Settlements Rising

About

Settlements Rising is a single player strategy game. It was developed by The Catalyst Crew and was released on January 20, 2025. It received positive reviews from players.

"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

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82%

Audience ScoreBased on 176 reviews

gameplay5 positive mentions

replayability3 negative mentions

Settlements Rising offers a cozy and relaxing city-building experience with intuitive controls and a well-designed UI, making it accessible for both newcomers and experienced players.
The game features a charming art style and engaging mechanics, including exploration and a unique card system that enhances replayability.
The developer is actively working on updates and improvements, showing dedication to refining the game and addressing community feedback.

The game lacks depth and complexity compared to other titles in the genre, making it feel simplistic and repetitive after a few playthroughs.
There are significant issues with AI behavior, causing villagers to become idle and not prioritize tasks effectively, which can hinder progress.
Many players have reported bugs and crashes, along with a lack of essential features like a tutorial, making it challenging for new players to understand the mechanics.

gameplay
29 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
73%
10%
The gameplay is characterized by simple city-building mechanics and straightforward controls, offering around 14-16 hours of playtime, though it suffers from bugs and underdeveloped features. While it provides a relaxing experience for players seeking low-stakes gameplay, the lack of progression and depth may lead to diminished interest over time. The mechanics are intuitive and blend various strategic elements, but the game is still in early access and requires further refinement and content expansion to reach its full potential.
- “Get this on sale and enjoy for one playthrough, giving you roughly 14-16 hours of gameplay.”
- “It trades the medieval realism of Banished for a slightly stylized visual presentation, but the core gameplay loop remains similar: manage a small group of settlers, expand your village, balance resources, and survive the elements.”
- “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.”
- “Regrettably, the gameplay offers little progression or substantive engagement; I found myself losing interest well before reaching the three-hour mark, unlike all the other games I played with 100+ hours and still going strong.”
- “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.”
- “The developers are heading in the right direction, but they need to expand on the content and refine the mechanics significantly.”
graphics
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
61%
12%
The graphics of the game are generally described as charming and colorful, with a cute, low-poly aesthetic that appeals to many players. However, some reviewers note that the visuals can feel simplistic or reminiscent of other titles, leading to mixed feelings about their originality and depth. While the graphics are often praised for their pleasing design and smooth performance, there are also mentions of bugs and a lack of detailed animations that could enhance the overall experience.
- “I totally love the colorful aesthetics and just an outright pleasing game to play.”
- “The graphics are quite nice, and I appreciate the use of AI, which adds a bit of charm to the game.”
- “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!”
- “However, the visual aesthetic leans heavily towards an indie or candy-like style.”
- “It's a copy of Farthest Frontier, just a little worse and with candy-like graphics.”
- “I see the graphics still look drab, dull, and ugly.”
music
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
22%
22%
The music in the game is widely praised for its atmospheric and well-composed score, creating a relaxing and immersive experience. While many players appreciate the beauty and depth of the soundtracks, there are requests for more variety and additional tracks to enhance the overall experience. Overall, the music contributes significantly to the game's meditative quality.
- “That said, the musical score is quite splendid — atmospheric and well-composed, it lends the game a sense of depth that the mechanics themselves do not yet sustain and is better than other games in this genre.”
- “Some of the soundtracks are quite beautiful (although a few more would be good, please).”
- “The music is some of the most relaxed video game music I've heard.”
- “The music, the atmosphere, everything is like a meditation effect.”
story
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
24%
38%
The game's story aspect is criticized for its lack of a compelling backstory, leaving players feeling lost, especially newcomers. While the gameplay mechanics, such as trading and mission-based resource management, are engaging and intuitive for experienced players, the absence of narrative depth can make the experience feel dull over time. Players express a desire for a more developed storyline to enhance their engagement with the game.
- “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.”
replayability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
60%
Overall, the game suffers from limited replayability due to its simplicity and lack of content, with players expressing a desire for features like a map editor and modding to enhance longevity. While there are some setting differences that provide a slight variation, they are not substantial enough to significantly boost replay value.
- “Hopefully, in the future, a map editor and modding can be included, as doing so would greatly augment the game's replayability/lifespan.”
- “There are enough setting differences to set this game apart from others in terms of replay value, but nothing groundbreaking found yet.”
- “Overall, it's not a bad game, just a bit too simple and doesn’t offer much replay value, and for a full release, it still has a lot of missing pieces.”
- “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.”
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, and feels great. It 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.”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
33%
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its splendid musical score, which adds depth and a meditative quality that enhances the overall experience. Reviewers note that the cozy ambiance and well-composed music contribute significantly to the game's immersive environment, surpassing that of other titles in the genre.
- “The musical score is quite splendid — atmospheric and well-composed, it lends the game a sense of depth that the mechanics themselves do not yet sustain, and is better than other games in this genre.”
- “Cozy atmosphere.”
- “The music, the atmosphere, everything has a meditative effect.”
- “The music, the atmosphere, everything is like a meditation effect.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players express a clear preference against grinding gameplay, indicating a desire for a more relaxed 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.”
- “The grinding feels endless and detracts from the enjoyment of the game.”
- “I find the repetitive tasks required for grinding to be tedious and unfulfilling.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is praised for its excellent optimization, delivering very stable performance and a smooth gaming experience.
- “Very stable and great performance.”
- “The game is well optimized.”