Nebuchadnezzar

About

"Nebuchadnezzar is a single-player historical strategy game set in ancient Mesopotamia, offering a good story and fabulous game mechanics. Experience the culture and mysterious history through its campaign, which includes 12+ historical missions covering colonization to conquest. Enjoy the game's awesome visuals, stellar music, and immersive atmosphere, but be prepared for some grinding."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

+22

78%

Audience ScoreBased on 894 reviews

gameplay51 positive mentions

grinding14 negative mentions

Nostalgic feel reminiscent of classic city builders like Pharaoh and Caesar.
Engaging logistics and resource management mechanics that challenge players to optimize their cities.
Beautiful graphics and a charming soundtrack that enhance the overall experience.

Limited map sizes restrict creative city building and can lead to repetitive gameplay.
Heavy micromanagement required for resource distribution can become tedious and frustrating.
Lacks key features from older games, such as military mechanics, dynamic events, and more diverse gameplay objectives.

gameplay
211 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
69%
7%
The gameplay of the game is a blend of classic city-building mechanics with modern logistics-focused elements, offering a mix of complexity and simplicity that can be both engaging and tedious. While many players appreciate the nostalgic feel reminiscent of older titles like Pharaoh and Caesar, they also express frustration with micromanagement and the locking of certain mechanics during tutorials, which can hinder the overall experience. Despite some criticisms regarding repetitive gameplay and a lack of depth in certain areas, the game is praised for its beautiful graphics, solid mechanics, and the potential for future updates to enhance the gameplay further.
- “Although there's a bit of a learning curve with game mechanics and managing your economy and complex workforce, once you do, the game rocks!”
- “The game has its own mechanics that are distinctive such as the beautifully worded caravanserai or the planned market/bazaar walking routes (as opposed to the annoying random wandering of sellers in the impressions games that required the use of roadblocks).”
- “The city building mechanics are pretty much a more streamlined version of Zeus, walkers can be directed through routes meaning that roads aren't cluttered by roadblocks, production buildings can store a minimal amount of goods and directly send them to markets which slightly lowers the amount of storehouse spam in the game.”
- “The problem with the 4th tutorial is that some of the game mechanics are locked, which results in impossible funding management of the city and inevitable bankruptcy.”
- “Just finished the tutorial and one more mission, and I am really sick of micromanaging warehouses and the logistics chain. This whole mechanic should have been thrown away in the middle of development because it is really killing the game flow.”
- “The gameplay feels more like a spreadsheet game with a graphic interface than a city builder.”
story
166 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9%
87%
4%
The game's story unfolds through a series of campaign missions set in ancient Mesopotamia, where players gradually learn complex city-building mechanics. While the initial missions serve as tutorials and may feel repetitive, the later stages introduce new challenges and depth, making the gameplay progressively more engaging. However, many players find the lack of a traditional narrative and the similarity in mission objectives to be drawbacks, leading to a perception of limited replayability and depth in storytelling.
- “It follows the story of ancient Mesopotamia, where you must build larger cities and more impressive monuments to reach successively more difficult objectives across many missions.”
- “The game itself has a great story with lots of historical details which are definitely very interesting.”
- “I like the historical background that previews each mission, and the tutorial was both short and sufficient to get you rolling instead of needlessly holding your hand the whole way through.”
- “The overall storytelling and how it is integrated in the campaign is lacking.”
- “The campaign missions are fairly dry, focusing on reaching a certain population and building specific monuments without much variation.”
- “I bought this game a while back but barely played past the first mission; the game felt a bit empty and soulless.”
graphics
108 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
48%
49%
3%
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many praising the isometric pixel art style and aesthetic details that evoke nostalgia for classic city builders. While some players appreciate the clean visuals and charming artwork, others criticize the graphics as outdated or lacking in detail compared to modern standards. Overall, the visuals are generally considered pleasant and fitting for the game's theme, though there are calls for improvements in clarity and additional effects.
- “I love the isometric art style of this game; it's got a lovely amount of detail to it.”
- “The map, the animations, artworks, and UI all work together marvelously in pulling you into this wonderful world of old.”
- “Great modern take on classic city-builders in the vein of Caesar 3 and Emperor: ROTM, getting rid of the more annoying aspects of these games and sprucing them up for a more modern standard with pleasant yet stylized graphics and UI.”
- “I usually wait until games are out of early access before I write reviews, but I've had this game for a good while and nothing has changed; it's still a graphical mess.”
- “I recently tried Pharaoh, remembering how I enjoyed Caesar 3 when I was younger, but was immediately turned off by the dated graphics and poor UI (by modern standards).”
- “The map size is hilarious for a game in 2021 and using this level of graphics!”
music
96 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
39%
5%
The music in the game has received a generally positive reception, with many players praising its atmospheric quality and ability to enhance the overall experience. While some find it beautiful and fitting for the game's setting, others note that it can become repetitive over extended play sessions. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a strong point, contributing to a relaxing and immersive environment, despite a few criticisms regarding specific tracks.
- “The soundtrack is really cool and sets an atmospheric mood for the game.”
- “The music is beautifully composed and of flawless quality, and hits the tone of the game perfectly.”
- “The music is professional, atmospheric, and varied enough that it doesn't feel repetitive after several hours of play.”
- “The soundtrack is nothing to write home about, at least in comparison to Pharaoh's.”
- “Other than that I noticed that they scrapped some songs that were present in the beta and were actually really good, only to be replaced with some generic music.”
- “The music can annoy after just 10 listenings; I consider this game as a well-made product due to a great atmosphere, but the music is mediocre.”
atmosphere
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
61%
22%
17%
The atmosphere of the game is generally praised for its beautiful graphics and immersive soundtrack, which effectively sets a relaxed and engaging mood reminiscent of classic city-building games like Pharaoh and Caesar. While some players feel it lacks the unique charm of older titles, many appreciate the calming music and overall aesthetic, making it a solid choice for fans of the genre. However, a few critiques mention that the atmosphere can feel somewhat lacking or repetitive over time.
- “The soundtrack is really cool and sets an atmospheric mood for the game.”
- “Excellent art and music set the tone for a relaxed and fun atmosphere.”
- “The game looks beautiful and is very atmospheric.”
- “Third of all, the atmosphere is lame.”
- “There's no flavor of atmosphere that even 15-20-year-old games of this type had.”
- “I’ve bought Nebuchadnezzar because of its atmosphere, naivety, and its system requirements, along with its inviting low price: only 20 bucks.”
grinding
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and repetitive, particularly due to the complex logistics and micro-management required for production and distribution. While some enjoy the challenge of managing resources and adapting to different campaign constraints, many feel that the mechanics become monotonous over time, especially in larger cities where the need to build and manage numerous warehouses and routes can feel overwhelming. Overall, the game offers a mix of enjoyable challenges and frustrating grind, leading to a divided reception on this aspect.
- “The gameplay is not only tedious and unrewarding; a series of 'random events' will cause a build to spiral out of control and force a reload.”
- “The mechanics start getting a bit boring after a while. It does seem a bit similar to Caesar or Pharaoh, but for me personally, some aspects of micromanagement make it a bit tedious.”
- “In small cities and the first few campaign missions, this is fun; however, in larger cities, it quickly becomes tedious to build warehouse after warehouse and to draw every merchant's path separately.”
optimization
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
45%
27%
Overall, the game's optimization has received mixed reviews. While some players appreciate the logistical and resource management aspects, noting that it runs smoothly on certain hardware, others criticize the game's performance issues, such as long startup times and problematic video settings that require frequent restarts. A general consensus suggests that an optimization patch may be necessary to enhance the overall experience.
- “This lets you build a wider variety of housing block layouts, and offers more ways of controlling the flow of resources and optimization.”
- “It is almost solely focused on building optimized supply and delivery chains in a space-efficient manner.”
- “The game is much more logistics oriented and you need to make sure everything runs smoothly and effectively.”
- “The gameplay was flat; I have a few games like this, but this one is the worst in terms of optimization. The dev needs to look that up on Google because... nope, it is not. Then you have to keep restarting the game when you change the video settings and don't have two monitors because regardless of which screen you tell it, it's going to be on both. I had to unplug one monitor to get the game to run on one monitor.”
- “A good buy if you're a fan of that style; however, the game takes longer to start up on my PC than Red Dead Redemption 2, so perhaps an optimization patch is warranted.”
- “The optimization of the game is just terrible.”
replayability
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
40%
30%
Overall, the game's replayability is limited, with many players noting that once the campaign and scenarios are completed, there is little incentive to return. While some features, like the new military system and potential workshop mods, offer slight enhancements, they do not significantly elevate replay value compared to classic titles like Caesar III or Pharaoh. The absence of random map generation and a fully developed sandbox mode further restricts replayability options.
- “The new military system provides further challenges, and the campaign missions that feature the military can be optionally played in peaceful mode instead, which adds to campaign replayability.”
- “Game is fantastic and has its own innovations that add replayability and fun to this recipe.”
- “As I understand it, a sandbox mode is in progress, but will add more replayability to the game.”
- “Replayability is an issue though.”
- “Also, there is no replayability value, as you only get to play with the ~12 campaign missions, with no random map generation, so if you want more out of it, then maybe you can wait for some workshop content.”
- “Once you’ve completed the campaign and scenarios, there really isn’t much in the way of replay value.”
humor
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviews highlight a nostalgic appreciation for humor in older games, particularly through funny voice lines and interactions with characters, reminiscent of titles like Warcraft 3. However, some players feel that the current game lacks this charm, with minimal humorous elements and a sense of emptiness in the game world. While there are occasional humorous nods to past mechanics, the overall comedic presence is seen as insufficient.
- “Also, in older games when you click on citizens, they would say funny lines or complain, and the voice acting was great to really reflect how the citizens felt.”
- “It's the same way that everyone remembers that in Warcraft 3, if you click your units quite a few times, you also get funny lines, in some cases even a poem!”
- “The little nods to old mechanics that they fixed are great; the jab at warehouses in the beginning tutorial had me laughing so loud my husband came to see what the fuss was, ha.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Overall, users report a positive experience with stability, noting the absence of bugs, glitches, or crashes. The game effectively improves upon previous titles by addressing frustrating logistical issues, resulting in a more enjoyable gameplay experience.
- “I was not looking forward to having to laboriously manage my city, but instead what I found was that it took the more frustrating parts of Pharaoh, namely the buggy logistics and choppiness, and instead of just abstracting it away with an AI, it turned it into something very enjoyable which made it fun.”
- “I haven't encountered any bugs or glitches or crashes, which is great.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users appreciate the emotional impact of the tutorial, noting that its guided approach fosters a positive and uplifting experience.
- “The way the tutorial walked me through made me feel good.”
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization aspect of the game is not heavily emphasized, as one user highlights their own content creation efforts without ads or monetization, suggesting a focus on passion rather than profit. Overall, the game's monetization strategy appears to be minimal or unobtrusive.