Foundation
- February 1, 2019
- Polymorph Games
- 15h median play time
Get on Steam"Foundation" is a medieval city-building game that allows you to create organic, gridless cities. Focusing on resource management, monument construction, and organic development, you'll manage your population, extract resources, establish trade routes, and build monuments as you grow your settlement. Face narrative events and quests while constructing your prosperous city in this laid-back simulation experience.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The free-form city building allows for organic growth, making towns feel more natural and unique.
- The graphics and art style are charming, creating an immersive medieval atmosphere.
- The game offers a relaxing experience with minimal pressure, making it enjoyable for casual play.
- The game suffers from significant pathfinding issues, causing villagers to get stuck and leading to resource management problems.
- The economy feels unbalanced, with slow income generation and frustrating trade mechanics.
- The UI can be confusing and lacks clarity, making it difficult for new players to understand game mechanics.
- gameplay778 mentions
- 28 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The gameplay of this city-building game is characterized by its unique gridless mechanics, allowing for organic city development and a blend of familiar elements from other strategy games. While many players appreciate the relaxing and engaging nature of the gameplay, some express frustration with the clunky UI, shallow mechanics, and a steep learning curve due to insufficient tutorials. Overall, the game shows promise with its potential for depth and replayability, but it still requires refinement and additional content to fully realize its capabilities.
“Super cozy gameplay, lots to do.”
“Wonderful mechanics that offer countless hours of replay value if you’re into aesthetics and success as a ruler.”
“The gameplay strikes a nice balance between managing resources and making sure your villagers are happy, without feeling too stressful.”
“The gameplay as a whole is okay, what annoyed me the most is my CPU staying in 93-97 degrees Celsius.”
“Unfortunately, the game is basically a shallow sandbox with very basic mechanics and no challenge other than fighting the unintuitive UI, the poorly implemented pathing of the villagers, and the horrible performance late game.”
“The main gameplay is hamstrung by a multitude of progression-slowing mechanics.”
- graphics653 mentions
- 49 % positive mentions
- 49 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received widespread praise for their charming and aesthetically pleasing art style, which combines a whimsical medieval theme with vibrant landscapes. Many players appreciate the organic growth of cities and the attention to detail in animations, although some have noted performance issues and occasional graphical glitches. Overall, the visuals contribute significantly to the game's relaxing atmosphere, making it enjoyable for fans of city-building simulations.
“The graphics are beautiful, with a charming hand-drawn art style that makes the world feel alive and vibrant.”
“Foundation's graphics are charmingly rustic, with vibrant landscapes that make you want to dive into your monitor and frolic through pixelated meadows.”
“The art style is gorgeous and the way the town grows organically due to how citizens choose to place their housing plots in relation to the organically developed 'desire paths' is fabulous.”
“Graphics are low quality, building intersections with hills is terrible, lack of seasons, etc. feels like a mobile game.”
“I'm less than two hours in and I'm bored, the game graphics are from a cookie cutter engine that you find on your phone and the menu is from the year 2000 and clunky and some obnoxious.”
“The graphics you see in the ad for the game are not the graphics when you purchase and play.”
- story322 mentions
- 9 % positive mentions
- 83 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The game's story aspect is largely criticized for its lack of depth and engagement, with many players noting that it features minimal narrative elements and repetitive quests. While there are some missions that guide players through the mechanics, the overall experience feels more like a sandbox without a compelling storyline, leading to a sense of aimlessness. Players express a desire for more diverse and meaningful quests, as well as a richer narrative to enhance the gameplay experience.
“The little quests are great to give you more to do than just the sandbox.”
“Foundation features several intriguing and fun mechanics centered around promoting your citizens, gaining splendor by building decorations all around your city and doing quests in order to gain certain reputation scores, in order to unlock further technologies.”
“The progression through the quest feels timely and balanced so it keeps me engaged and always looking ahead but I'm not waiting forever for something.”
“There is no story, no levels, and eventually you find a meta strategy.”
“The game doesn't provide much in the way of objectives (there's a handful of quests early on), and there are little threats to your development.”
“In short, the game seems to have no direction or story, and neither do the devs. There are menus that still have code showing rather than a finished title.”
- music194 mentions
- 63 % positive mentions
- 36 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its calming and relaxing qualities, enhancing the overall gameplay experience. Many players appreciate the soothing soundtrack, which complements the charming visuals and creates an immersive atmosphere, making it easy to lose track of time while playing. However, some users note that the music can be repetitive, suggesting a desire for more variety in the tracks.
“The soundtrack, a gentle array of lutes and flutes, soothes the soul and makes the daily grind of managing a village feel like a pleasant afternoon in a renaissance fair.”
“The music is calming and I love how it adjusts throughout my world.”
“The music gently carries you along and provides a soft, whimsical backdrop for your experience.”
“Foundation is a downgraded 'The Settlers VII' with worse models, worse textures, worse music, and less fun.”
“The UI is a bit rough and the soundtrack, while good, is repetitive.”
“Like after a bit more than an hour in the game, the music started cutting in and out, so I had to disable it.”
- stability129 mentions
- 10 % positive mentions
- 2 % neutral mentions
- 88 % negative mentions
The game's stability has received mixed feedback, with many players reporting numerous bugs and glitches, particularly in late-game scenarios when the population increases. While some users have noted that the game runs well and is relatively bug-free in its early stages, others have experienced significant issues such as freezing, unresponsive AI, and crashes, especially when managing larger villages. Overall, the game is considered to be in a rough state typical of early access titles, with potential for improvement as development continues.
“I will say that it is bug free and works as advertised.”
“If you're looking for a relatively bug free medieval city builder in early access, look no further.”
“No bugs, no glitches, it just works.”
“The game is buggy and won't shut down... messed up the video for my computer and other games.”
“This game is hilariously buggy and unfinished after like two years on Steam.”
“It is just too unfinished and buggy to enjoy.”
- grinding84 mentions
- 1 % positive mentions
- 10 % neutral mentions
- 89 % negative mentions
The reviews indicate that "grinding" in the game is often perceived as tedious and repetitive, with many players feeling that resource management and building processes require excessive clicking and micromanagement. While some appreciate the depth of gameplay, the overall sentiment suggests that the game can become frustratingly slow, particularly in the early stages, leading to a sense of stagnation and a need for significant time investment to progress.
“Gameplay is enjoyable, no tedious over management required.”
“I have played for 42 hours and each and every game I have started has come to a grinding halt for this reason.”
“During the early game especially, you spend a lot of time waiting for things to be finished building, or waiting for gold to come in, or materials to be harvested, etc. Because of this, I can spend 4 hours on a city just to barely make it to the farming part of the prosperity tree.”
“It just gets really tedious, and I am immediately turned off, and the game suddenly makes me want to moan with annoyance.”
- optimization81 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 53 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The optimization of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players noting significant performance issues, particularly in the late game when managing larger populations or intricate designs. While some users report smooth performance on lower settings, others experience stuttering and frame rate drops, especially after several hours of gameplay. Overall, there is a consensus that the game requires further optimization to enhance performance and address various bugs, particularly for players with lower-end hardware.
“It is a perfect balance of optimization and beauty.”
“The game runs smoothly on max settings and the close all windows button is a nice feature to keep yourself from getting overwhelmed with all of the management windows.”
“Overall, it runs smoothly with a nice building curve.”
“Unfortunately, there's a video lag/stuttering problem that kicks in for lots of users a few hours into a game.”
“For what the game does, optimization is far from acceptable and after a few hours of gameplay and town growth you'll see your FPS going down no matter your PC specs.”
“The performance is tragically bad; I can pull 144 FPS in about everything (matching my monitor's refresh rate), but in this game I'm lucky to see 60 FPS, which seems hard to imagine.”
- replayability73 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The game's replayability is a mixed bag, with many players praising its potential for endless customization and varied gameplay through mechanics like map generation and village specializations. However, some users note that the current limited number of maps and gameplay elements can lead to redundancy after a few playthroughs. Overall, while there is significant replay value for those who enjoy the genre, many hope for future updates to enhance variety and longevity.
“Overall, I highly recommend this game as its replay value, graphics, gameplay mechanics, and unlocks are familiar and unique to where each playthrough will be different and entertaining.”
“This game is loads of fun with tons of replayability (with the mods).”
“Loving the replay value of wanting to start a fresh map with all the things I've learned from my previous games and make it bigger and better!”
“As it is, the replay value goes way, way down after you've played through each map once or maybe twice.”
“There's just no replayability.”
“I know it's early access, but it's very light on gameplay and replayability is just not really there yet.”
- atmosphere48 mentions
- 54 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its charming and relaxing qualities, enhanced by a delightful art style and immersive sound design, including ambient sounds and a soothing soundtrack. Players appreciate the harmonious and vibrant environment that encourages creativity and exploration, making it a pleasant escape from more stressful gaming experiences. While some reviewers note a lack of complexity and realism compared to similar titles, the overall ambiance is considered a significant strength that contributes to the game's appeal.
“The sound design is also well-done, with ambient sounds like birds chirping and the clanging of hammers adding to the game's immersive atmosphere.”
“The atmosphere and art style is charming and very relaxing and nice to look at.”
“The art and sounds work together to create a warm and peaceful atmosphere.”
“It's like the old Zeus games, minus the atmosphere, the warfare, the complexity, plus lots of bugs (e.g. buildings not working because people cannot enter them).”
“I love the concept, the period, and the atmosphere of the game - but it feels like a barebones Banished at the moment.”
“Overall, I feel the game's art style and atmosphere really allow for players to run a village of hundreds or even thousands of people without worrying too much about how you'll need to keep the village afloat with trading or resource management, but how you'd like to see it grow.”
- humor35 mentions
- 97 % positive mentions
- -6 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The humor in this city builder survival game is widely appreciated, with players noting its fun, cartoonish graphics and quirky animations that elicit laughter. Many reviews highlight the game's lighthearted approach, including amusing bugs and developer puns that enhance the overall experience. Overall, the humor contributes significantly to the game's charm, making it an enjoyable and relaxing play.
“It's made with so much love and humor, and they include their player base in the process.”
“The funny thing about this game for me is that it applies current day city district planning.”
“Another funny thing is that sometimes your fisherpeople won't have boats, so they will walk/glide upon the water like Jesus and show everyone how it's really done.”
“I'm not an 'easy' reviewer; just check my past reviews to see how I have no problem bashing games that are too costly for what they offer or, simply enough, are not funny at all!”
“The humor in this game falls flat and feels forced, making it more cringeworthy than entertaining.”
“I expected a lot more laughs, but the jokes are stale and the comedic timing is off.”
- emotional5 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find the game emotionally uplifting, describing it as a wholesome and charming experience that evokes nostalgia and joy. It has helped individuals cope with personal struggles, providing a sense of comfort and a return to simpler, happier times. Overall, the game's improvements over the years have enhanced its emotional resonance, making it a valuable escape for those facing challenges in life.
“I've been in an emotional slump in life lately, another bout of anhedonia caused likely from a blend of ADHD, stress, and cyclothymia.”
“This game made me feel like a kid trying desperately to upgrade just a few more homes into the patrician class before running out to catch my bus to school in the mornings.”
“In contrast to games like 'Banished', Foundation aims for a more 'wholesome' and charming approach to the core gameplay, which I personally much appreciate.”
- monetization4 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
Reviews highlight a growing concern over monetization practices in gaming, with some players feeling that many new releases prioritize profit over quality, likening them to fleeting, unfulfilling experiences. However, there are positive notes for games that offer regular updates and avoid cash grab tactics, suggesting that player engagement and satisfaction can still be achieved through thoughtful monetization strategies.
“The monetization model is fair and doesn't feel exploitative, allowing players to enjoy the game without feeling pressured to spend money.”
“I appreciate how the game offers plenty of free content while still providing optional purchases that enhance the experience without being necessary.”
“The balance between free and paid content is well done, making it easy to enjoy the game without feeling like you have to spend money to progress.”
“All of the things that got me into gaming are so hard to find these days, where any person who watched a 45-minute seminar on monetization, a 2-hour tutorial on Blender and Unity, and has access to a credit card for an asset store can release these so-called 'games' that are more like eating a candy bar: fun for exactly as long as it takes you to unwrap them and stuff them into your mouth, then unfulfilling, empty calories you'll forget by the next day.”
“Let's hope they listen to the players and it's not a cash grab game.”
“Great civilization builder that is getting regular updates, not your run-of-the-mill early access cash grab game.”
