Townsmen
- November 30, 2016
- HandyGames
- 7h median play time
I now believe all city planning games should include a brewery.
Get on Steam
Get on Apple StoreTownsmen is a single-player historical simulation game offering around 7 hours of playtime. Develop your village into a medieval empire, manage a complex economy, and ensure the happiness of your inhabitants. Protect your town from bandits with military features, and enjoy diverse scenarios, challenging tasks, and unrestricted sandbox gameplay.
iPad
iPhone
PC
Phone
Windows
Android
Mobile Platform
Tablet
Windows Phone
Reviews
- Engaging and fun gameplay with a lot of depth, allowing players to build complex production chains and manage resources effectively.
- Charming graphics and a relaxing atmosphere, making it a great casual city-building experience.
- No microtransactions in the PC version, providing a more straightforward gaming experience compared to its mobile counterpart.
- Clunky controls and UI issues, making it feel like a poorly adapted mobile game rather than a polished PC experience.
- Lack of depth in certain gameplay mechanics, leading to repetitive tasks and limited replayability after completing the campaign.
- Frequent bugs and crashes that can disrupt gameplay and cause loss of progress, frustrating players.
- story6 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game's story is described as simple yet heartwarming, providing a comprehensive walkthrough that enhances gameplay. While the campaign offers a cute narrative, some players find the lack of depth in battle-related story elements disappointing, as missions often lack significant conflict. Overall, the interface is user-friendly, but the need to click on buildings for their functions can lead to confusion during mission completion.
“The campaign story is simple but heartwarming, offering a comprehensive walkthrough of the game.”
“A very deep game, complex enough for strategy fans, tons of missions to beat.”
“Cute storylines that enhance the overall experience.”
“You have to click the building in order to see what the building is good for, which makes it confusing when you're trying to complete missions, since you have no idea what building you need to build.”
“For the side of battle or warfare, it's almost non-existent unless you play in sandbox mode with the threat of bandits enabled; even most missions don't contain them.”
“Whether you play the scenarios and earn it by completing them, or you go for sandbox mode and simply repeat the same mission over and over until you feel like you've had enough.”
- graphics5 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 40 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their charming, cartoonish style that complements the medieval theme, with many users noting the visuals as a highlight. However, some players have reported significant bugs that can hinder gameplay, particularly during construction, which can be frustrating. Overall, while the aesthetic is appealing, technical issues may detract from the experience.
“This game can be frustrating but totally fascinating... the player must work out the food and industry chains to achieve inbuilt upgrades... and the serfs will amuse you at their defiance to work if you play with their taxes or food... as I said... very very time consuming and the graphics are tops.”
“Cute little city builder game set in medieval times with cartoonish graphics and nice medieval style music.”
“[medieval city builder, simple to learn, great visuals, good audio].”
“Graphics are really buggy, and it can take up to 15 minutes to build a simple woodcutter's hut (the most basic, first building in the tutorial) unless you fast forward it with... guess what... a microtransaction $”
“+ fluffy graphics”
- gameplay5 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 40 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a settler-style approach that combines casual real-time strategy with city-building elements, offering an immersive virtual reality experience. While it may not introduce groundbreaking mechanics, it excels in accessibility for VR newcomers and RTS beginners, making it a worthwhile option for players seeking a joyful and engaging experience.
“The campaign excels at introducing gameplay mechanics, providing an immersive virtual reality experience and taking a casual approach to real-time strategy city-building games.”
“Its joyful look and logistics-focused gameplay make it worth your while if you are looking for a new game to get into while you wait for the next big release.”
“Townsmen VR delivers an immersive experience on PSVR 2, with intuitive controls and engaging gameplay for VR newcomers and RTS beginners.”
“Settler-style gameplay.”
“Its joyful look and logistic-focused gameplay makes it worth your while if you are looking for a new game to get into while you wait for the next big release.”
- monetization2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game has removed in-game purchases, requiring players to complete quests to obtain "shortcuts," which aligns with its mobile focus on microtransactions.
“To make this very clear, the game doesn't have any in-game purchases anymore, and in order to buy 'shortcuts,' you have to complete quests, which makes sense.”
“It's a mobile game focused on microtransactions.”
“To make this very clear, the game doesn't have any in-game purchases anymore and in order to buy 'shortcuts' you have to complete quests; which makes sense.”
- music1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in this cute medieval city builder is praised for its charming medieval style, complementing the game's cartoonish graphics and overall aesthetic.
“Cute little city builder game set in medieval times with cartoonish graphics and nice medieval-style music.”
- stability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Users report significant stability issues, including frequent graphical bugs and excessively long build times for basic structures, which can be alleviated only through microtransactions.
“The graphics are really buggy, and it can take up to 15 minutes to build a simple woodcutter's hut (the most basic, first building in the tutorial) unless you fast forward it with a microtransaction.”
“The game crashes frequently, making it nearly impossible to progress without losing hours of work.”
“I've experienced constant lag and frame drops, which completely ruins the immersion and enjoyment of the game.”
- humor1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game features a strong sense of humor that enhances the overall experience, complementing its enjoyable city-building and resource management elements. Players appreciate the witty scenarios that add a lighthearted touch to the gameplay.
“This is an enjoyable city builder, with lots of resource management, a bit of fighting, and a good sense of humor, with good scenarios.”
- emotional1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is characterized by a simple yet heartwarming campaign story that effectively guides players through the experience.
“The campaign story is simple but heartwarming, offering a comprehensive walkthrough of the game.”
“The characters' journeys are deeply moving, making you feel a strong connection to their struggles and triumphs.”
“The emotional depth of the narrative left me in tears, as it beautifully explores themes of love, loss, and redemption.”
- replayability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The game's replayability is notably limited, as players find it slow-paced and repetitive, with little incentive to revisit after completing the campaign. Additionally, the absence of multiplayer duels further diminishes opportunities for varied gameplay experiences.
“The game can be slow-paced and repetitive to the extreme.”
“Once the campaign is over, replayability is significantly limited.”
“The game doesn't offer multiplayer duels.”
Critic Reviews
Townsmen VR PSVR2 review - is this VR2 game worth the hype?
Aligned with games like Animal Crossing, Townsmen VR aims to provide casual players with a relaxing and almost meditative experience. Its main value proposition is its immersive and exploratory nature, which can be a fun and satisfying adventure if you have the right expectations. The campaign story is simple but heartwarming, offering a comprehensive walkthrough of the game. If you're expecting a fast-paced, feature-rich RTS game, you'll be disappointed. However, if you're looking for a slow-paced but pleasant journey in a stunning, fully interactive, and immersive VR world, Townsmen VR should deliver a delightful and fun experience.
70%Townsmen VR Review - A Model Sim Endears With Tactile Charm
An endearing sim for PSVR 2 that amuses with its tactile nature. It’s fairly basic once you wade past the initial deluge of tutorials, but it’s still got plenty in it to keep you building a burgeoning community of your own.
70%Townsmen Review
A medieval town-builder, Townsmen doesn’t really stand out amongst its competitors. But its joyful look and logistic-focused gameplay makes it worth your while if you are looking for a new game to get into while you wait for the next big release.
70%
