Evil Bank Manager
- December 7, 2018
- Hamsters Gaming
- 11h median play time
In "Evil Bank Manager" , become a ruthless capitalist during the era of geographical discoveries and industrial revolution. Manipulate, conspire, and control money to gain influence and wealth. Experience well-designed gameplay with a complex economic system, offering numerous hours of engaging strategic simulation.
Reviews
- The game offers a unique and engaging concept of managing a bank in a historical context, allowing players to influence wars and economies.
- The gameplay is addictive and can provide hours of entertainment, especially for fans of economic strategy games.
- The developers are actively updating the game and responding to community feedback, showing commitment to improving the overall experience.
- The tutorial is poorly designed and does not adequately explain the game's mechanics, leaving players confused about how to progress.
- The gameplay becomes repetitive after a few hours, with limited strategic depth and a lack of meaningful interactions with AI competitors.
- There are numerous UI issues and bugs that detract from the overall experience, making navigation cumbersome and frustrating.
- gameplay184 mentions
- 23 % positive mentions
- 66 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The gameplay has been widely criticized for its lack of depth and repetitiveness, with many players noting that it devolves into a monotonous cycle of similar actions each turn. While some appreciate the core mechanics and find the game initially engaging, the poor user interface, unclear tutorials, and shallow strategic options lead to a tedious experience, especially in the mid to late game. Overall, the game shows potential but suffers from significant design flaws that hinder its enjoyment and replayability.
“I like the gameplay a lot - I love this genre in general actually.”
“Very compelling game, mechanics are relatively simple but allow for subtle nuances when seeking mastery.”
“The gameplay is slow and encourages you to think about your turns and planning.”
“Many mechanics are discongruent and unintuitive.”
“The gameplay essentially boils down to 'make lots of money by reinvesting your cash', which is fine, but there's not a lot of mechanical depth to this - there are a few different ways to make money, but 1 or 2 are objectively better than others, so the gameplay is very formulaic and repetitive.”
“The gameplay starts to feel like a chore while you try to desperately min-max and your turns share the same loops.”
- graphics50 mentions
- 46 % positive mentions
- 48 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the pleasant and atmospheric visuals, while others criticize them as generic or outdated. Many users note that the graphics are not the main focus of the game, which is more about strategic gameplay, but some also report performance issues and high CPU/GPU temperatures during play. Overall, while the graphics are described as decent or nice by some, they are often seen as needing improvement or lacking in detail.
“I liked the graphics in the game - I liked the animation of the progression of the turn.”
“The graphics are beautiful.”
“The game has some really beautiful environments and the graphics are really well designed and laid out.”
“The art style is generic and looks cobbled together.”
“Graphics: everything looks old, but I understand the style.”
“Graphically... well it doesn't really have much in the way of graphics.”
- music29 mentions
- 48 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally praised for its quality and atmospheric fit, with many players enjoying the medieval-themed soundtrack. However, several reviews note that the music can become repetitive due to a lack of variety and additional sound effects, which detracts from the overall experience. While the soundtrack enhances the game's appeal, players express a desire for more tracks to maintain engagement over longer play sessions.
“The music is surprisingly good and probably the best part of the game.”
“The upbeat soundtrack kept me hooked.”
“Good music, especially European tracks - not quite suitable for the time period, of course, but pleasing to the ear.”
“As there's not a great deal of eye candy, in the UI or otherwise, the soundtrack gets repetitive an hour in, and there's no innate satisfaction to playing the game without the numerical mechanics making any sense. I can't say there's really anything else to keep me playing.”
“The music in the background seems to be monotonous.”
“It has practically no sounds - and only a few different music tracks.”
- replayability24 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The game's replayability is a mixed bag, with some players finding it fun and engaging due to various victory paths and strategies, while others criticize it for being repetitive and lacking depth. Many reviewers note that despite some potential for replay value, the overall experience feels limited and could benefit from additional features or updates to enhance replayability. Overall, while there are elements that could encourage replay, the consensus leans towards a lack of substantial replay value.
“I can see the game having a ton of replay value.”
“Simple, fun, and has tons of replayability.”
“Once Evil Bank Manager is fully polished and out of alpha, I believe it will be an incredibly fun and replayable game.”
“For a strategy game, it isn't all too deep and doesn't have much to offer in terms of replay value.”
“The only fun part is the learning curve, but as soon as you understand what to do, it's very repetitive and does not have any replay value.”
“It had legs, but has less replayability than other clicker games, unfortunately.”
- grinding21 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Reviews highlight that the grinding aspect of the game becomes excessively tedious, particularly in the late game, where players face repetitive actions and a clunky interface that detracts from the overall experience. Many players feel that the lack of balance and meaningful gameplay leads to a monotonous cycle of button-mashing, with little sense of achievement or motivation to continue. Improvements in automation and game mechanics are suggested as potential solutions to alleviate the grind.
“The issue with EBM is that, beyond the early game, the gameplay loop becomes insanely tedious.”
“But after a while, the gameplay invariably becomes a very tedious grind of repeated button-mashing because that's just what needs to be done to pass the turns and the bulk of optimal actions don't require any thought whatsoever; poor game mechanics definitely contribute to this, especially in the late game.”
“At this point it was clear that literally no attention had been paid to balance at all, and I didn't really fancy the prospect of grinding out another 270 turns to presumably get a 'well done!' and then get booted back to the main menu.”
- story18 mentions
- 11 % positive mentions
- 72 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The story of the game revolves around managing a bank during the Renaissance, where players embark on missions to grow their influence and control over the economy. While the initial premise is intriguing, many reviewers find the narrative execution lacking, describing it as bland and unimpactful, with missions that feel half-baked and fail to enhance the overall experience. Despite these criticisms, some players report becoming engaged with the gameplay, particularly as they progress through quests, though they note that the story does not significantly elevate the game's appeal.
“In short, the plot is as follows: you found your first bank and choose a country where you start your activity.”
“I thought that the game is not worth the money, but after I went into it, I got interested in it, passed quest after quest.”
“Pff, it's not as fancy as it sounds; it's basically a resource strategy game that is somewhat based on EU3 and EU4, except you only control parts of the economy and don't even get to do much except invest money and loan money. Somehow, someone found a way to make some obscure function from EU4 into a game. You 'win' it by doing some bland missions that don't add anything to the game experience itself, and it only lasts 300 turns until the year 1570 AD or so, and then the game is over. Waste of time and money.”
“You can try to influence wars or declare them, send your guards on missions to disrupt other banks, send spies to provoke revolutions, but it's all half-baked and boring and never feels impactful.”
“That's the only way other similar games keep your attention for so long, is by throwing in a bunch of randomness and story flavor.”
- humor9 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is characterized by its cheeky, cynical take on real-world financial systems, with players finding amusement in absurd scenarios, such as disproportionate investments and the mockery of banking practices. The game's clever use of historical references and witty names adds to its comedic appeal, making players laugh at the irony of their situations and the exaggerated dynamics of competition. Overall, the humor effectively enhances the gameplay experience, providing a satirical lens on serious financial topics.
“Excellent simple and precise logic and hilarious cheeky cynical humor sticking precisely to the real historical origins of financial affairs.”
“It was also hilarious to see #1 investing in wars to the tune of 100 times more than others, while as a player you are limited to at worst 1/1000th of the investment.”
“Having worked in the industry, I find the mockery of the central bank system, IMF, loan collateral raiding, 'diplomacy,' and starting and funding wars hilarious.”
- atmosphere8 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its immersive depiction of the dark middle ages, enhanced by atmospheric graphics and a calming soundtrack that evokes a sense of simplicity and honesty. Players appreciate the balance between streamlined gameplay and the overall aesthetic, which effectively transports them to the historical setting.
“In this age of technology, it is very nice to dive into the atmosphere of the dark middle ages, where everything was simpler and more honest.”
“Very atmospheric game and good graphics.”
“The music in the background is kind of monotonous, but atmospheric, calm, and creates a sense of the middle ages.”
- stability8 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 88 % negative mentions
The game's stability is a mixed bag; while some players report a generally bug-free experience with smooth UI and graphics, others highlight significant issues such as inconsistent farm outputs, random war mechanics, and glitches that arise with larger country lists. As the game is still in early access, many reviewers express hope for improvements in these areas.
“It seems bug-free; you can get into a nice flow in the UI, and the graphics are nice.”
“The game is a bit buggy; farms are supposed to produce grain twice a year, but most years they won't produce anything at all.”
“I'm pretty sure the wars are buggy and just change randomly.”
“For example, the lists of countries become very buggy when there are more than 8-10 of them...”
- optimization5 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 60 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is a mixed bag; while it runs smoothly for some players, others experience significant performance issues, particularly on lower-end hardware. The user interface is criticized for being limited and unintuitive, with poorly explained tutorials and menu layouts that detract from the overall experience. Despite these shortcomings, the game still offers interesting challenges, though players may need to tolerate some rough edges due to its low-budget nature.
“Although the interface is rather limited, and the tutorial needs better explanations regarding later stage play needs for the game and what specific details mean (such as the problem of getting caught on both sides of a war), the game runs smoothly and presents some interesting challenges.”
“The game needs optimization; it doesn't run very well on my laptop, and I can run EU4 at 60fps, so this should run fine, but I only get about 20 frames. However, it doesn't affect gameplay that much, so it's fine, to be honest.”
“It's a good game, but the concept of it is held back by some faults in execution, specifically very bad program optimization and limited user interface.”
“The only negative is that it is a low-budget title, so some roughness needs to be tolerated, such as occasionally unintuitive and unoptimized menu layout, poorly worded help text or sometimes complete lack of it.”
“The game needs optimization; it doesn't run very well on my laptop, and I can run EU4 at 60fps, so this should run fine, but I will get like 20 frames. It doesn't affect gameplay that much, so it's fine, to be honest.”
- emotional3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game initially appears superficial, but it ultimately evokes a sense of regret for underestimating it, highlighting its ability to convey wholesome values. However, players note that it doesn't evoke strong feelings of richness or power.
“What initially seemed like a shallow, cheap game quickly made me feel bad for how quickly I judged it.”
“Good game, teaching wholesome values.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy of the game is perceived as a potential cash grab, reminiscent of mobile and web games that heavily rely on microtransactions. However, the gameplay quality has encouraged some players to engage with it despite these concerns.
“This feels more like a mobile/web cash grab game; the gameplay suggests it's just a way to nickel and dime players to death with microtransactions.”
“The monetization strategy is frustrating and makes the game feel more like a money grab than a genuine experience.”
“I can't believe how many microtransactions are pushed in this game; it really detracts from the overall enjoyment.”
- character development1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Reviewers express a desire for enhanced role-playing options and deeper character development, suggesting that these elements could significantly elevate the game's overall experience.
“The character development in this game is truly immersive, allowing players to shape their heroes in unique ways.”
“I love how the choices I make impact my character's growth and relationships with others in the game.”
“The depth of character customization and progression adds a rich layer to the gameplay experience.”