Thriving City: Song

About

Thriving City: Song is a city-building simulation game set in ancient China's Song dynasty, allowing players to experience the empire's history and growth in Story Mode. As the mayor, you must ensure your people's prosperity by managing resources, addressing crises, and interacting with a historically accurate world. Your decisions will significantly impact city development and the course of history.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

92%

Audience ScoreBased on 88 reviews

music12 positive mentions

stability2 negative mentions

The game features beautiful art and music, creating an immersive experience that captures the essence of the Song Dynasty.
Gameplay is engaging with a mix of city management and historical elements, providing a unique twist on the city-building genre.
The game is enjoyable and relaxing, making it a great choice for fans of city builders who appreciate cultural themes.

The localization and translation issues can lead to confusion, making it difficult to understand certain mechanics and objectives.
Some players experience performance issues, such as frame rate drops and bugs that hinder gameplay, especially in later stages.
The game can become repetitive after a certain point, with limited endgame content and challenges that may frustrate players.

music
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
44%
11%
The music in "Thriving City: Song" is widely praised for its ability to enhance the game's historical atmosphere, with many players finding it relaxing and fitting for the Song dynasty theme. While the soundtrack is generally well-received, some users noted a desire for more variation to prevent repetitiveness. Overall, the combination of beautiful art and a pleasing soundtrack contributes significantly to the game's immersive experience.
- “The soundtrack should also be commended, as it is quite pleasing to the ears.”
- “Really enjoying this game, a great city builder, very relaxing music.”
- “Amazing music that fits perfectly with the theme, offering a bunch of variations.”
- “Only hope they add more music since that one is a bit repetitive.”
- “The art style and music make it a very relaxing game, but it still has its challenges.”
- “The soundtrack is appropriate, neither annoying nor overblown.”
story
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
71%
13%
The story mode of the game offers a narrative that reflects historical events, providing players with insights through town conversations as they progress through missions. While some players noted issues with localization and translation that left them confused at times, many appreciated the engaging storyline and the tutorial aspect integrated into the story mode. Overall, the story is considered enjoyable but somewhat short, with hopes for future expansions.
- “In story mode, you follow narratives representing the historical events of that time.”
- “They describe things as you progress through missions in the story mode and gain insight into what is happening by reading the conversations of the townsfolk.”
- “This game art style is so captivating and it looks like one of those ancient Chinese paintings, and the game has a good storyline. I am interested in more future updates and content.”
- “The English translation can be a little bit sketchy at times, meaning especially in the story mode I was left confused as to what to do.”
- “I reached the final story and was very pissed off when the massive battle never came because I had built a nice big army.”
- “The story is a little bit short and I hope to see more episodes on this side.”
graphics
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
52%
33%
14%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their unique and charming art style, which blends elements of ancient Chinese paintings with modern cutesy anime aesthetics. Players appreciate the clarity and beauty of the visuals, which enhance the immersive experience, while the overall design is described as cute and easy on the eyes. Although some users note that the graphics are basic, they still contribute positively to the game's relaxing atmosphere and engaging gameplay.
- “Absolutely love the graphics, and it's fantastic that I can play it on my Mac.”
- “Very cute, pleasing art style that's easy on the eyes and a fantastic combination of song era art with a modern cutesy anime/manga style.”
- “Its visuals are unique and beautiful, and everything is clear and easy to distinguish, from the buildings to the townsfolk.”
- “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
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
45%
9%
The gameplay is praised for its engaging mechanics and progression, which effectively guide players through the campaign while familiarizing them with the genre's elements. The unique art style and music enhance the experience, although some tooltips require further refinement for clarity. Overall, the game offers a well-designed and addictive city-building simulation reminiscent of classics like Caesar III and Anno.
- “The art style is awesome and the gameplay seems to be coming along great; I like the mechanics so far!”
- “Progression feels right, research feels right, the campaign is great and gets you to grips with the mechanics while taking you through the song era.”
- “There's a lot of subtle nuances within the mechanics that make for interesting gameplay.”
- “Most of the translations are good or good enough, but it needs a bit more polish on some of the tooltips, that at times can make the game mechanics unclear.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
While some users feel that localization issues currently hinder replayability, many believe the game offers significant replay value, suggesting that improvements in language support could enhance this aspect further.
- “I definitely think this game has a lot of replayability.”
- “But the localization 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 stability of the game has been criticized for being overly buggy, with many users indicating that these issues significantly detract from their overall experience.
- “Too buggy.”
- “I would give a positive review if it weren't so buggy.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
150%
The game faces notable bugs and performance issues, particularly with incomplete translations affecting gameplay comprehension. Despite these challenges, players express enjoyment and a willingness to adapt as ongoing updates improve optimization and translations.
- “Even with some of the translations not completed (in story city 3, I have no idea what the imperial report says as it is not translated), I don't care because I'm having fun! I am a little lost in regards to some of the economy options, but I am learning as I go along while they continue to add English optimizations and translations.”
- “The game is plagued by bugs and performance issues that severely impact the overall experience.”
- “Even with some of the translations not completed (in story city 3, I have no idea what the imperial report says as it is not translated), I am a little lost regarding some of the economy options. I'm learning as I go along while they continue to add English optimizations and translations.”
- “The lack of optimization makes it difficult to fully enjoy the game, as performance hiccups disrupt gameplay.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players appreciate the option of an infinity mode, which allows for a more relaxed city farming experience, reducing the pressure of grinding typically associated with the game.