Citadelum

About

"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.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

83%

Audience ScoreBased on 417 reviews

gameplay32 positive mentions

grinding17 negative mentions

Citadelum successfully captures the nostalgic essence of classic city builders like Caesar III while introducing modern mechanics and graphics.
The game offers a relaxing and enjoyable experience, making it accessible for both casual players and fans of the genre.
The integration of gods and their mechanics adds a unique layer of strategy and engagement to the city-building experience.

The gameplay can become repetitive and lacks depth, with missions feeling formulaic and objectives often being similar across different scenarios.
The game suffers from a lack of challenge, making it too easy for experienced players, which can lead to a diminished sense of achievement.
Technical issues and optimization problems have been reported, affecting performance on various systems and detracting from the overall experience.

gameplay
112 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
65%
6%
The gameplay of Citadelum is a modernized take on classic city-building mechanics reminiscent of Caesar III, featuring solid city management and resource gathering elements. While the game offers engaging graphics and a streamlined interface, many players find the gameplay repetitive and lacking depth, particularly in military and god mechanics. Overall, it provides a fun experience for fans of the genre, but there is a consensus that it could benefit from additional complexity and refinement in certain areas.
- “Citadelum does a fantastic job of taking inspiration from Caesar 3 and implementing modern mechanics and graphics while keeping the same spirit behind the management basis.”
- “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.”
- “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.”
- “Honestly, a very solid foundation, but it's hard to stay in the flow and play for several hours due to the gameplay.”
story
101 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
81%
9%
The game's story is criticized for being underdeveloped and lacking depth, with the campaign consisting of repetitive, disjointed missions that fail to create a cohesive narrative. Players express disappointment over the absence of a compelling storyline, particularly regarding the anticipated rise and fall of Rome, and note that mission objectives often feel arbitrary and uninspired. While the game offers sandbox and community-created content, the overall campaign experience is seen as simplistic and lacking engaging challenges.
- “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.”
- “However, the campaign itself unfortunately lacks a comprehensive story.”
- “The campaign is presented very rudimentary and boring; after half of the second 'tutorial' mission, I went to sandbox.”
- “In contrast to games like Caesar III, where each mission offers a real incentive to continue, this title lacks engaging challenges in its campaign.”
graphics
79 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
63%
4%
The graphics of Citadelum have received generally positive feedback, with many players appreciating the modernized visuals that bring the beauty of ancient Rome to life. While some users noted that the graphics are polished and detailed, others felt that they could be improved further, particularly in terms of options and settings. Overall, the game successfully combines nostalgic elements from classic city builders with contemporary graphics, making it appealing to 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 is a faithful modern take on the classic city builders Caesar, Zeus, Pharaoh, etc. The smooth control scheme, detailed feedback and management, and graphics are welcome updates.”
- “I love the graphics; the gameplay is also engaging.”
- “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.”
music
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
59%
14%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some praising its fantastic and catchy soundtrack that captures a Roman feel, while others find it boring and forgettable. Notably, there are original compositions that include passages reminiscent of the Caesar III soundtrack, adding a nostalgic touch for some players. Overall, the soundtrack is seen as a highlight by many, despite some dissenting opinions.
- “Has a wonderful soundtrack that captures the Roman feel.”
- “And the music, oh, the music is fantastic!”
- “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.”
- “One thing I'm not a fan of is the soundtrack.”
- “The music is boring and forgettable.”
- “Just filling noises/no music.”
optimization
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
40%
30%
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with many players experiencing performance issues, particularly at higher settings, leading to overheating and freezing on powerful hardware. While some users report smooth gameplay on low settings without significant bugs, the overall consensus is that the game requires further optimization to enhance performance, especially in larger cities. Despite these challenges, players find the game enjoyable and worth the price.
- “Citadelum is initially very exciting, both because of the ambiance and because of the production trees and population optimization involved.”
- “The game is very clean and polished for a release (no game-breaking bugs, good optimization and cute graphics).”
- “Note: this review focuses solely on the technical optimization of the game.”
- “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%, causing my computer to start freezing.”
- “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.”
- “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.”
grinding
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
89%
The grinding aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it tedious and repetitive, particularly in managing city resources and dealing with enemy encounters. While some appreciate the simplicity and enjoy the grinding and management elements, others feel that the gameplay lacks depth and can become frustrating, especially with fast population growth and challenging missions. Overall, the experience can feel more like a mobile game, leading to a sense of monotony for some players.
- “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.”
replayability
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
50%
17%
Overall, the game offers a mix of opinions on replayability; while some players find it highly replayable with sandbox options and good value for money, others feel it lacks depth and compelling content, limiting its long-term appeal. The potential for replayability is acknowledged, but many suggest that additional challenges or content could enhance the experience further.
- “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 somehow bland.”
- “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.”
- “I think more content or challenges can be added to improve replayability, for instance.”
humor
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game has received mixed feedback; while some players appreciate the funnier portrayal of gods in "Caesar," others feel it lacks the charming wit found in "Zeus." Overall, the humor seems to be a point of contention among players, with varying opinions on its effectiveness.
- “Nice ideas from Caesar, the gods are funnier now!”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players express a unique emotional connection to the game, noting that a hands-off approach can lead to surprisingly positive outcomes, which challenges traditional strategic gameplay and evokes a sense of trust and investment in the game's mechanics.
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere is effectively immersive, with sound design that successfully draws players in, though it lacks the distinctive flair of renowned composers like Andrew Hulshult or Austin Wintory.
- “The sound design is effective and draws you into the atmosphere, but it doesn't reach the level of composers like Andrew Hulshult or Austin Wintory.”
- “The sound design is effective and draws you into the atmosphere, but it doesn't reach the level of composers like Andrew Hulshult or Austin Wintory.”