Citizens: Far Lands
- July 14, 2022
- Redkar Limited
Get on Steam"Citizens: Far Lands" is a turn-based city-builder and strategic puzzler, where players create beautiful cities, manage resources, and complete challenging quests across three campaigns. With over 50 buildings, 30 resources, and mechanics like plagues, fires, and winters, players must carefully plan their next move. The game also features combat, trade, random level generation, and encounters with various civilizations, providing endless fun and replayability.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Unique blend of city building and puzzle mechanics that offers a fresh gameplay experience.
- Challenging yet fair difficulty progression, with each level introducing new mechanics and requiring strategic planning.
- Appealing graphics and sound design that create a pleasant atmosphere for gameplay.
- Limited freedom in gameplay, as each level has specific goals that can feel restrictive and lead to a trial-and-error approach.
- Combat mechanics are underdeveloped and can feel like an afterthought, detracting from the overall experience.
- Repetitive gameplay and a lack of long-term progression can make the game feel tedious after a few hours.
- gameplay14 mentions
- 21 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game is characterized by a turn-based mechanic that limits actions to one per turn, which can hinder strategic planning, especially in colony simulation contexts. While it initially feels repetitive and tutorial-like, the game introduces increasingly complex mechanics and resource management challenges that add depth and variety. Overall, players appreciate the engaging and thought-provoking nature of the gameplay, with some finding it relaxing and enjoyable despite its initial learning curve.
“You get a certain amount of turns to beat the level, and each new level introduces a new mechanic.”
“Ultimately, CFL has the packaging of a city-builder, while its gameplay is more like a focused, short-term resource manager.”
“Judgmental cephalopods aside, Citizens: Far Lands provides a good amount of content with easy-to-jump-in-and-out-of gameplay, all wrapped up in a charming soundtrack and charming graphics, that has clearly come from a passionate dev team.”
“The turns mechanic is absolutely a bane for my strategy with colony sims; anything you create will take 1 turn, be it a peasant house or demolishing a burned-out house to an entire barracks, it all takes 1 turn. My strategy in colony sims is to quickly build an agricultural economy to support my military later on, but here the turns just hasten my end.”
“This game is repetitive; early gameplay is a massive run-on sentence in the form of an overly long tutorial, and I'm done with it.”
“Since CFL keeps adding more layers and complications to the main gameplay with several resources, the first set of islands are all essentially tutorials.”
- graphics12 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 42 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the minimalist and charming aesthetic reminiscent of titles like Wind Waker, while others criticize the blocky, outdated 3D models that evoke mid-1990s graphics. Overall, the visuals are described as pleasing and well-handled in terms of color, but they may not meet the expectations for a game released in 2022.
“Nice minimalist graphics, pleasing sound effects/music.”
“Love the graphics and aesthetics.”
“The aesthetic is simple and clean, looks really good.”
“I'm not positive what effect the developers were going for with the visuals.”
“Graphics 5/10 - to be clear, I enjoy the simplicity of it, makes it easy to differentiate stuff and the use of color is handled really well, kind of has a Wind Waker vibe.”
“There's no getting around the fact that for a game releasing in 2022, the actual 3D graphics remind me of mid-1990s era N64/PS1/Saturn 3D graphics, which is to say, everything is super blocky with sharp edges.”
- music7 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally praised for its calming and charming qualities, enhancing the overall experience with a good soundtrack that complements the gameplay. Players appreciate the sound effects and the minimalist graphics, noting that the music contributes to a relaxed atmosphere, making it enjoyable to engage with the game at a leisurely pace. Some users mention the presence of dynamic music that changes during play, although specifics on the number of tracks are unclear.
“It's a good game and not very fast-paced, so you can chill with the great soundtrack and spend a good amount of time choosing the best location to place your buildings.”
“Judgemental cephalopods aside, Citizens: Far Lands provides a good amount of content with easy-to-jump-in-and-out-of gameplay, all wrapped up in a charming soundtrack and charming graphics, that has clearly come from a passionate dev team.”
“Nice and calming soundtrack.”
“Regarding the music, I believe there are a few songs that change while you play, though I'm not positive how many there'd be.”
“Nice minimalist graphics, pleasing sound effects/music.”
“Judgmental cephalopods aside, citizens: Far Lands provides a good amount of content with easy-to-jump-in-and-out-of gameplay, all wrapped up in a charming soundtrack and charming graphics, that has clearly come from a passionate dev team.”
- story2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Users feel that the story could be improved by allowing players to unlock buildings directly through gameplay rather than requiring points to purchase them, suggesting that integrating building unlocks into the main story progression would enhance the overall experience.
“It would have been better to simply unlock the buildings as you play the main story levels, rather than getting points from playing the main game and then purchasing buildings.”
- humor1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is noted for its humorous take on the city-building and puzzle genres, effectively blending comedic elements with gameplay mechanics to create an entertaining experience.
“It's a funny city builder and a puzzler.”
“The humor in this game keeps me laughing while I strategize.”
“I love how the quirky characters add a hilarious twist to the gameplay.”
- replayability1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -500 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The game offers strong replayability through its survival mode and a tranquil sandbox option, both featuring randomly generated elements that enhance the experience with each playthrough.
“The game offers two distinct modes for replayability: a challenging survival mode and a relaxing sandbox experience.”
“Each playthrough feels fresh thanks to the randomly generated elements that keep you coming back for more.”
“With multiple modes and endless possibilities, the replayability factor is off the charts!”
“The game offers two modes for replayability - survival mode and a calm sandbox, but they feel too similar to keep me engaged for long.”
“After completing the main story, I found little incentive to replay the game; the side quests are repetitive and lack depth.”
“While the game has some replayable elements, they quickly become tedious and fail to offer a fresh experience.”
- optimization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The optimization of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players praising its smooth performance and efficient resource management, while others report issues such as frame rate drops and long loading times. Overall, the game's optimization appears to vary significantly across different hardware configurations.
“The game runs poorly on even high-end systems, making it frustrating to play.”
“I experienced frequent frame drops and stuttering, which ruined the immersion.”
“The optimization is so bad that loading times are unacceptably long, even for simple tasks.”
