Great Houses of Calderia
- May 2, 2024
- Resistance Games
- 15h median play time
Get on Steam"Great Houses of Calderia" is a feudal grand strategy game set in a renaissance-inspired mythical province. As a noble family, your goal is to rule Calderia and overcome the power-hungry Viceroy. You must manage your house leaders and their family members, each with their own stories and desires, by assigning them to key tasks and considering their traits and personalities. Make critical decisions during battles and diplomatic events to rise in the ranks.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Great Houses of Calderia offers a unique blend of family-driven grand strategy and political intrigue, allowing players to manage noble families and engage in complex diplomacy.
- The game features detailed Renaissance-inspired visuals and a rich narrative that enhances the immersive experience.
- High replayability is supported through intricate systems and modding capabilities, providing players with varied gameplay experiences.
- The user interface is clunky and unintuitive, making it difficult for players to navigate and understand game mechanics, especially for newcomers.
- The game suffers from stability issues, including frequent crashes and performance drops, which can hinder the overall experience.
- Many gameplay mechanics feel underdeveloped or repetitive, leading to a lack of depth and engagement as players progress through the game.
- gameplay156 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 77 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The gameplay in "Great Houses of Calderia" offers a blend of strategic planning and tactical combat within a visually appealing renaissance-inspired setting, providing players with significant agency in shaping their house's destiny. However, many players have noted issues with the game's mechanics, including a lack of clarity in tutorials, repetitive trade proposals, and unbalanced systems that detract from the overall experience. While the game has high replayability and potential for depth, it currently feels unfinished and frustrating due to its opaque mechanics and user interface challenges.
“The game combines rich narrative elements with strategic gameplay, offering a deep and immersive experience in a visually captivating renaissance-inspired setting.”
“The gameplay flows through strategic planning and tactical combat, with significant player agency in shaping the house's destiny.”
“This game perfectly blends strategy and adventure, featuring stunning graphics and captivating gameplay.”
“My gameplay was constantly interrupted by people proposing the same trade deals to me over and over again, and since I cannot promise to trade away my entire food production more than once, I had to reject them, tanking my relations with all of my neighbors.”
“Complete and utter lackluster tutorial which fails to explain any meaningful game mechanics aside from how to assign farmers and send a family member away from your fief.”
“I found the game boring, did not like the UI, the pauses, and the gameplay as a whole.”
- story68 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 65 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The game's story is characterized by intricate personal and political dramas, where player choices significantly influence the narrative. With rich lore and dynamic storytelling, it offers a blend of strategic depth and immersive gameplay, although some players note that the endgame can feel disjointed and the mission objectives may lack clarity. Overall, it is praised for its engaging storytelling and character interactions, making it a compelling experience for grand strategy fans.
“The story unfolds through personal and political dramas, with each family member's choices impacting the overall plot.”
“The game's rich lore and intricate storytelling are complemented by a dynamic narrative that reacts to player decisions.”
“Great Houses of Calderia is an immersive and captivating game with stunning visuals and engaging storytelling.”
“A major bug is found in the endgame; the 'storyline' is meant to end with a large war involving everyone on the map, but it offers an option to keep playing in a sandbox mode afterwards.”
“Without being spoiler-ish, there are a few map-wide events (a 'story' would be too strong a word) which eventually lead to a large war in which the player must participate.”
“This game lacks a story but is still a damn time killer; I've been playing nonstop for 2 days.”
- graphics30 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are characterized by detailed and stylized visuals inspired by Renaissance art, featuring rich color palettes and intricate designs that enhance the historical atmosphere. However, some players have noted that the graphics fall short compared to similar titles, with issues related to the user interface and a lack of graphic options. Overall, while the art style is appreciated for its uniqueness, there are concerns about the execution and polish of the visuals, especially in early access.
“Detailed and stylized visuals inspired by Renaissance art, with rich color palettes and intricate designs that enhance the historical atmosphere.”
“Enjoy detailed and period-authentic visuals that evoke the opulence and intrigue of the Renaissance era.”
“This game perfectly blends strategy and adventure, featuring stunning graphics and captivating gameplay.”
“I lowered my graphics and tried to lessen the load for my computer and the game, but it didn't help.”
“Graphics are on a level below that of Crusader Kings 2; now, that is a matter of the sprites they use not lining up quite right visually.”
“Graphics are poor and the UI is not great.”
- optimization28 mentions
- 21 % positive mentions
- 36 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with many players experiencing performance issues such as stuttering and crashes, particularly after extended play sessions or when using higher time speeds. While some users report that it runs smoothly on high-end systems, others warn that it may not perform well on lower-end hardware and suggest waiting for further updates to improve stability and performance. Overall, there is a consensus that the game requires significant optimization work, especially for widescreen monitors and general display performance.
“The game runs smoothly with occasional technical issues; regular updates from the developers aim to address stability and performance concerns.”
“There are a few things overall to be tidied up in optimization (mostly thinking occasional game crashes and typos), but not much that I can say I'd want the game to change.”
“They do seem more computationally demanding on my PC for their quality, so there's lots of room for improvement in optimizing display performance.”
“It just seems like it isn't optimized yet for players.”
“As it stands right now the game is fun enough to play even without a lot of the more in-depth mechanics not implemented, that being said after playing for a little while the game takes a massive hit to performance and is almost unplayable when you choose the higher time speeds.”
“My game kept stuttering and dropping frames to the point it was giving me a headache.”
- replayability20 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 65 % neutral mentions
- 15 % negative mentions
The game's replayability is highly praised due to its intricate systems and robust modding support, allowing players to create and share custom content, resulting in varied experiences with each playthrough. However, some users criticize certain aspects of the game for lacking depth, leading to low replay value for those seeking more complexity. Overall, the potential for endless replayability exists, but it may not appeal to all players.
“The game's intricate systems and modding support offer significant replayability and variety in each playthrough.”
“With high replayability and a dynamic gameplay environment, it offers a fresh experience with each playthrough.”
“Modding support allows players to create and share custom stories and characters, enhancing the game's replayability and creativity.”
“Low replayability.”
“There is no depth to the game (build up population, have way more resources than you need, trade if you feel like but you really don't have to, and dominate without any real threats ever appearing), and there also seems to be no replayability.”
“If you're a Civ or CK fan, this is a bit simple with low replay value and some awkward design.”
- grinding14 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious, often citing long wait times for new citizens and the repetitive nature of managing resources and jobs. Many reviewers feel that the gameplay lacks depth, leading to a shallow experience that becomes boring over time, especially for those new to grand strategy games. Additionally, the presence of artificial roadblocks contributes to a frustrating and grindy experience.
“Having to wait hours in real life for a new citizen to pop is incredibly tedious.”
“The game introduces several artificial roadblocks that just get annoying and grindy.”
“Once again, if you are completely new to the grand strategy type of games, this may be a nice little beginner entry point, but know that it is shallow to the point of being extremely boring, and it's generally tedious after you realize how simple literally all of the gameplay ends up being.”
- stability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game currently suffers from significant stability issues, with numerous bugs reported by users, leading to a frustrating user experience.
“Unfortunately, as of now, the game is quite buggy and the UX is rather appalling.”
“Buggy.”
“Unfortunately, as of now, the game is quite buggy and the UX is rather appalling.”
- music4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received praise for its quality, with some users expressing a desire for the soundtrack to be published. However, the overall audio experience is criticized for being eerily quiet, lacking voice acting, and having minimal ambient sound, contributing to a sense of unpolished gameplay.
“Please publish your soundtrack; it is very good.”
“It's basically what you would find waiting for you if your mom said, 'we have Crusader Kings at home.' Anyway, slow gameplay, awkward UI, unpolished art, and eerily quiet with no voice acting and little ambient sound and music.”
- humor4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find the humor in the game's economy amusing, though they note that its lack of balance and convenience detracts from the overall experience. While realistic mechanics can enhance gameplay, they argue that these should not compromise the comedic elements that make the game enjoyable.
“The economy is very funny to grow, even if it doesn't make much sense in terms of balance and convenience.”
“It's great to have realistic mechanics in the game, but not until those mechanics make the game less funny.”
- atmosphere2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is characterized by detailed and stylized visuals inspired by Renaissance art, featuring rich color palettes and intricate designs that effectively enhance its historical ambiance.
“Detailed and stylized visuals inspired by Renaissance art, with rich color palettes and intricate designs that enhance the historical atmosphere.”
- character development2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Character development is highlighted as a key strength, with evolving family dynamics adding depth and ensuring that each playthrough feels unique and engaging.
“Character development and the evolving family dynamics provide depth, making each playthrough unique.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players express a complex emotional response to the narrative of marrying an unappealing and cruel character for strategic reasons, highlighting feelings of conflict and discomfort. This scenario evokes a range of emotions, from frustration to empathy, as players navigate the moral implications of their choices.
“Making plans to marry an ugly and cruel princess just to have an ally made me feel a lot of different ways.”
