Settlements Rising

About

"Settlements Rising is a city-building and colony management simulation game set in medieval times, where players oversee villagers with individual life cycles and 35+ professions. Each villager has unique needs and traits, and players manage production chains, resources, and trade. The game offers extensive depth, immersing you in a living colony experience."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

+12

87%

Audience ScoreBased on 123 reviews

gameplay5 positive mentions

grinding1 negative mentions

The game features a cozy atmosphere and a well-designed UI, making it easy to manage resources and villagers.
It offers a fun and engaging experience for fans of city-building and colony management games, with unique mechanics like individual villager skills and a trading system.
The developer is active and responsive to community feedback, frequently updating the game and adding new features.

The game lacks depth and content, feeling more like a simplified clone of other titles in the genre, particularly Farthest Frontier.
There is no tutorial or guidance for new players, which can make the initial experience confusing and challenging.
Gameplay can become repetitive quickly, with limited late-game objectives and a lack of significant challenges or innovations.

gameplay
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
64%
14%
The gameplay is characterized by a smooth integration of various mechanics, combining elements from strategy, city-building, and tower defense genres, which creates a fluid experience for players. While it offers a relaxing pace suitable for unwinding, some users feel that the resource management and building mechanics are overly simplified and could benefit from further refinement. Overall, the game shows potential with its engaging mechanics, but it requires more content and polish to reach its full capabilities.
- “I played a ton of Banished a long time ago, and this feels like it slots nicely in the genre with familiar elements and some new mechanics to explore.”
- “You can tell by just how fast the UI flows, how well the graphs are graphing, but most importantly by how the game combines the cornerstones of strategy games, mechanics like moving units (even citizens, similar to Dawn of Man), mechanics like fog of war, assigning jobs, leveling skills in those jobs, walls - and with that inspirations from more tower defense kinds of strategy.”
- “While the mechanics offer depth for experienced players, newcomers can quickly get the hang of it thanks to intuitive controls and a gentle learning curve.”
- “No tutorial or wiki; does not explain all game mechanics well.”
- “Resource management could use an upgrade, as it feels overly simplified, and the building mechanics, especially with the second level of the town center and houses, make the game feel more like a version 0.5 than a 1.0 release.”
- “Mechanics are a 1:1 clone of Farthest Frontier, but it's less polished.”
graphics
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
55%
14%
The graphics of the game are described as charming and cute, featuring a low-poly aesthetic that balances between cartoonish and realistic styles. While some players appreciate the visual appeal and texture variations, others note that the graphics are relatively simple and reminiscent of other titles, leading to mixed feelings about originality. Overall, the game is visually pleasing, though some users have experienced performance issues.
- “The graphics are quite nice, and I appreciate the use of AI, which adds a bit of charm to the game.”
- “Cute art style, you can see the villagers going about their business and routine, which is always a good point.”
- “Graphically, I find the game very pleasing; it's not too cartoony and the little people are somewhat realistic, which I like in my sims!”
- “There's nothing new to discover, no goal to reach, no tech tree to give you a sense of accomplishment, and no aesthetic customization.”
- “It clearly takes elements from Banished, Furthest Frontier, as well as several other games and slapped a slightly different graphical look on it.”
- “Tried a little bit but feel like Farthest Frontier with downgraded graphics... so I give up.”
story
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The story aspect of the game is centered around building and managing a dockyard for sending ships on missions, including trading and exploration, which can impact the city’s resources and economy. However, the absence of a backstory or tutorial leaves new players feeling lost and detracts from the overall experience, leading to a perception of dullness in the narrative. Players express a desire for more depth and context to enhance engagement with the story.
- “I particularly like how you can later on build a dockyard and send ships away on abstracted missions, including trading missions which sometimes save your city from a famine or allow the purchase of some needed resource, or even yield some extra gold.”
- “Besides building, you can defend from raids, go on exploration missions with ships, and trade with about 7-8 other settlements via the ship trading menu once you've discovered them.”
- “It all feels intuitive if you are used to these types of games; there’s no tutorial or backstory guiding you, so if you’re new to these games, you’ll be very lost.”
- “It all feels intuitive if you are used to these types of games; there’s no tutorial, no backstory guiding you, so if you’re new to these games, you’ll be very lost.”
- “The lack of a backstory makes it dull really fast.”
- “If there’s a backstory update or something really innovative come up, I’ll come back and change my review.”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
17%
33%
The music in the game is widely praised for its beauty and relaxing qualities, creating a meditative atmosphere that enhances the overall experience. While many players appreciate the pleasant soundtracks, some express a desire for a greater variety.
- “Some of the soundtracks are quite beautiful (although a few more would be good, please).”
- “The music is some of the most relaxing video game music I've heard.”
- “The music, the atmosphere, everything has a meditative effect.”
- “The music is some of the most relaxed video game music I've heard.”
- “The music, the atmosphere, everything is like a meditation effect.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Overall, the game is praised for its impressive visuals and smooth performance, though some users report minor bugs and glitches. Many believe these issues are manageable and appreciate the developers' active engagement in addressing them.
- “First off, the game looks great, runs great, feels great, and has a very good UI.”
- “Looks great, runs great.”
- “Absolutely love the game, but it's still kind of buggy with graphics, and I think that's more on my system than the game itself.”
- “Sure, there are a few little bugs and glitches still being ironed out, but that's to be expected.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
100%
While the game offers some setting differences that enhance its replay value, many users feel that the overall content is lacking, which limits its long-term replayability.
- “The variety of settings offers a unique replay value that distinguishes this game from others.”
- “Each playthrough feels fresh due to the diverse settings and choices available.”
- “The game encourages multiple runs with its engaging mechanics and different outcomes.”
- “The only downside is the lack of content and replayability.”
- “There are enough setting differences to set this game apart from others in terms of replay value, but nothing groundbreaking has been found yet.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
50%
The atmosphere of the game is described as cozy and meditative, enhanced by soothing music that contributes to a calming experience for players.
- “Cozy atmosphere”
- “The music, the atmosphere, everything has a meditative effect.”
- “The music, the atmosphere, everything is like a meditation effect.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players express a clear preference against grinding mechanics, favoring a more relaxed gameplay experience focused on town-building rather than repetitive tasks.
- “I'm not interested in grinding gameplay; I just want to unwind and build a town.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The game is reported to be well optimized, indicating smooth performance and efficient resource management.
- “The game is well optimized.”
- “The performance is smooth, and I can run it on lower-end hardware without any issues.”
- “I appreciate how the developers have fine-tuned the settings for better performance.”