Guild Commander
- January 23, 2015
- GTGD
- 7h median play time
Get on Steam"Guild Commander" is a resource management game where you build rooms, charge up guild members, and deploy them to provinces to improve security and lift calamities. Establish trade guilds to earn gold, make equipment to strengthen your members, and prepare for the Necro Lord's onslaught. The game is polished, bug-tested, and offers various features such as customizable key bindings, video tutorials, and steam achievements. It is designed to be finished in a few hours, providing a brief and humorous experience.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game has a unique concept and offers a straightforward guild management experience that can be enjoyable for short sessions.
- Graphics and music are well-received, contributing to a pleasant atmosphere while playing.
- Despite its simplicity, the game can provide a decent diversion and is suitable for casual gaming.
- The game suffers from a lack of depth and replayability, leading to a repetitive gameplay experience that can become tedious.
- The user interface is clunky and unintuitive, making it difficult for players to manage their guild effectively.
- Many players find the tutorial insufficient, leading to confusion about game mechanics and a steep learning curve.
- gameplay42 mentions
- 14 % positive mentions
- 71 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a steep learning curve and repetitive mechanics, leading to a formulaic experience that lacks depth once the initial challenges are overcome. Players often find themselves engaged in a cycle of hiring heroes and sending them to provinces without much strategic thought, resulting in a sense of boredom. While the game offers some unique ideas and is visually appealing for its price, it could benefit from additional mechanics and clearer explanations to enhance player engagement.
“It offers some new ideas of gameplay; for example, you have to run an adventure guild that needs to both prosper as well as protect several key provinces.”
“Mostly covers running a profitable guild with slider-focused gameplay like Democracy 3, but also throws in random elements, requires constant vigilance over regions, and has sufficient RPG side content to try different play styles; all for a small price.”
“For the price of this game, the graphics are nice and the gameplay is fun.”
“The learning curve is insane, and the small video of the developer stumbling through the mechanics doesn’t help at all.”
“Concerning the gameplay experience: at first it's just stress and you are just clicking as fast as you can to send your members to the next province without any thinking (which is boring...).”
“In the few hours that I gave it, I fought the UI more than the mechanics. I exhausted the incoming roster of adventurers, and by the time I got bored, I had more money than I knew what to do with.”
- story28 mentions
- 14 % positive mentions
- 71 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The game's story is generally perceived as lacking depth and engagement, with many players noting a significant absence of meaningful narrative or character development. While some appreciate the lighthearted theme and straightforward premise, the overall execution leaves much to be desired, resulting in an unsatisfying experience that feels repetitive and devoid of skill. Players express a desire for more storyline quests to enhance the gameplay and provide a richer context for their actions.
“I really enjoy a lot of the story and theme to the game.”
“It's advertised as 'short and sweet' and with 'no dark depressing story', and frankly, it delivers that 100%.”
“As heroes are sent on gold gathering missions, kingdom health bars increase, with their status going into the green of prosperous and away from the red of chaotic or anarchy.”
“It's not enjoyable to trial and error your way through assigning bad quests without any kind of feedback on whether you are doing it right or not or what kind of progress or effect you are having in the province.”
“While I didn't expect much of a story (and didn't get one), the end was very unsatisfying, especially after the long and forced wait until it actually triggered.”
“Storyline quests and the like would have improved the game a lot; as it is now, it is sadly worse than it is a wipe, which is also a 'guild management' game and I hated that game.”
- graphics28 mentions
- 64 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The graphics in Guild Commander are generally praised for their beauty and decent quality, particularly in isometric views and specific areas like the kitchen and mess hall. However, some users criticize the lack of animations and a confusing user interface, suggesting that while the visuals are appealing, they do not compensate for the game's other shortcomings. Overall, the graphics are considered a strong point, but not enough to elevate the overall experience for many players.
“Pros: + beautiful graphics”
“The graphics are exceedingly pleasant to the eye, especially that of the 'kitchen' and 'mess hall' which look outstanding when positioned next to each other.”
“For the price of this game, the graphics are nice and the gameplay is fun.”
“The graphics are glorified combo boxes to be selected once per game and then forgotten.”
“To continue on with graphics, your entire gameplay area is your guild hall.”
“+ decent graphics for such a small game - no great animations, but the texture quality is really okay.”
- music10 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received high praise, with many users highlighting its quality and appeal, particularly the well-crafted medieval folk soundtrack. This engaging music enhances the overall experience and is memorable enough that some players intend to use it as background music for their own Dungeons & Dragons sessions. Overall, the combination of nice graphics and music contributes positively to the game's atmosphere.
“Actually really nice music - normally, I'll turn off music within minutes.”
“The icing on the cake has to be the game's soundtrack, which comprises some well-crafted middle ages folk music that I will have to acquire as background music for later D&D sessions with my mates.”
“The game's soundtrack is a well-crafted collection of middle ages folk music, adding a delightful layer to the overall experience.”
- replayability8 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
Overall, the game exhibits mixed feelings regarding replayability. While some players appreciate the challenge and limited micromanagement aspects that encourage multiple playthroughs, many feel that the short length and minimal content significantly hinder its replay value. The soundtrack, however, is a highlight that adds to the experience, making it memorable for some players.
“There is a small amount of micromanagement in terms of economics and producing items, and the rooms you can build vary between about 8 different types. I assure you there is a lot of replayability, but the icing on the cake has to be the game's soundtrack, which comprises some well-crafted medieval folk music that I will have to acquire as background music for later D&D sessions with my friends.”
“However, its limited replayability may leave you wanting more.”
“Sadly, the game lacks replay value and is very short.”
“Not a lot of content, but the difficulty makes it replayable.”
- grinding8 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, particularly in the later stages. Despite this repetitiveness, many express a willingness to return to the game, indicating a certain level of enjoyment that outweighs the grind.
“The game becomes tedious in the late game.”
“It can get tedious after a while, but it's one of those games I can see myself going back to time and time again.”
“The grinding is tedious in the latter half of the game.”
- stability4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
Overall, the game is noted for its stability, being free of bugs and poor design. However, while it provides a solid foundation, many reviewers feel it lacks depth and compelling gameplay options.
“The game has limited gameplay options, but it is not buggy, good looking, and adequately priced.”
“A good basis for a game, and it's not buggy or poorly designed.”
“A good basis for a game, and it's not buggy or poorly designed; I just feel like it wasn't taken far enough to be compelling.”
- humor4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players appreciate the game's light-hearted humor, noting that it effectively brings smiles and chuckles during gameplay. Overall, the humor is well-received, with only minor technical issues mentioned, such as a stuttering tutorial video.
“The game features light-hearted humor that brings smiles and chuckles while playing.”
“The game seems quite funny, and I haven't encountered any major problems, aside from the tutorial video stuttering for some reason.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization appears to be solid, with no major issues reported by users. However, there is a noted problem with the tutorial video stuttering, which may affect the initial experience for some players.
“The tutorial video was stuttering for some reason, which affected the overall experience.”
“The game has potential, but the optimization issues, like the stuttering tutorial, really detract from the enjoyment.”
“While the game is entertaining, the performance problems, especially during the tutorial, are quite noticeable.”
- monetization2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is criticized for feeling like a subpar tablet port, but it is noted positively for lacking microtransactions, which is seen as a redeeming quality.
“This game seems like a really poor port of a game one would play on a tablet, with its only saving grace that there are no microtransactions.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game has received negative feedback, with players expressing feelings of boredom that detracted from their overall experience. This lack of engagement suggests that the game fails to evoke meaningful emotional responses.
