Kainga
- December 6, 2022
- Erik Rempen
- 39h median play time
Get on Steam"Kainga: Seeds of Civilization is a single-player fantasy strategy game with good story and mechanics, amazing visuals, and a phenomenal soundtrack, but can be buggy. As a Thinker, you lead your tribe to build, adapt, and survive in short runs across diverse landscapes, discovering new technologies and completing challenges. The key to success lies in choosing technologies that fit your town's needs, the environment, and your playstyle."
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game features a unique blend of city-building and roguelite elements, providing a fresh and engaging experience.
- The art style is charming and visually appealing, enhancing the overall atmosphere of the game.
- The developer is responsive to community feedback and actively works on updates and improvements.
- The game is plagued by numerous bugs and technical issues that can disrupt gameplay and lead to frustrating experiences.
- AI pathfinding is often problematic, causing units to get stuck or behave unpredictably, which can hinder progress.
- The RNG elements can lead to unwinnable situations, making it difficult to complete objectives and enjoy the game fully.
- gameplay178 mentions
- 35 % positive mentions
- 61 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "Kainga: Seeds of Civilization" is characterized by a unique blend of city-building, roguelite, and RTS mechanics, offering a satisfying loop that encourages experimentation and replayability. However, players have reported significant issues with poorly explained mechanics, technical bugs, and imbalances that can hinder enjoyment, particularly in the early game. Despite these challenges, the game's creative concepts and engaging art style have garnered praise, suggesting a strong foundation that could improve with future updates.
“A good game to pass the time, the world is very unique and interesting, the art style is on point and the overall gameplay loop is satisfying.”
“The core mechanics of the game are fun, interesting, and unique.”
“It's simple and deep and really blends city building and roguelite mechanics well.”
“Kainga suffers from significant gameplay imbalances and technical flaws that impact its potential enjoyment.”
“The core gameplay loop is rickety as hell; you will often spawn on a map and literally not have the resources or buildings you need in order to progress.”
“But it still feels like death by a thousand paper cuts from the big and small mechanics that really make this frustrating to actually enjoy.”
- graphics134 mentions
- 54 % positive mentions
- 44 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The game's graphics are widely praised for their unique and charming art style, which combines 2D and 3D elements, creating an engaging visual experience reminiscent of classic titles like 'Populous: The Beginning.' While many players appreciate the aesthetic appeal and the vibrant landscapes, some have noted issues with graphical performance and occasional bugs that detract from the overall experience. Overall, the visuals are considered a strong point of the game, contributing significantly to its atmosphere and gameplay.
“The graphics and art style are just incredible and so original in their own way.”
“Gorgeous art style - from the really eye-catching landscapes to the simple yet distinct 2D thinkers and braves, to the leviathans and many other beasts that roam the lands to the beautiful buildings.”
“2D on 3D graphics with amazing lighting and effects is just such an enjoyable visual change from most games, and it's honestly stunningly done here.”
“Art style is distracting; it's about 1/3 low-res 3D models and 2/3 amateur digital art.”
“I can see the simplistic and tribal art style they're going for, but it just reminds me of free flash games from a few years back.”
“Considering how graphically simple it is, it doesn't run very well at higher settings.”
- story122 mentions
- 11 % positive mentions
- 86 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The game's story is framed around mission-based gameplay that involves city-building and resource management, but players frequently encounter bugs that hinder mission progression, such as broken triggers and AI malfunctions. While the narrative and quest design are appreciated for their uniqueness and potential for creativity, the overall experience is marred by technical issues that can lead to frustration and wasted time. Despite these flaws, many players find the game enjoyable and rewarding, often returning for its engaging mechanics and aesthetic appeal.
“Kainga is a very unique game that scratches that 'city' builder/RTS itch and keeps it interesting with randomized building/upgrade cards, as well as quests for permanent unlocks such as new thinkers (leaders) to play as.”
“The soft progression through both quests and the tech tree is especially well designed; it really opens up the game slowly while also increasing the difficulty.”
“The game feels very rewarding as well, not only when you've finished certain missions, but also when you get some decent and unique rewards/unlocks.”
“Game is absolutely ruined with bugs, game breaking bugs, and the games can't be saved, that means you've just spent ages getting to near end of a mission for it to be then unwinnable and having to start again.”
“I've done the rescue a thinker quest countless times, needing to restart after a bug.”
“Any of the missions involving the rescue of a caged thinker were absolute nightmares and not intuitive.”
- stability82 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game is currently plagued by significant stability issues, with numerous bugs and glitches that hinder gameplay, including problematic pathfinding and progression errors. While some players appreciate the game's potential and ongoing improvements, many find it frustratingly unplayable in its current state, particularly during the tutorial. Overall, the consensus is that while the game has interesting concepts, it requires substantial polishing to enhance stability.
“This game has some cool concepts for a settlement builder and potential replayability; however, in its current state, it's incredibly buggy to the point it's almost unplayable.”
“I tried again, but this game is still unplayable. I don't know how a developer can wake up every day and be happy with such a buggy mess and not do anything about it.”
“So unbelievably buggy, you won't even be able to finish the first, tiny, tutorial level.”
- music36 mentions
- 61 % positive mentions
- 31 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its charm and ability to enhance the overall atmosphere, with many reviewers highlighting the catchy and enjoyable soundtrack that fits well with the game's aesthetic. While some noted a desire for more variety in the music, the majority found it to be a standout feature that contributes significantly to the game's appeal. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a major strength, complementing the unique art style and engaging gameplay.
“The progression system is really nice and the soundtrack is a banger.”
“The music and sound effects are great, easy to leave the game on and chill.”
“Music - an enjoyable soundtrack that blends well with the sounds of the game, giving a sense of rhythm as well as that distinctive ancient theme the game sports!”
“The soundtrack could use more variety.”
“Just had a playthrough where my final festival wouldn't activate and music was stuck playing from an earlier festival.”
“The game is an interesting city building rogue-like with relatively basic combat and resource mechanics, it has charming music and quirky 2D sprites placed on 3D terrains but it's badly in need of optimization and UI overhauls.”
- replayability30 mentions
- 47 % positive mentions
- 43 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
"Kainga: Seeds of Civilization" offers significant replayability through its diverse biomes, semi-random inspiration drops, and absence of a linear campaign, allowing for varied gameplay experiences. However, many players note that substantial gameplay and technical issues hinder the overall experience, impacting the game's potential despite its creative concepts. Overall, while the game shows promise for replayability, its current state may deter some players.
“This game has so much replayability; the various biomes are all fun in their own regard.”
“There is also no linear campaign, so it's a lot more replayable, but there is a sense of progression by questing for new maps and getting more karma to purchase more cards in the technology shop.”
“This game has some cool concepts for a settlement builder and potential replayability, however in its current state it's incredibly buggy to the point it's almost unplayable.”
“After this rant, I doubt anyone would play the game, but I really believe it has huge potential and replayability (otherwise I wouldn't waste 40 hours on it).”
“Condensing a city-builder into an actual gameplay loop with replayability, rather than something to obsessively sandbox for 20-hour bursts and then drop for months at a time, is an impressive feat in and of itself.”
- optimization20 mentions
- 15 % positive mentions
- 45 % neutral mentions
- 40 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is widely criticized, with players reporting significant FPS drops, especially during prolonged play and specific map events, leading to frustrating performance issues. While some users appreciate the game's strategic and graphical elements, they emphasize the urgent need for optimization improvements, particularly regarding AI behavior and pathfinding. Overall, the performance is deemed rough, detracting from the experience despite the game's potential.
“Better optimization – improve game state with both long-duration runs and big villages.”
“If performance gets notably improved, I would love to see bigger versions of the maps with more tribes to ally or fight with, as it could pose some unique opportunities especially for trading/war if they have resources I don't.”
“Villager optimization: when building, they should check for any claimed resources at all flag zones, not just what's immediately around them.”
“Steep FPS drops due to a lack of optimization, especially after one hour on the same map and with certain buildings.”
“The game is an interesting city-building rogue-like with relatively basic combat and resource mechanics, it has charming music and quirky 2D sprites placed on 3D terrains but it's badly in need of optimization and UI overhauls.”
“Performance - when sea levels rise or map events happen it causes a huge lag spike which is not good and needs to be fixed even if it is a temporary spike.”
- atmosphere14 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 36 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its charming pixel art and unique tribal elements, which effectively complement the gameplay mechanics. While the atmospheric music enhances the experience, some players feel it lacks variety. Despite technical issues, many express a strong attachment to the overall atmosphere, indicating it significantly contributes to their enjoyment of the game.
“Love the art style and atmosphere which complement the gameplay mechanics really well.”
“Tribal atmosphere is amazingly well created.”
“I've tried so hard to power through the swarm of bugs that plague this game because of how much I love the whole concept and the atmosphere, but for now I'm done. Although I would love to come back to it once these issues have been fixed, I'm a little bit concerned as to whether or not that's ever going to happen.”
“The pixel art style enhances its charming atmosphere, though the soundtrack could use more variety.”
“Love the art style and atmosphere, which complement the gameplay mechanics really well.”
- grinding14 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be significant, especially for completionists aiming to 100% multiple thinkers across numerous maps. While some enjoy the grind as a means to unlock new biomes and ideas, frustrations arise from AI behavior, where units fail to execute tasks unless actively monitored. Overall, the grind can be rewarding but may feel tedious due to clunky mechanics and reliance on farming.
“The grindy nature of doing 30+ maps to 100% a single thinker, and there are 7+ of them.”
“It's usually okay when you have a ton of braves, but when they stand around the fire instead of reproducing or farming, I had to deal with the whole clunky unit selection issue.”
“A fun little game, but it can be grindy if you are a completionist.”
- humor12 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is described as not as prominent as one might expect, though it does possess a pleasant and unusual charm. While the game includes some amusing elements, it is often overshadowed by frustrating bugs and progression issues that detract from the overall experience. Despite these drawbacks, players find moments of humor in the game's quirks and unique aspects.
“It looks very funny, pleasant, unusual.”
“For now it has all the fundamental building blocks of a great city-builder with unique aspects and a sense of humor.”
“Such buildings about which you did not know, humor and a lot of interesting things!”
- monetization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy of the game has been criticized for being misleading, as it presents itself as a city builder while functioning more like a roguelike. This discrepancy has led to user frustration regarding the expectations set by promotional materials.
