The Settlers : Heritage of Kings - History Edition
- January 22, 2019
- Ubisoft Blue Byte
- 76h median play time
Get on Steam"The Settlers: Heritage of Kings - History Edition" is a real-time strategy game with a focus on building and fighting. Explore and populate diverse landscapes across multiple modes, including the main game and two expansions. This History Edition features Windows 10 compatibility and multiplayer functionality through Uplay.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game offers a nostalgic experience for long-time fans, with many players enjoying the return to their childhood favorite.
- The graphics, considering the game's age, are still appealing, and the soundtrack is highly praised for its quality.
- The gameplay is engaging, with a satisfying mix of base building and combat, providing a fun and relaxing experience.
- The requirement to use Ubisoft Connect is frustrating for many players, leading to issues with account access and game functionality.
- The game suffers from poor mission design and repetitive gameplay, making it feel formulaic and tedious over time.
- There are significant bugs and technical issues, including problems with graphics settings, unit pathfinding, and incomplete translations in expansions.
- story50 mentions
- 32 % positive mentions
- 62 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The story aspect of the game receives mixed reviews, with many players finding it formulaic and lacking depth, often revolving around repetitive mission objectives and combat-focused gameplay. While some appreciate the engaging campaign and character interactions, others criticize the writing and mission design as tedious and poorly executed. Overall, the narrative is seen as a secondary element to the core gameplay, with varying opinions on its execution and enjoyment.
“One of the best RTS games I've ever played with a thrilling story and Hans Zimmer level of music.”
“It's a great game with an interesting story, entertaining characters, and excellent gameplay.”
“The campaign storyline is quite entertaining.”
“The story writing is an absolute non-entity.”
“This game only pretends to have any story or something; don't believe it, there is no difference between story campaigns and scenarios.”
“Some campaign missions can drag out well over an hour to complete objectives.”
- graphics25 mentions
- 44 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 16 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game, while outdated by modern standards, are generally considered good for its release period in the mid-2000s, with many praising the atmospheric art style and dynamic weather effects. However, players have reported issues with the game not recognizing newer GPUs, which limits their ability to adjust graphic settings. Overall, the visuals are appreciated for their nostalgic value and contribution to the immersive experience, despite some technical limitations.
“The graphical fidelity, particularly for its age, is good.”
“Amazing graphics.”
“One of the main selling points of this game is its atmosphere, created by a good soundtrack and the dark but beautiful art style and design inspired by the late middle ages.”
“If you have a newer GPU, the game doesn't recognize it and you will be bound to use the minimum settings (graphic settings are grayed out).”
“The graphics are obviously outdated, but everything else about this game is brilliant.”
“This game locks me out of a couple of graphic options and I can't change it because apparently, there's a line of code somewhere inside the game that will automatically assign optimal graphic options based on your GPU, and apparently, that code does not really support the latest GPUs, hence it locks me out.”
- gameplay19 mentions
- 58 % positive mentions
- 26 % neutral mentions
- 16 % negative mentions
The gameplay is generally praised for its simplicity, addictiveness, and variety of mechanics that keep players engaged, such as settlement building and unique abilities. While some mechanics may seem unrealistic, the overall experience is immersive and well-paced, allowing for exploration and strategic combat without forcing encounters. Despite some criticisms regarding graphics, the gameplay remains enjoyable and has a nostalgic appeal for long-time players.
“The gameplay loop of getting your settlement up and running, building a massive army, and then besieging some enemy foe is extremely addicting and takes a long time to become tedious.”
“Fun core gameplay with lots to do in each mission; you almost never feel like you have to sit around waiting, there is always something to be done.”
“Very immersive gameplay that keeps you on your toes.”
“There are mechanics issues.”
“Graphic sucks, gameplay sucks too.”
“Overall, the game is mechanically simple and easy to learn.”
- music17 mentions
- 71 % positive mentions
- 12 % neutral mentions
- 18 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised as phenomenal, often compared to the works of Hans Zimmer, and is considered one of its standout features. Reviewers highlight the soundtrack's ability to enhance the game's atmosphere, providing both relaxing tunes for town-building and energizing tracks for battles. Overall, the music is described as a significant selling point, elevating the gaming experience and making it memorable.
“The music is phenomenal, and frankly is far better than the game deserves.”
“One of the main selling points of this game is its atmosphere, created by a good soundtrack and the dark but beautiful art style and design inspired by the late Middle Ages.”
“Not epic, thrilling, or grievous music that brings people up and down like a roller coaster.”
“One of the successful Settlers series with great looks, but meh animations and pathfinding; however, the music and voice acting, especially in the campaign, are great!”
“One of the best RTS games I've ever played with a thrilling story and Hans Zimmer-level music.”
- grinding3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be both addictive and tedious, as the gameplay loop of building and besieging can become repetitive over time. However, many criticize the mission design for being vague and poorly structured, leading to frustrating experiences when objectives are not clearly communicated or when actions taken in the wrong order result in setbacks. Overall, while the core mechanics can be engaging, the grind is often marred by design flaws that detract from the experience.
“Especially when you combine this with grindy and arbitrary mission objectives.”
“Poor mission design: a lot of the missions are rather tedious. The quest objectives can be vague or ambiguous, and if you do things in the wrong order, you can screw yourself over. For instance, in one mission, you are attacked from the west, where enemies travel over a frozen river. The mission encourages you to get a weather machine running as soon as possible to change it to summer. I did that, and the river became water again, but suddenly I was being attacked from the east where I had no defense, and the mission gave no indication of that. It's not impossible, just rather poor design for many of them. The expansions are even more annoying in terms of mission design, in my opinion.”
“The gameplay loop of getting your settlement up and running, building a massive army, and then besieging some enemy foe is extremely addicting and takes a long time to become tedious.”
- atmosphere2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is a standout feature, characterized by a captivating soundtrack and a dark yet beautiful art style inspired by the late Middle Ages. This immersive environment enhances the overall experience, making it a recommended choice for fans of atmospheric medieval real-time strategy games with intricate base-building mechanics.
“One of the main selling points of this game is its atmosphere, created by a good soundtrack and the dark but beautiful art style and design inspired by the late Middle Ages.”
“I think that this game is very enjoyable and I recommend it to anyone looking for an atmospheric medieval RTS with more complex base building than Age of Empires or similar games.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game features a stable environment with a focus on human characters and dynamic weather mechanics, such as snow freezing bodies of water. However, players have reported stability issues, particularly with the game freezing after extended play sessions exceeding one hour.
“If you play longer than an hour, the game freezes.”
- emotional1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is largely criticized, with users finding the story unengaging and the interface lacking, which detracts from any potential emotional impact.
- humor1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game features amusing Easter eggs and entertaining voice lines, particularly when players select a unit multiple times, leading to humorous responses that enhance the overall experience.
“There are some funny Easter eggs and voice lines; if you select a unit multiple times, they eventually say some hilarious stuff.”
“The humor in the game is top-notch, with clever jokes and witty dialogue that keep you entertained.”
“I love the quirky character interactions and the unexpected comedic moments that pop up throughout the gameplay.”
