The Fertile Crescent

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"The Fertile Crescent" is a city-building strategy game set in the ancient Middle East. Players must balance resource management, trade, and diplomacy to build a thriving civilization in a religiously and culturally diverse world. With a focus on historical accuracy, the game offers a unique and immersive experience for fans of the genre.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Reviews

89%

Audience ScoreBased on 366 reviews

gameplay26 positive mentions

grinding10 negative mentions

The game captures the nostalgic feel of classic RTS games like Age of Empires, with enjoyable gameplay and a charming pixel art style.
The unique food management mechanic adds depth to the gameplay, requiring players to strategize around resource allocation and population growth.
The campaign serves as a well-structured tutorial, and both skirmish and horde modes provide fun and challenging experiences for players.

The AI can be overly aggressive, making it difficult for players to progress, even on lower difficulty settings.
Resource management can be tedious, with players often struggling to maintain a stable food supply, leading to frustration during gameplay.
The game currently lacks variety in maps and civilizations, which may limit replayability and long-term engagement.

gameplay
74 mentions
35 % positive mentions
59 % neutral mentions
5 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a nostalgic RTS experience reminiscent of Age of Empires, enhanced by unique mechanics such as food management, starvation, and land fertility that add depth and realism to empire-building. While the campaign serves as a gradual tutorial, players appreciate the engaging multiplayer and the potential for further mechanics to be introduced. Despite some criticisms regarding the tedium of certain mechanics and limited content, the overall gameplay is praised for its crisp execution and charming pixel art style.
- “Once they've layered in all the different features, there is surprising depth to the gameplay.”
- “Fun game that adds a twist to the Age of Empires formula--especially with its neat food/starvation mechanic--and has great pixel art and music.”
- “Multiplayer is great, single player is great, game mechanics like the unique food, starvation, fertile land, clay gathering, population, all are really interesting and nice to play and die to, while you fight for resources, expand, and defend, while avoiding the collapse on your own by starvation because you moved all your people to fight and forgot someone needs to feed them from home while doing so.”
- “The food mechanic is tedious, and the gameplay itself is boring.”
- “The campaign is basically an extended tutorial, which slowly introduces all the game mechanics.”
- “Gameplay very flat.”
graphics
60 mentions
47 % positive mentions
48 % neutral mentions
5 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are characterized by a nostalgic pixel art style that appeals to fans of retro aesthetics, though some players feel it lacks innovation and detail, particularly for an RTS format. While the visuals are generally described as charming and fitting, there are concerns about unit differentiation and the overall depth of the graphics, with some noting that they resemble 90s designs. Overall, the art style and accompanying soundtrack contribute positively to the game's atmosphere, making it enjoyable for those who appreciate pixel art and the game's thematic setting.
- “I love the art style; I'm a sucker for good pixel art.”
- “The visuals and music are extremely well made and charming, the UI is clean, and there's a lot of neat quality of life mechanics in the game.”
- “The game has a classic style to it, and I generally love 8-bit games. The game has a good art style, with a variety of animals, houses, etc.”
- “Graphics are okay-ish pixel art that could be better.”
- “- the pixel art style does not work for RTS games; back in the early-mid 1990s, yeah it did, but even then most RTS games had a fairly small screen scale like WC2 and AOE1 - or at least compensated by having detailed enough sprites.”
- “- ruffling pixel graphics, it's hard to distinguish different units and colors of teams.”
music
28 mentions
86 % positive mentions
11 % neutral mentions
4 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received largely positive feedback, with many players praising its charm and ability to enhance the overall atmosphere. The soundtrack is described as catchy and immersive, contributing significantly to the game's nostalgic pixel art aesthetic. While some reviews mention that the music is not groundbreaking, it effectively complements the gameplay and adds to the relaxing experience, especially on lower difficulty settings.
- “Unit and building art is very well done, the music is great (main theme gets stuck in my head all the time), and the campaign does a good job of preparing you for skirmish and horde mode.”
- “Great music, really immersive piece of game with great atmosphere.”
- “Really enjoy the music too - makes you feel like you are really there rallying your tribe while the enemy is about to try and wipe you off the face of the map literally!”
- “Music is also okay-ish, but none of it matters.”
story
20 mentions
15 % positive mentions
70 % neutral mentions
15 % negative mentions
The story is praised for its immersive depiction of the ancient world of the Fertile Crescent, effectively engaging players through a challenging campaign that tests their skills. However, some users express a desire for more diverse missions and a structured world map campaign, indicating that the current linear format may limit replayability. Overall, while the narrative is compelling, there are calls for additional content and improvements in mission variety.
- “It’s got a great story that pulls you right into the ancient world of the fertile crescent.”
- “The campaign would be incredible if they had some sort of world map structured campaign with global resources where you can play versus the AI or friends, but I'm expecting it'll be a more typical linear story campaign.”
- “I can only hope for some new campaign missions, scenarios, maps, or even DLC (mysterious late Bronze Age collapse would be cool!) in the future.”
- “The campaign would be incredible if they had some sort of world map structured campaign with global resources where you can play against the AI or friends, but I'm expecting it'll be a more typical linear story campaign.”
- “☐ no story”
- “If that's the case, I'll probably play through a mission or two and then go back to multiplayer and horde mode.”
grinding
12 mentions
0 % positive mentions
17 % neutral mentions
83 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and time-consuming, with resources being too spaced out, making it difficult to establish an efficient farming economy. The need for frequent construction of resource camps adds to the monotony, leading some to feel that the gameplay can become boring and requires excessive effort. However, some appreciate the game's innovative design that attempts to mitigate these grinding issues.
- “The food mechanic is tedious, and the gameplay itself is boring.”
- “Currently, you have to construct resource camps pretty frequently, which can get tedious and unfun.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
atmosphere
6 mentions
67 % positive mentions
33 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its exceptional art and sound design, creating an immersive experience that captivates players. The combination of great music and visual elements contributes to a compelling and engaging environment throughout gameplay.
- “The art and sound design come together to create a captivating atmosphere while you are playing.”
- “Great music and immersive gameplay contribute to a fantastic atmosphere.”
- “What an incredible atmosphere!”
humor
2 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is highlighted by a particularly hilarious second cinematic trailer that has resonated with players, contributing to their overall enjoyment of the game.
- “I mostly bought this because of the hilarious second cinematic trailer, but the game is solid.”
optimization
2 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The game is well-optimized, featuring clean graphics and excellent performance that allows it to run smoothly even on low-end devices like cheap Chromebooks. While the combat mechanics may currently feel underwhelming, improvements are expected with future updates.
- “The graphics are clean, and the performance is top-notch, allowing even a cheap Chromebook to run it smoothly. While the combat may not be particularly special at this time, this is likely to change with every major patch.”
replayability
2 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The game boasts high replayability, attributed to its diverse strategies and adjustable difficulty levels, making it appealing for players seeking varied experiences.
- “Classic RTS with a familiar UI, this game is a real game in the sense that it has great replay value due to the various strategies and the level of difficulty.”