Jon Shafer's At the Gates
- January 23, 2019
- Conifer Games
- 59h median play time
A hallmark of excellence. There may be flaws, but they are negligible and won't cause massive damage.
Get on Steam"At the Gates" is a 4X grand strategy game designed by Jon Shafer, the creator of Civilization 5. As a Dark Age lord, your goal is to construct a kingdom in the ruins of the Roman Empire. Manage resources, build an economy, and navigate the unique traits of your clans to overcome strong neighbors and harsh winters. In this challenging and evolving world, can you lead your people to prosperity and historical significance?
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Reviews
- Unique take on the 4X genre with interesting clan mechanics and resource management.
- Beautiful watercolor art style that enhances the game's atmosphere.
- Engaging early game that challenges players to manage resources and survive.
- Game feels unfinished with many bugs, crashes, and incomplete features.
- AI is passive and does not provide a meaningful challenge, making the game feel lifeless.
- Diplomacy and combat mechanics are poorly implemented, leading to a lack of strategic depth.
- gameplay170 mentions
- 32 % positive mentions
- 66 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "At the Gates" is characterized by a mix of innovative mechanics and significant issues, including numerous bugs and unfinished elements that detract from the overall experience. While some players appreciate the unique clan system and resource management aspects, many express frustration over the lack of depth, slow pacing, and a feeling that the game is still in early access despite its official release. Overall, the game shows potential but requires substantial refinement to fully realize its creative ideas and provide an engaging experience.
“The gameplay is fresh and uniquely challenging.”
“There are several mechanics at play here which work really well together and I have either never or very rarely seen in other 4x games.”
“This game has a ton going for it, with all of the core mechanics being fun and encouraging good strategy.”
“Half of the mechanics are simply not implemented; the game has a huge amount of bugs and unfinished elements.”
“But despite being out for over a year and a half, it still feels like it's in early access with incomplete information, missing tooltips, no serious diplomatic or religious choices, abusable mechanics for pillaging/conquering neighbors, but the absolute killer are the game crashes.”
“The gameplay is really slow and boring.”
- graphics84 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 58 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many players appreciating the unique art style and watercolor aesthetic, which they find visually appealing and atmospheric. However, several users criticize the overall graphic fidelity as low, describing it as feeling unfinished or reminiscent of older games, with occasional bugs and performance issues. While some enjoy the artistic design, others feel that the graphics lack depth and polish, leading to a sense of disappointment in the game's visual presentation.
“The art style is excellent, and you only run into the occasional bug or missing todo string in the messages.”
“Great idea and atmosphere, excellent art style.”
“And it is very pretty too - give me those nice stylized 2D visuals over generic-looking 3D models any day!”
“The watercolor graphics are decent, but all in all they're simply uninspired.”
“With these graphics and gameplay it should run fast and without issue, it looks like it's from the late 90s and it runs like my computer is from the 80s.”
“Even though it says 1.0 in the start menu, it looks and feels like I'm playing some in-dev pre-alpha build they show to potential investors, even the aesthetics are the same - placeholders for whole game mechanics and interface elements, no balance whatsoever, game options are in the xml file, random crashes every now and then... even for an early access title this would look half-assed, but as 1.0 it's a straight-up insult.”
- stability36 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game is widely criticized for its instability, with numerous reports of bugs, crashes, and incomplete features that hinder the overall experience. Players note issues such as disappearing menu options, unresponsive UI, and game-breaking bugs during key gameplay moments. Despite its potential and engaging mechanics, the game's current state is described as a frustrating and unpolished experience.
“The bad: everything else... unfinished, buggy (disappearing options in menus, unexplained concepts like units being stuck due to weather with no prompt to tell you...), a constant crash to desktop when trying to load a game for the first time, placeholder text everywhere.”
“It's a shame that the excellent base mechanics of this game are implemented in such a buggy package at an insane price.”
“Civ5 is a great game, and while this one has some good ideas around detailed and strategic economy in a way that civ games never do, it's such a buggy mess and has such a poor UI that any novelty and engagement is horribly undercut.”
- music36 mentions
- 11 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 22 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many players noting a lack of a substantial soundtrack, primarily featuring only the title music and occasional jingles. While some appreciate the atmospheric background sounds and the beauty of the title theme by Geoff Knorr, others criticize the overall absence of music during gameplay and report bugs that prevent music from playing. Overall, the music aspect seems underwhelming and inconsistent, leaving players wanting more.
“The title music is beautiful, by Geoff Knorr, the guy behind Civ 5 and 6's music, and there are some little music moments in the game to accompany an event - but it's really short.”
“The music: you'll hear it only rarely, Shafer and his team chose to have consistent background sounds according to the season - from my less than an hour of gameplay I really enjoyed it, while it wasn't audible in the gameplay videos I watched on YouTube before.”
“+ Pretty and atmospheric (the music and sounds are great and I also really like the graphics style).”
“Music-wise, there only appears to be the title music and some jingles, all of it being pretty meh.”
“There's just no substance, most of the systems are obscure and once you figure them out you quickly realize there's nothing to them...plus there's no music and the graphics are mediocre.”
“Also, there's no music and the ambient sounds suck.”
- grinding24 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious and boring, particularly due to long wait times between turns and the repetitive nature of resource management. While the early game presents challenges, the later stages devolve into monotonous farming, leading to frustration even among fans of lengthy strategy games. Overall, the grind detracts from the enjoyment, making it feel more like a chore than a rewarding experience.
“There's just a lot of ways to lose, which would be fine if it weren't so damn tedious to even get a basic economy going.”
“Even though I love 4X games, the whole '25% of the game year is wasted time' (while historically accurate) tries my patience and seems tedious.”
“If I want tedious hours in front of a computer screen, I can just go to work and get paid for doing that.”
- optimization14 mentions
- 14 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 71 % negative mentions
The game is criticized for its poor optimization, with users reporting bugs, unbalanced mechanics, and performance issues such as stuttering audio and lag during turn transitions. While it offers a complex resource management experience, many feel that the lack of optimization detracts significantly from the overall enjoyment and may not be resolved in future updates.
“Allocating your clans to different professions is a much more in-depth optimization puzzle than your regular 4X games.”
“You'll have to choose what to optimize and what to abandon.”
“A really fun economic/resource management game, but unfinished, unbalanced, and poorly optimized.”
“Has some very cool ideas, but, unfortunately, suffers from bugs, poor balance, and poor optimization.”
“I don't think this lack of optimization is ever going to be fixed.”
- story10 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
The game's story revolves around the intricate world-building of unique clans, each with their own personalities and desires, creating a rich narrative experience. However, many aspects of the story, such as religion, diplomacy, and clan politics, remain unfinished, suggesting that while the foundation is promising, it lacks depth in certain areas. Jon Shafer's personal journey in developing the game adds an inspiring layer to the overall narrative.
“Jon Shafer has been working on this game for over 5 years, and his personal story is very inspiring!”
“This is more 'Thea: The Awakening' than 'Civilization V'; and there are lots of parts that are unfinished - religion, diplomacy, internal clan relations, clan politics and hierarchies, missions/directions, warfare tactics, AI.”
“This is more Thea: The Awakening than Civilization V; and there are lots of parts that are unfinished - religion, diplomacy, internal clan relations, clan politics and hierarchies, missions/directions, warfare tactics, AI.”
“They're just not the whole story.”
“Because it's not just about a mad dash to 'winning.' You are crafting a world and a story with bizarre little clans that have personalities and desires (literally).”
- replayability10 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 30 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
Opinions on replayability are mixed; while some players find significant replay value due to diverse tribes, resource generation, and a robust map generator, others feel that the differences between tribes are minimal, leading to a lack of replay incentive. Overall, many users report investing substantial hours into the game, indicating a generally positive view on its replayability.
“There is a good deal of replayability due to the variation in the tribe you select, the resources generated around you, and the traits of the clans you receive.”
“I have already put more than 100 hours, that goes to show you how replayable this game is.”
“The game as a whole is harmonious and self-sufficient and offers quite a lot of replayability thanks to the great map generator and different starting positions you have to deal with when you start.”
“No replay value; all the different tribes are not that different at all. In my opinion, it's just a minor change.”
“No replay value; all the different tribes are not that different at all. In my opinion, it's just a minor change.”
“I have already put more than 100 hours into this game, which goes to show you how replayable it is.”
- atmosphere8 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its beautiful graphics, immersive music, and sound design, creating a pleasing experience for players. Many reviewers appreciate the art style and the overall ambiance, which enhances the enjoyment of gameplay, particularly for fans of 4X games. However, some note that the slower pace may not appeal to everyone.
“Great idea and atmosphere, excellent art style.”
“All in all, a pleasing game and atmosphere, and a pleasing experience for the 4x games diggers who want to implement new things.”
“I personally like it; I'm used to playing my Civ games on epic (half longer than normal), so taking my time in this cool atmosphere pleases me.”
- humor6 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find humor in the quirky dynamics of clan personalities and the absurdity of AI diplomacy, which often leaves players as mere observers. Additionally, the inclusion of "tooltips-in-tooltips" as a feature on the store page adds a layer of comedic charm to the game. Overall, the humor enhances the enjoyment of managing resources and navigating the game's challenges.
“That being said, there is great fun to be had figuring out how to manage your village/kingdom resources, how to just survive, and the sometimes humorous combinations of clan personality disorders.”
“- Diplomacy doesn't work (funny enough, AI does some diplomacy between each other and you only get notifications).”
“[b]Tooltips-in-tooltips[/b]: I thought it was funny to list that as a feature on the store page.”
