Thriving City: Song

About

Thriving City: Song is a single player tactical city builder game with drama, economy and historical themes. It was developed by White Star Studio and was released on May 29, 2024. It received very positive reviews from players.

In 960 A.D., the Zhao Song Dynasty was established. As the mayor, you'll need to help the townspeople settle down, cultivate the land and expand. However, when the emperor issues a national mandate, conflicts between factions threaten city development—what strategy will you adopt?

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92%

Audience ScoreBased on 130 reviews

music16 positive mentions

grinding2 negative mentions

Beautiful and unique hand-drawn art style inspired by traditional Chinese paintings, making the city feel alive with charming animations and detailed NPCs.
Addictive and engaging gameplay with a good balance of challenge and relaxation; well-designed resource management, story-driven campaign, and interesting mechanics like imperial exams and tourism.
Excellent soundtrack and sound effects that enhance immersion, along with a thorough tutorial and helpful in-game guides to assist players in understanding the game mechanics.

Some UI and localization issues including untranslated or poorly translated text, text overflow, unclear tooltips, and inconsistent terminology that can disrupt immersion and cause confusion.
Frustrations with slow pacing of population growth, AI inefficiencies in resource logistics and construction, and a military system that is limited and unintuitive, reducing strategic depth.
Bugs and performance problems reported by some players such as save/load issues, lag at higher populations, occasional crashes, and a lack of certain convenience features like map radar or fire alert system.

music
39 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41%
51%
8%
The music in Thriving City: Song is consistently praised for its beautiful, immersive, and culturally fitting soundtrack that enhances the relaxing and historical atmosphere of the game. While some note a desire for more variety, the compositions complement the unique art style and thematic setting, effectively drawing players into the Song dynasty experience. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a key strength that enriches gameplay and player immersion.
- “As an old fan of Caesar 3 and Pharaoh, I have to say this game really tickles the exact same itch, but it's different in a really nice artistic way. I love this style and the music—it all works together so well into a hypnotic trance state of building and managing flow.”
- “Amazing music that fits perfectly with the theme, offering a bunch of variations.”
- “Really cute little city builder with a very unique art style and fantastic thematics and music.”
- “Only hope they add more music since that one is a bit repetitive.”
- “The soundtrack is appropriate, neither annoying nor overblown.”
- “The art style and music make it a very relaxing game, but it still has its challenges.”
story
31 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
71%
10%
The story mode offers a historically inspired narrative with varied, progressively challenging missions that also serve as an effective tutorial, though some players find the final levels frustratingly difficult. While the storyline provides depth through townfolk dialogues and ties to Song Dynasty events, occasional translation issues and a relatively short campaign length can cause minor confusion. Overall, the engaging story mode is praised for its pacing and integration but leaves players eager for more episodes and improved localization.
- “I really like the story mode—it offers a different flavor of challenge depending on the situations happening in the nation.”
- “The inclusion of narrative events tied to real historical moments from the Song Dynasty adds further depth, and the game’s story mode does a good job of giving purpose to your decisions beyond raw survival.”
- “There are a lot of main story chapters that you can go through, each with their own challenges which are very interesting.”
- “The English translation can be a little sketchy at times, especially in the story mode, which left me confused about what to do.”
- “I reached the final story and was very disappointed when the massive battle never came despite having built a large army.”
- “In story mode, the game is a controlled environment with locked features in each stage, limiting gameplay variety.”
graphics
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
47%
43%
10%
The graphics feature unique, hand-drawn artwork inspired by traditional Chinese art, creating an elegant and immersive aesthetic reminiscent of ancient scrolls. Players appreciate the charming, cute, and culturally authentic visuals that complement the relaxing yet challenging gameplay. While not 3D, the distinct art style is praised for its clarity, cultural depth, and pleasing design across different factions and environments.
- “Its visuals are unique and beautiful, and everything is clear and easy to distinguish, from the buildings to the townsfolk.”
- “The graphic is immersive, almost taking you directly into a medieval Chinese scroll.”
- “The artwork is incredibly cute and beautiful; sometimes when I'm not building something, I just watch the little guys doing things.”
- “Graphics are pretty basic, but I'm more interested in the gameplay.”
- “While the game is not 3D, I am not upset by this; actually, the hand-drawn approach to graphics gives much more character to it.”
- “Historically speaking, besides the graphics, the game provides you other means to immerse yourself into the period.”
gameplay
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
31%
50%
19%
The gameplay offers a solid and thoughtfully designed city-building experience with unique mechanics and a culturally authentic setting, reminiscent of classic sims like Caesar III. While the foundation is promising and progression in story mode is well-paced, some systems like education and government need polish, and certain mechanics can feel unclear or buggy. Overall, it provides addicting and nuanced gameplay, though it may challenge players with its complexity and occasional UI issues.
- “Not the easiest city-builder I've played, but I enjoyed it thoroughly compared to old classics like the Caesar series, which had some tricky mechanics.”
- “Progression feels right, research feels right, campaign is great and gets you to grips with the mechanics while taking you through the Song era.”
- “There are also concerns with how the education system and government mechanics are implemented.”
- “While certain systems need polish and some mechanics lack depth or refinement, the foundation is solid and shows a great deal of promise.”
- “Most of the translations are good or good enough, but it needs a bit more polish on some of the tooltips, which at times can make the game mechanics unclear.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game, especially related to farming and construction, can feel repetitive and affected by game shifts. However, the infinity mode offers a more relaxed city farming experience, reducing the grind.
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game's replayability is generally considered high, though it is currently limited by localization issues. Adding more language options in the future could further enhance the replay value.
- “I definitely think this game has a lot of replayability.”
- “But the localisation hinders replayability, and hopefully (since the game was fully released over a month ago, as of this review) that can be improved, with more languages added later on.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from significant stability issues and frequent bugs, which negatively impact the overall user experience.
- “Too buggy”
- “I would give a positive review if it wasn't so buggy.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game has some optimization issues, including incomplete translations and occasional performance bugs, but these do not significantly hinder the overall enjoyable experience. Ongoing updates aim to improve English translations and system optimizations.