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About

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.

Citystate screenshot
Citystate screenshot
Citystate screenshot
Citystate screenshot
Citystate screenshot
Citystate screenshot
Citystate screenshot
Citystate screenshot
Citystate screenshot
Citystate screenshot
Citystate screenshot
+29

74%
Audience ScoreBased on 1,370 reviews
gameplay46 positive mentions
optimization4 negative mentions

  • Unique blend of city-building and political simulation, allowing players to explore various economic and political ideologies.
  • Engaging gameplay with a moderate learning curve, rewarding players for strategic decision-making.
  • Regular updates from the developer show commitment to improving the game and adding new content.
  • Lacks depth in city-building mechanics, with limited building options and no utilities management.
  • Performance issues and bugs, especially in larger cities, can hinder gameplay experience.
  • The political system can feel biased and overly simplistic, with unclear consequences for policy decisions.
  • gameplay
    228 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay of the game is characterized by a detailed simulation of city growth and management, focusing on political decisions and their impact on economic development. While it offers deep mechanics and encourages diverse playstyles, many players find the gameplay to be somewhat shallow and clunky, with unclear mechanics and limited options that can lead to repetitive experiences. Overall, it presents a unique blend of city-building and political strategy, but it requires patience to learn and may feel unfinished in certain aspects.

    • “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.”
    • “A great game, mixing city builder, political decisions, and resource gathering; simple gameplay yet challenging to advance, reaching the necessary amount of civilians to unlock special buildings, and keeping life quality as high as possible, that's motivating for keeping playing.”
    • “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
    140 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of Citystate are characterized as simple and minimalistic, evoking a nostalgic aesthetic reminiscent of older city-building games like SimCity 2000 and 3000. While some players appreciate the charm and functionality of the visuals, many criticize the dated and limited graphical fidelity, suggesting that the game prioritizes gameplay mechanics over visual presentation. Overall, the graphics may not appeal to those seeking modern, high-definition visuals, but they serve the game's simulation focus effectively.

    • “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.”
    • “I highly recommend this game, not just for the nostalgia of the graphics, but for the pure fun in playing politics.”
    • “Just downloaded this game and I play on a Mac; no graphics whatsoever, this game does not work at all.”
    • “I wish the graphics were better and plot sizes bigger.”
    • “With extremely dated graphics, the game holds very little in visual appeal.”
  • music
    32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game is generally praised for being relaxing and unobtrusive, enhancing long play sessions without being distracting. However, some users report technical issues, such as music stopping unexpectedly and overlapping tracks. Overall, the soundtrack is considered enjoyable and complements the gameplay, with hopes for future updates to expand the musical offerings.

    • “The soundtrack is absolutely amazing.”
    • “An enjoyable soundtrack is another positive feature of this game; I just hope the developer continues to update the game and add in lots of new features.”
    • “It's also good meditation because the music is relaxing and good.”
    • “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.”
    • “Occasionally, two songs would play at the same time, creating a confusing audio experience.”
  • optimization
    32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's optimization is mixed; while it runs smoothly on most systems, users report significant performance issues, especially with larger cities exceeding 100,000 population. Some tools feel under-optimized, and the game struggles on laptops due to small interface elements. Overall, many players feel that the game requires further optimization and performance updates to enhance the experience.

    • “Optimization: well-optimized, runs smoothly on most systems.”
    • “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.”
    • “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.”
    • “As it stands, the largest issue is that the game suffers from performance issues with cities at 100,000 population and beyond.”
    • “This game is genuinely compelling; however, the poor performance makes the game less enjoyable.”
  • stability
    32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The stability of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting frequent bugs and glitches, some of which are game-breaking. While a few users experienced minimal issues and noted smooth performance, the overall consensus indicates that the game lacks polish and suffers from significant stability problems, particularly after recent updates.

    • “Just get used to game-breaking glitches since the devs have abandoned it to my knowledge.”
    • “In practice, the game is rife with glitches, spelling errors, and just lacks polish overall.”
    • “It can be a buggy mess and now they are developing a second one...”
  • replayability
    30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game offers high replayability due to its sandbox elements, allowing players to explore various city designs and political systems. While many reviewers appreciate the depth and variety of gameplay options, some feel that additional features could enhance the overall replay value. Overall, it is recommended for fans of city simulation games seeking diverse experiences.

    • “Its deep mechanics and replayability make it a great choice for fans of the genre.”
    • “The amount of options you have to make sure your city state doesn't go under is vast and provides a lot of replayability.”
    • “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.”
    • “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.”
    • “Replayability 6/10”
    • “Replayability - 6”
  • grinding
    16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and often unenjoyable, particularly due to the micro-management required to prevent city overgrowth and maintain balance. While the game can be engaging initially, it tends to become repetitive and less fun as players progress, especially when content feels limited. The constant freezing issues further detract from the experience, leading to a focus on farming and industry at the expense of a balanced economy.

    • “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.”
    • “The near constant freezing makes the otherwise fun game a tedious experience.”
  • story
    14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's story is primarily player-driven, emerging from city management decisions rather than a traditional narrative or missions, which some players find lacking. While the concept allows for unique experiences, the absence of a structured story mode and detailed explanations for gameplay mechanics can detract from overall engagement. Additionally, players express a desire for improved graphics and larger plot sizes to enhance the storytelling experience.

    • “Storyline: player-driven, with the narrative emerging from city management decisions.”
    • “Storyline: player-driven, with the narrative emerging from city management decisions.”
    • “Also information on why buildings do not upgrade to higher stages would be useful (land value is high, popularity is high, demand is high, still only one plot went from stage 3 to 4) and more little things like that that do not make the game unplayable, but do make it a bit less engaging.”
    • “They too don't have a 'story mode' or missions.”
    • “✔️ no story”
    • “Also, information on why buildings do not upgrade to higher stages would be useful (land value is high, popularity is high, demand is high, still only one plot went from stage 3 to 4) and more little things like that do not make the game unplayable, but do make it a bit less engaging.”
  • humor
    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is described as hilariously engaging, particularly through its satirical take on tax policies and political questions. While players appreciate the comedic elements, they note that the humor can sometimes miss the mark and is influenced by the developers' biases. Overall, the game is seen as a fun, albeit occasionally buggy, simulator that could benefit from further refinement.

    • “Playing with tax policies and spending and answering funny political questions.”
    • “In these games, it's always funny to see the bias in the developer's 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 timesink to play around with.”
  • monetization
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The reviews indicate that there is a lack of information regarding in-game purchases and microtransactions, suggesting that these aspects may not be significant or are not present in the game.

  • atmosphere
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Users note that the atmosphere, including factors like oxygen and gravity, has no impact on colony dynamics, suggesting a lack of meaningful environmental interaction in the game.

    • “The percentage figures on atmosphere, oxygen, and gravity have zero effect whatsoever on your colony.”

Buy Citystate

43h Median play time
362h Average play time
10-90h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 12 analyzed playthroughs

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