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 a unique design and setting, offering a fun world to explore with dynamic NPC interactions.
- There is a lot of potential for future development, with engaging survival mechanics and a gritty narrative aesthetic.
- The developers are responsive to feedback and show passion for improving the game, making it worth keeping an eye on.
- The game is plagued by frequent crashes and bugs, making it frustrating to progress after investing significant time.
- Many players find the lack of direction and unclear objectives lead to a confusing gameplay experience.
- The UI is clunky and unintuitive, with a need for more quality of life improvements and clearer quest guidance.
- gameplay18 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The gameplay of City 20 is seen as ambitious but currently lacks polish and depth, with some players experiencing progression halts due to NPC interactions becoming stagnant. While the crafting and survival mechanics are praised for their depth, the overall core gameplay loop feels incomplete, leading to a mixed reception. Players appreciate the potential for development and the game's gritty narrative, but many express a need for more content and quality-of-life improvements before fully recommending it.
“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.”
“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.”
- 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 criticizing the repetitive nature of saving and sleeping. 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
The atmosphere of the game is highly praised, with users consistently highlighting its exceptional quality and immersive experience.
“Love the atmosphere.”
“First off, the atmosphere is top-notch.”
- stability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game currently exhibits 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.”
- 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.”
“The audio design feels uninspired, making the overall experience feel dull.”
- 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 for various hardware configurations.”
