
- “Very well made game, and surprisingly for an early access game, it appears bug-free and very polished.”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
25%
50%
The game suffers from significant optimization issues, particularly with its engine, leading to severe frame rate drops when there are many elements on screen. Performance problems become more pronounced as players expand their control and manage larger unit stacks.
- “Performance issues become prominent as you expand your zone of control and unit stacks get larger later on.”
- “The game has severe issues with an unoptimized engine, causing significant FPS drops when there is a lot happening on screen.”
- “Performance issues become prominent as you expand your zone of control and as unit stacks grow larger later in the game.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players indicate that grinding in the game is so extensive that it may require a second playthrough to fully achieve desired progress or rewards.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”