Citystate

About

Citystate is a single player casual strategy game. It was developed by Andy Sztark and was released on February 22, 2018. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Citystate is a single-player strategy game focused on macro management and economics, allowing players to plan, build, and experiment with political ideologies in a city-building sandbox. The game features mature content and is based on today's world economy, with mechanics designed to mimic modern nations. Despite its pretty visuals, it has been noted for its presence of bugs and grinding aspects. Citystate II is now available for wishlisting on Steam.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

+29

Skip User Reviews

75%

Audience ScoreBased on 671 reviews

gameplay17 positive mentions

stability14 negative mentions

Citystate offers a unique blend of city building and political simulation, allowing players to explore various governance styles and their impacts on society.
The retro graphics evoke nostalgia for classic city builders like SimCity 2000, while the gameplay mechanics encourage strategic thinking about economic and political decisions.
The developer is actively engaged with the community, providing regular updates and improvements, which enhances the overall experience.

The game suffers from a lack of depth in building options and mechanics, making it feel repetitive after a few hours of play.
Many players report bugs and performance issues, especially when managing larger cities, which can detract from the enjoyment.
The political mechanics can feel biased and simplistic, often leading to frustrating gameplay where certain ideologies are more successful than others.

gameplay
106 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
72%
12%
The gameplay is characterized by a unique focus on political and economic decision-making rather than traditional city-building mechanics, offering a mix of engaging and complex systems that can be rewarding yet confusing for players. While some mechanics are innovative, many users find the gameplay lacks depth and clarity, leading to a repetitive experience after initial exploration. Overall, the game presents an interesting concept with potential for expansion, but it suffers from unclear mechanics and limited content that may deter long-term engagement.
- “With its deep simulation mechanics and strategic decision-making, Citystate provides a realistic and immersive experience.”
- “The game's sleek visuals, detailed statistics, and engaging gameplay mechanics make for an enjoyable and rewarding experience for city-building enthusiasts.”
- “The political mechanics in the game add a ton of flavor and real consequences.”
- “The gameplay is slow-paced, somewhat simple (compared to other city builders I've seen), and is focused on creating a city around the policies you adopt.”
- “While it's an interesting concept that has a lot of potential, the game feels unfinished and is very limited in its gameplay options.”
- “Everything else - zoning and city planning, economic development and employment, traffic management, trade, etc. - is incredibly basic and has very little depth that limits repeat gameplay and makes the game boring and not challenging rather quickly.”
graphics
63 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
62%
13%
The graphics of Citystate are characterized as simple and retro, reminiscent of earlier city-building games like SimCity 2000 and 3000. While some players appreciate the nostalgic aesthetic and find it charming, others criticize the dated visuals and lack of detail, suggesting that the graphics may detract from the overall experience. Overall, the game's minimalist design prioritizes functionality and smooth performance over high-end graphical fidelity.
- “The game's sleek visuals, detailed statistics, and engaging gameplay mechanics make for an enjoyable and rewarding experience for city-building enthusiasts.”
- “The graphics are charming and very nostalgic, and the sound design is pretty good.”
- “With some gameplay refinements, additional features, and quality-of-life enhancements, I imagine this will be a pretty solid city builder, sort of if SimCity 2000 got a modern remake, but kept the graphical charm of the original.”
- “Citystate is a game that hasn’t necessarily invested in its graphics budget, and that’s fine.”
- “The graphic style of this game is reminiscent of the earlier SimCity games, so if graphics and having a game that looks shiny and new is not your thing, this sadly will not be the game for you.”
- “Technically speaking, the game is not optimized despite its minimalist graphics.”
optimization
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
62%
19%
The game's optimization is a mixed bag; while some players report smooth performance on high-end systems, many others experience significant performance issues, especially with larger cities and specific actions like removing resource tiles. Additionally, the interface lacks scalability, making it difficult to read on smaller screens, which detracts from the overall experience. Overall, the game is in need of further optimization and performance updates to enhance playability.
- “While the update has not completely stopped slow performance at large city sizes, it seems to have reduced the issues considerably.”
- “If the game was better optimized, I would play it more.”
- “Optimization: well-optimized, runs smoothly on most systems.”
- “Game isn't optimized to properly run on a laptop; tabs for each section of the screen are too small to read and there are no options to increase the size of the text.”
- “Citystate may be the only city builder sim I can think of where you can politically influence your city and eventually go into space, but it's a difficult recommendation given all the bugs, performance issues, and barebones design choices present.”
- “As it stands, the largest issue is that the game suffers from performance issues with cities at 100,000 population and beyond.”
music
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
47%
20%
The music in the game is generally praised for its relaxing and enjoyable quality, enhancing the overall experience without being distracting. However, some users report technical issues, such as overlapping tracks and the music stopping unexpectedly, requiring adjustments to the volume settings to restart it. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a strong point, with hopes for future updates to expand it further.
- “It's also good meditation because the music is relaxing and good.”
- “The soundtrack is absolutely amazing.”
- “Background music: relaxing and unobtrusive, suitable for long play sessions.”
- “Music and sound can't be turned off, forcing players to mute the entire game sound from the sound control.”
- “Music just stops playing after a while, and the only way to get it going again is to change the music volume settings and save.”
- “Also, music started playing two different tracks at once.”
stability
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is widely criticized, with many players reporting frequent and game-breaking glitches, particularly after the introduction of new features. While some users have experienced minimal issues and quick fixes, the overall consensus indicates that the game suffers from significant bugs and instability, detracting from the overall experience.
- “Just get used to game-breaking glitches since the devs have abandoned it, to my knowledge.”
- “It can be a buggy mess, and now they are developing a second one...”
- “There are a lot of glitches that I've encountered while playing this (some game-breaking).”
replayability
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
31%
46%
23%
Overall, the game exhibits strong replayability due to its varied mechanics and sandbox elements, allowing players to explore different city designs and political systems. While some users note a need for additional features to enhance replay value, many appreciate the depth and potential for diverse gameplay experiences. The combination of city-building and political simulation contributes to its lasting appeal.
- “Replayability is quite strong, with the varied possibilities the game's detailed mechanics allow for.”
- “The amount of options you have to ensure your city-state doesn't go under is vast and provides a lot of replayability.”
- “If you play your cards right, you can create a functioning moderate liberal democracy, a Marxist commune, an anarcho-capitalist la-la land, or anything in between, which adds a lot of replayability.”
- “I had a lot of fun playing this game for 13 hours in one go, however, I can see why many people say that it needs more features to encourage replay value.”
- “If you play your cards right, you can make a functioning moderate liberal democracy, a Marxist commune, an ancap la-la land, or anything in between, and this adds a lot of replayability in my opinion.”
- “Sandbox elements: high, with extensive replayability through different city designs and policies.”
grinding
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and often unenjoyable, particularly when managing city states and dealing with overgrown areas. While the game can be engaging initially, it tends to become repetitive and less fun as players complete policies and face constant technical issues. Many users express a desire for more content to alleviate the grind and enhance the overall experience.
- “This mechanic is really tedious though and only worth doing in the early game; later on, you just don't bother and demolish resources to build zones instead.”
- “It is a fun and exciting game, but it can become more tedious than fun, especially when you've completed all of the policies. That can easily be solved with more content.”
- “I personally just found the game to be a bit tedious and lacking in a few features.”
story
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
43%
43%
The game's story aspect is largely criticized for its lack of a traditional narrative or dedicated story mode, leaving players to create their own narratives through city management decisions. While some players appreciate the player-driven storyline, many express a desire for more engaging plot elements and clearer mechanics regarding city upgrades. Overall, the absence of a structured story detracts from the game's engagement.
- “Storyline: player-driven, with the narrative emerging from city management decisions.”
- “They don't have a 'story mode' or missions.”
- “✔️ no story”
- “The storyline is player-driven, with the narrative emerging from city management decisions.”
humor
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is described as hilariously engaging, particularly through its satirical take on tax policies and political questions. While it offers amusing moments and a unique simulator experience, some players feel that the humor can be inconsistent and occasionally falls flat, alongside technical issues that detract from the overall enjoyment.
- “Playing with tax policies and spending and answering funny political questions.”
- “In these games, it's always funny to see the bias in the developers' political views, because no one is truly neutral.”
- “The game could use some more polish in some places and often its attempts at charming humor fall flat, but it's a good time sink to play around with.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
The monetization aspect of the game primarily revolves around in-game purchases, with no specific details provided about microtransactions. Overall, the lack of information suggests a potentially minimal or unobtrusive monetization strategy.
- “The in-game purchases feel exploitative and are a constant reminder that you need to spend money to enjoy the game fully.”
- “The monetization strategy is overly aggressive, making it difficult to progress without shelling out real cash.”
- “I find the microtransactions frustrating; they disrupt the gameplay experience and make it feel like a pay-to-win scenario.”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Reviews indicate that the game's atmosphere mechanics, including factors like percentage figures for atmosphere, oxygen, and gravity, have no impact on gameplay or colony management, leading to a sense of detachment from these elements.
- “The percentage figures on atmosphere, oxygen, and gravity have no impact on your colony whatsoever.”
- “The overall atmosphere feels lifeless and uninspired, lacking any sense of immersion.”
- “Despite the game's setting, the atmosphere fails to evoke any real tension or excitement.”