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Ever wanted to build your own settlement in the medieval period. Medieval Dynasty is a settlement builder released on Steam. It originally was an Early Access title but has now become the full game. It was published and developed by Toplitz Productions. Who have released a wide range of titles.
You play as a civilian who has left a war torn life behind to find your uncle. Upon arriving you learn that he passed away a few years before. You are then given permission by the Castellion to build your home on the land surrounding the village.
From there it is up to you what you do. Will you progress the quests with the NPCs to learn tales of your uncle? Or will you focus all your efforts in creating your very own settlement? Or both? There’s no reason you can’t do both and it can benefit you with free items to work with.
The settlement side quest is really interesting. You build homes and production buildings. Then lure people way from the nearby villages to live in your homes and assign them to a production buildings. Each villager has their own strengths and weaknesses and they make a huge difference to the output of the production building. Them as well as you can also start a family. It’s a really enjoyable experience. But make sure you keep on top of their needs.
At the beginning of Medieval Dynasty you only need to contend with hunger and dehydration. Both can be difficult to manage if you build your home far away from any food and/or water source. Early game, you will need to get straw from reeds. These are located on the shore, and if you are too far away from them, it can be time consuming.
Once you hit winter though the difficulty ramps up. A third risk is introduced which is freezing to death. If you don’t keep warm your health bar will decrease until you can find a heat source. The very first winter is hard lesson to be learnt. Not only that, but the amount of wild animals decreases. Which reduces the amount of food you can acquire.
There are ways to combat the cold. One is to build a simple torch which becomes a portable heat source. Or buy warm clothing which keeps the heat in. Either way Winter is a lot harder than expected.
Another issue is that the tutorial is patchy. It explains certain aspects in great details, while others you have to locate in the knowledge tab. Even so, the information provided is very vague. Which can be difficult for new players. But once you’ve survived your first winter, future winters become easier.
Medieval Dynasty’s environment is beautifully rendered. Especially shore lines and looking out at the water. Characters are pretty bland to look but still rendered at an acceptable level. I really struggled to tell the difference between the NPCs. But for the majority of the game you may not look at them much.
The only glitch that I have noticed is that if you have a torch equipped, water that is far away will reflect it like its close. There’s no way a reflection would happen at such a long distance. But I’m hoping this small glitch will be patched in future updated.
Winter looks amazing, with the snow and is really easy on the eye to look at. It doesn’t affect how fast you can travel, and luckily the rivers don’t freeze over. But it is worth struggling each year.
I can’t even remember the soundtrack playing in the background. But the sound effects from nearby animals are done with such pinpoint accuracy. Using the audio you can normally hear game before you can spot it. Which for the hunting aspect is really useful.
So is there much reason to replay? Quests have time limits which if they expire fails them. This gives you at least one reason to replay to see the quests all the way through. Many of the quests are fetch this item, or talk to this character. But the dialogue is where the game truly shines. Each character has their own personality, such as a farmer with an unhealthy obsession with his water skin.
Another reason to replay is to build your village in either a more or less challenging area. When I first started playing I made the silly mistake of placing it on a hill. As you can’t level ground, I found it difficult to place more buildings. But starting again means all your technology and skill levels go back to zero which can be a pain. So instead I would recommend moving the settlement while playing.
I’ve really enjoyed my time with this game. The settlement mechanic reminds me of Fallout 4, but miles better. If you enjoyed that part of Fallout 4, this is a must play. It can be tedious at times but it is a very rewarding experience. Especially when you see your settlement expand.
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