City 20
- September 23, 2024
- Untold Games
- 19h median play time
Get on SteamIn "City 20," survive in a quarantined, radioactive city twenty years after a leak. Interact with the game world to shape your experience, including building relationships with factions, contributing to social tension, and managing resources. Each NPC has unique traits, and the world adapts to your actions, making every playthrough different.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game has great potential with a unique design and setting, offering a vibrant world to explore.
- Players appreciate the survival mechanics and the ability to shape the world through their actions, reminiscent of games like Project Zomboid and Kenshi.
- The developers are responsive to feedback and show passion for improving the game, making it worth supporting during its early access phase.
- The game currently suffers from numerous bugs, including frequent crashes and unresponsive NPCs, which hinder progression.
- Many players find the lack of clear direction and tutorial frustrating, leading to a sense of aimlessness in gameplay.
- The user interface and controls are clunky, making navigation and interaction difficult, especially for those using mouse and keyboard.
- gameplay20 mentions
- 15 % positive mentions
- 70 % neutral mentions
- 15 % negative mentions
The gameplay of City 20 is ambitious and offers a mix of crafting and survival mechanics reminiscent of titles like Kenshi and Project Zomboid, but it currently suffers from significant bugs and a lack of content, leading to a frustrating experience after extended play. While the foundational mechanics show promise, players note that NPC interactions can become stagnant, halting progression, and the game feels incomplete with essential features still missing. Overall, it is seen as a playable early access title with potential for improvement, but it requires further development and polish to fully realize its ambitions.
“By the looks of the mechanics, I can almost say that this game will be awesome in every sense.”
“The survival mechanics, while familiar, are balanced well enough to avoid the usual tedium.”
“If you’re intrigued by deep world-building, a gritty narrative aesthetic, and a sandbox that offers more than just survival mechanics, you’ll want to check it out.”
“I noticed that after game 6 or 7, some of the NPCs won't talk to you or be aggressive against you. After some time, no NPC will be aggressive against you and will neither talk to you, hence stopping any progression in the game. I will change the review after all the game bugs are fixed, but for now, I don't recommend playing this game. After 24 hours of gameplay, it let me down.”
“But after 5 hours of gameplay, it wears on you.”
“It feels like there's still a chunk of the core of the game missing in terms of content and mechanics.”
- story11 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- 45 % neutral mentions
- 27 % negative mentions
The game's story is intricately tied to resource management and player choices, allowing for a dynamic narrative shaped by interactions with NPCs and the environment. However, players have noted that quest guidance is often lacking, leading to frustration in navigation and task completion. Despite these issues, the world is described as rich and immersive, with a deeper narrative hinted at through exploration and the emotional investment of the developers.
“Maybe it was the grey, mysterious 'narrative aesthetic' that teased at a deeper story beneath the surface, or the fact that the developer clearly poured their heart into creating a bleak yet beautiful world.”
“It promises a world shaped by dynamic AI, a complex and ever-changing environment, and a story that emerges naturally through exploration and survival.”
“Every location tells a story, even if it’s a bleak one.”
“Quest system is currently wandering around aimlessly hoping to find that quest location while constantly running out of resources, which was not really fun.”
“It's just annoying to get a quest to deliver something, and there's no sort of 'where can I find him?' or 'what does he look like?' so you just have a quest and have to randomly come upon the spot or person you need.”
“I found almost every task to be this way with a basic instruction but no follow-up to know where to actually go, so hopefully the navigating and quest marker system gets a robust upgrade.”
- graphics8 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The game's graphics feature a quirky and beautiful art style, complemented by a solid isometric perspective that may not appeal to everyone. While some players find the visuals to have a unique charm, others note an unsettling quality that aligns with the game's deeper narrative themes. Overall, the artwork is praised for its uniqueness and the expansive world it creates for exploration.
“Quirky graphics style, looks beautiful.”
“Spent most of the time gathering sticks, plants, etc. Graphically, the game looks solid.”
“There's something 'off' about the graphics.”
“Maybe it was the grey, mysterious 'narrative aesthetic' that teased at a deeper story beneath the surface, or the fact that the developer clearly poured their heart into creating a bleak yet beautiful world.”
“Artwork is unique and the game feels expansive with lots to explore.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and unfulfilling, particularly noting that saving and sleeping feels like a chore. There is a desire for more engaging activities, such as farming and combat, to enhance the experience.
“Saving a game and sleeping is a tedious and unfulfilling chore.”
“I'm not too far into the game, so I will change my review based on that if I remember to do so, but things like having farming and more combat would be awesome.”
- atmosphere2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Reviewers consistently praise the atmosphere, highlighting it as exceptional and a standout feature of the game.
“Love the atmosphere.”
“First off, the atmosphere is top-notch.”
- stability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The game currently faces significant stability issues, including frequent typos in dialogue, lack of support for DLSS and FSR, missing options like mouse smoothing disablement, incorrect resolution detection in windowed-fullscreen mode, and consistent freezes or lag during area transitions. These problems are particularly notable given its early access status.
“I understand it's early access, but the dialogue had frequent typos. The game doesn't have DLSS or FSR support yet, so some features aren't ready to use. There are missing options, like the ability to disable mouse smoothing. The game fails to detect my actual resolution when in windowed fullscreen, and I run into consistent freezes or lag when rotating or loading a new area.”
“The game is plagued by stability issues, including frequent crashes and performance drops that make it nearly unplayable at times.”
“I experienced constant lag and stuttering, which severely impacted my gameplay experience and made it frustrating to progress.”
- music1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The music in the game has been criticized for its lack of variety, with many users noting that it consists mainly of monotonous and depressing sounds that fail to enhance the overall experience.
“The music is barely there, just a constant stream of depressing sounds.”
“The soundtrack is repetitive and lacks any real variety or excitement.”
“I found the music to be uninspired and forgettable, failing to enhance the gameplay experience.”
- replayability1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game offers significant replayability, allowing players to experiment with various choices that can lead to different outcomes.
“Nevertheless, it has the potential for enormous replayability and experimenting with different choices.”
- optimization1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players report a smooth experience with no performance issues encountered during gameplay, indicating strong optimization.
“There are no performance issues that I've encountered during my time playing.”
“The game runs smoothly with no noticeable lag or frame drops.”
“I appreciate how well-optimized the game is; it runs perfectly on my system.”
