Distant Kingdoms
- May 5, 2021
- Orthrus Studios
- 8h median play time
Get on Steam"Distant Kingdoms" is a city-building and social management game set in a vibrant fantasy world. Oversee the kingdoms of Humans, Dwarves, Elves, and Orcs as they colonize a new land, managing resources, researching new technologies, and exploring dungeons. Experience a dynamic quest system and deal with various creatures to grow your civilization.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game has a lot of potential with interesting concepts like managing different races and an adventuring mechanic.
- The graphics and art style are appealing, creating an engaging fantasy setting.
- The tutorial is well-structured, helping players understand the mechanics of the game.
- The game has been abandoned by the developers, leaving it in an unfinished state with no future updates.
- There are numerous bugs and performance issues that make the game unplayable at times.
- The gameplay can feel tedious and overly reliant on micromanagement, leading to frustration.
- graphics50 mentions
- 48 % positive mentions
- 46 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players praising the gorgeous art style, bright colors, and detailed buildings that create an engaging world. However, others report issues with optimization, dated visuals, and technical problems following updates, which detract from the overall experience. While many appreciate the aesthetic appeal, there are calls for further improvements to meet modern gaming standards.
“The graphics are gorgeous.”
“With beautiful graphics, well detailed buildings, and a handful of cosmetic items, with a little planning you can bring a village to life.”
“The graphics are cute and well suited to the light-hearted music and uplifting high adventure theme this game is aiming for.”
“Fails to render the graphics after patch 1.5 - tried two different machines, same result.”
“Graphics feel dated.”
“The graphics are nothing fancy - acceptable, but could be better.”
- gameplay48 mentions
- 8 % positive mentions
- 83 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The gameplay of this early access title is marked by significant bugs and performance issues, leading to a frustrating experience for many players. While some unique mechanics, such as magic portals and a text-based adventuring system, offer potential for deep optimization and engagement, the overall execution feels clunky and overwhelming, particularly in the civilization-building stages. Despite its flaws, the game shows promise and has garnered a mix of enjoyment and disappointment among players, with hopes for future improvements.
“There are some interesting features I enjoy now that I think are unique to this game: the adventuring aspect is very cool and a lot of fun, and the encounters are a great way to break up the gameplay so it doesn't become monotonous.”
“This is still early access, and needs balancing, but the things that set it apart from other games in the genre are unique and fresh enough that this is an easy 'recommended buy' from me; things like having magic portals you can use to shave off transit time between production and storage, or storage and distribution (i.e. markets), is such a genius way to offer deep optimization gameplay.”
“Love the style and gameplay; it is very enjoyable for a city builder.”
“Apart from the fact that the game stops responding on loading, crashes to the desktop without warning, and I can only play the game as an elf (all other types cause the game to crash as soon as I build the first houses), the gameplay is, in my opinion, totally flawed.”
“I got 10 hours of gameplay before I had to give up due to it just being way too overwhelming to get through the civilization stages and keep things flowing smoothly.”
“I was a bit disappointed in the lack of mechanical polish (maneuvering menus, building stuff, etc., feels clunky in general and it keeps freezing for several seconds when loading initially, so far as to Windows actually thinking it crashed and showing an error message, but if you wait a bit it will actually work again) and it just does not really offer any content at this point to motivate me to keep going.”
- optimization36 mentions
- 8 % positive mentions
- 64 % neutral mentions
- 28 % negative mentions
The game currently suffers from significant optimization issues, with many players reporting performance drops, stuttering, and freezing as their cities grow. While it shows potential with unique gameplay mechanics, the need for better optimization is critical, especially given its early access status and price point. Overall, players feel that the game requires more time in development to address these performance concerns before it can be fully recommended.
“Rather than simply being 'banished + fantasy', it has a focus on exploration, random events (adventuring party events), and optimization of logistics.”
“This is still early access, and needs balancing, but the things that set it apart from other games in the genre are unique and fresh enough that this is an easy 'recommended buy' from me; things like having magic portals you can use to shave off transit time between production and storage, or storage and distribution (i.e. markets), is such a genius way to offer deep optimization gameplay if that's your thing, while otherwise allowing players more interested in exploration or policy-management (you can designate per-zone policies, which is a great way to balance out resources) to focus on those.”
“The game is not fully optimized, but it also does not run bad in 4k, max graphics for an older computer (980ti, intel 4700k, 16g ram even with over 800 pop town).”
“This really needs to be addressed, the recommendation for something like this should not need a high-end system with an RTX card; this just stinks of poor performance management.”
“I know, early access, but there should be a minimal effort already invested into optimization before you release it into early access and charge money.”
“As my city got big enough, the game's performance dropped drastically, sometimes even freezing.”
- story23 mentions
- 35 % positive mentions
- 52 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The game's story is described as having intriguing but underdeveloped elements, with a lack of a cohesive campaign or engaging narrative that leads to boredom over time. While the text-based quest system and adventuring mechanics offer some fun and humor, they often feel disconnected from the city-building aspect and can be hindered by bugs, detracting from the overall experience. Players express a desire for more quests and deeper storytelling to enhance the exploration and adventure elements.
“The way the game implements the four races and the requirements for all four into the city management, the population/job management, the resource management, and the hero quest management with tile unlocks... overall, I have had a great time playing this game.”
“It's a bit of a fantasy city-building game, and the quests and exploring are something very cool.”
“Plus, the adventuring mechanic (a choose-your-own text-based D&D story) is filled with pun-filled, almost Monty Python-esque jokes and lore that keep you interested.”
“Don't get me wrong, it's still a good game with the choice of 4 races [elves, orcs, humans, and dwarves] and each with their own specialty, but after 3 hours I got quite bored with it being idle as there was no storyline or campaign to engage with.”
“The quest system, where you have to send your party to other hexes, is text-based and doesn't suit the game at all - it just distracts and irritates instead of complementing the city-building aspect.”
“The tutorial bugs out, making it impossible to complete quests or work around them.”
- stability12 mentions
- 8 % positive mentions
- 8 % neutral mentions
- 83 % negative mentions
The stability of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players reporting significant bugs and freezing issues, particularly during specific actions, while others have experienced no crashes or major problems. Overall, the game is described as "buggy" and not fully optimized, leading to concerns about its reliability, especially given the developer's lack of ongoing support.
“I experienced no crashes, no problems playing the game, no glitches, and no issues loading or saving anything, unlike some others.”
“Do not buy, the developer is no longer making the game and it is buggy.”
“I keep freezing when I send my tavern party out; when the screen fades to black, my machine freezes solid and requires a hard boot.”
“Nice little game, a little buggy at the moment and not quite optimized.”
- music12 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 58 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The music in the game is described as aesthetically pleasing and fitting for its light-hearted, high adventure theme, featuring catchy D&D-style tunes and relaxing melodies that enhance the gameplay experience. However, some players note that while the violin fiddle music is enjoyable initially, it may become repetitive over extended play sessions. Overall, the soundtrack is considered attractive and complements the colorful graphics well.
“The graphics are cute and well suited to the light-hearted music and uplifting high adventure theme this game is aiming for.”
“You could control everything with just the mouse, the graphics were nice and colorful and you could just relax, listen to some music and watch your city grow.”
“Straight honesty, this flowy violin fiddle music that I imagine being played by a halfling bard is great for 20 minutes, but not continuously.”
- grinding4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, particularly due to the cumbersome resource management and warehouse systems that become more apparent as they progress through the tech tree. While the diversity of races and their unique production specialties adds depth, the overall experience can feel repetitive and frustrating after several hours of gameplay.
“After a few hours of gameplay and halfway or more up the tech tree, it might be better to wait until they improve the resource management and warehouse system; it's tedious.”
“The grinding aspect of the game becomes apparent as you progress, making resource management feel more like a chore than an engaging part of gameplay.”
“The complexity of production increases, but the repetitive nature of grinding for resources can make it feel like a slog rather than an enjoyable challenge.”
- humor4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game receives mixed reviews; while some players find it abundant and enjoyable, others feel that the jokes come off as forced and do not resonate well with the overall tone. Fans of lighthearted fantasy humor may be disappointed, as they were hoping for a style similar to the Majesty series.
“It's very humorous and has a lot to explore, literally.”
- replayability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 100 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Reviewers suggest that while the game currently lacks strong replayability, there is potential for improvement through modifications, indicating that with the right changes, it could become more engaging for repeated play.
