Citadelum
- October 17, 2024
- Abylight Barcelona
- 3h median play time
"Citadelum" is a strategy game where you must build and manage a settlement, gathering resources, training legions, and expanding territory through tactical combat. Experience advanced armies and explore the world to find mythological objects, while protecting your city with towers and walls. As you grow, establish trade routes and manage your economy to ensure the survival and prosperity of your population.
Reviews
- Citadelum successfully captures the nostalgic essence of classic city builders like Caesar III, offering a familiar yet modernized gameplay experience.
- The game features a unique god mechanic that adds an engaging layer of strategy, allowing players to appease deities for various benefits while managing their cities.
- The graphics and overall presentation are visually appealing, with detailed buildings and a charming aesthetic that enhances the city-building experience.
- The gameplay can become repetitive quickly, as missions often lack variety and the core mechanics do not evolve significantly throughout the game.
- The combat system feels simplistic and lacks depth, with battles often devolving into basic skirmishes without much strategic engagement.
- There are performance issues and optimization concerns, with some players experiencing crashes and high resource usage on their systems.
- gameplay59 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- 66 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The gameplay is generally easy to grasp, with a solid balance between city management and resource gathering, though it has been criticized for being repetitive and lacking depth in certain mechanics. While some players appreciate the modernized approach to classic city-building elements, others feel that the game borrows too heavily from predecessors without offering significant innovations. Overall, the mechanics are polished and enjoyable, but many reviewers express a desire for more complexity and variety to enhance the gameplay experience.
“The gameplay becomes easy once you understand how the mechanics work.”
“The city management mechanics are solid, with a great balance between resource gathering, building, and expanding your settlement into a magnificent Roman city.”
“The gameplay itself is enjoyable, and I appreciate the combination of city-building with 4X elements (even if simplified, it's still engaging).”
“I honestly like the feel and aesthetic of this game, but it's let down by fairly shallow gameplay that borrows elements from many of the games that came before it but offers no significant improvements to any of them.”
“As mentioned in other reviews, the gameplay is incredibly repetitive.”
“A lot of the mechanics don't matter at all and (gods, invaders, all the entertainment stuff) you can easily win the game while ignoring them, just following the same pattern over and over.”
- story53 mentions
- 9 % positive mentions
- 81 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The game's story is criticized for being disjointed and lacking depth, with missions feeling repetitive and similar in structure, leading to a sense of boredom among players. While the campaign follows the rise of the Roman Empire, it fails to deliver an engaging narrative or varied objectives, often reducing gameplay to a grind rather than a compelling story-driven experience. Despite some enjoyable mechanics and potential for community-created content, many players express disappointment in the overall storytelling and mission design.
“Citadelum comes with a 10 mission campaign provided by the developers, following along with the rise of the Roman Empire.”
“The missions increase in difficulty and it's fun to build up your city every mission, each time going just a little bigger than the last.”
“Although this game already offers many delightful and addictive elements (in a good way), which fully justifies its purchase, the developers are committed to continuing the development with new buildings, new challenges, and improvements to the current mission editor.”
“It's not a horrible game by any means, but about 6 missions in I have no interest in continuing further.”
“The campaign is presented very rudimentary and boring; after half of the second 'tutorial' mission, I went to sandbox.”
“The big problem, in my opinion, is that the missions so far seem very similar, lacking specialized objectives and zone-specific resources.”
- graphics42 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received generally positive feedback, with many players appreciating the modernized visuals that enhance the nostalgic feel reminiscent of classic city builders like Caesar III. While some users noted that the graphics are crisp and detailed, others felt that there is room for improvement, particularly in terms of settings and optimization. Overall, the game's aesthetic successfully captures the beauty of ancient Rome, making it visually appealing for fans of the genre.
“The game also shines with its stunning graphics, bringing the beauty of ancient Rome to life in a way that feels immersive and rich in detail.”
“Citadelum does a fantastic job on taking inspiration from Caesar 3 and implementing modern mechanics and graphics, while keeping the same spirit behind the management basis.”
“I love the graphics; the gameplay is also enjoyable.”
“As for negative points, I think the game deserved better graphics.”
“Graphically, it's fit for purpose but won't blow you away.”
“There is a huge disparity in graphics.”
- music12 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with many praising its catchy and atmospheric soundtrack that evokes a Roman feel, while others find it boring or forgettable. Some players appreciate the original compositions and their nods to classic titles like Caesar III, but there are criticisms regarding the overall quality and engagement of the music.
“The game looks great, has a nice variety of different resources, boasts a catchy soundtrack, and has the foundation of a solid historical city-building game.”
“Has a wonderful soundtrack that captures the Roman feel.”
“And the music, oh, the music is fantastic!”
“One thing I'm not a fan of is the soundtrack.”
“The music is boring and forgettable.”
“Just filling noises/no music.”
- grinding11 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 9 % neutral mentions
- 91 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players finding it tedious and overly simplistic, particularly in combat and resource management. While the farming and manufacturing options are appreciated, many feel that the fast population growth and repetitive tasks can lead to frustration. However, those who enjoy grinding and management mechanics may still find enjoyment in the game despite its shortcomings.
“After about ten hours, I found it tedious.”
“With simplistic enemy encounters, defending your city becomes tedious rather than exciting.”
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- optimization10 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization is a mixed bag; while some players report smooth gameplay on low settings, many experience significant performance issues, including overheating and stuttering when attempting to increase graphical settings. Despite being playable, the game requires better optimization to fully utilize higher-end hardware without freezing or lagging. While there are no major bugs, the need for improved optimization is a common sentiment among users.
“Citadelum is initially very exciting, both because of the ambiance and because of the production trees and population optimization involved.”
“Note: this review focuses solely on the technical optimization of the game.”
“The game is very clean and polished for a release (no game-breaking bugs, good optimization and cute graphics).”
“Unfortunately, the game is not optimized. With my computer (i9-11900k, 32GB RAM, 3060 Ti), I can only play this game on normal settings at 60 FPS. My GPU was at 85%, and if I set higher settings, the GPU is loaded at 100% and the computer starts freezing.”
“It is playable, of course; not optimized (quite a few people seem to have problems with overheating), but I encountered no real bugs or crashes to desktop so far.”
“On low settings (with no anti-aliasing), the game is playable, but any attempt to switch to medium or high results in sluggish performance and GPU overheating.”
- replayability9 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's replayability is viewed positively, with many players appreciating the variety of options and sandbox features that enhance the experience. However, some users feel that it lacks depth compared to other titles, suggesting that additional content or challenges could further improve its replay value.
“Very good value for the money as well as a lot of fun with lots of replayability options.”
“Replay value is high due to the nature of the game.”
“Unlike Caesar III, there isn't much replayability and it feels somewhat bland.”
“I think more content or challenges can be added to improve replayability, for instance.”
“I'm about 3 hours in; I'd estimate there is probably 10-15 hours of gameplay, with replayability of all missions thanks to the sandbox options.”
- humor2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is a mixed bag; while some users miss the charming wit found in "Zeus," others appreciate the fresh comedic elements introduced in "Caesar," noting that the gods are portrayed as funnier characters.
“Nice ideas from Caesar; the gods are much funnier now!”
- emotional1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find the emotional aspect of the game compelling, as it challenges traditional strategies and evokes a sense of satisfaction from unexpected outcomes, highlighting a deeper connection to the game's mechanics and narrative.
- atmosphere1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -500 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The game's sound design effectively immerses players in its atmosphere, though it lacks the distinctive flair of renowned composers like Andrew Hulshult or Austin Wintory.
“The sound design immerses you in the atmosphere, effectively drawing you into the experience.”
“The ambiance created by the music and sound effects enhances the overall mood of the game.”
“The atmospheric elements work together seamlessly to create a captivating and engaging environment.”
“The sound is effective and draws you into the atmosphere, but it doesn't compare to the works of Andrew Hulshult or Austin Wintory.”
“The overall atmosphere feels flat and uninspired, lacking the depth and immersion I was hoping for.”
“While the visuals are decent, the atmosphere fails to evoke any real emotion or tension, leaving the experience feeling hollow.”