Game:

Townsmen (2012)

Category:

Review

Duration: 27:31

3,700 views

26

I'm playing Townsmen, a city management simulation by HandyGames and Headup Games.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/486540

The game features eighteen challenging scenarios with scripted quests and sixteen more freeform sandbox levels. Coming over from mobile devices, Townsmen does offer some PC-centric interface enhancements, although the lack of tool-tips and wacky road building procedure are disappointing. Buildings are placed to collect resources, produce food, manufacture items, and meet the needs of the villagers. Using prestige will instantly build any structure, bypassing the usually steep resource requirements. Some key buildings (such as the marketplace and church) are entirely too expensive to build, resulting in a lot of waiting for resources to accumulate instead of doing something meaningful. There are some moderately sophisticated resource chains involved (wheat to flour to bread, as a typical example), and excess resources can be sold at the marketplace (assuming you can afford to build one, of course). Happier citizens, made so by meeting food, water, and entrainment thresholds, work harder and can be taxed more. Nearby bandits can be eliminated by building a network of barracks and guard towers. Completing quests earns prestige, and upgraded buildings can be researched. Terrible early-game resource balancing and some interface limitations aside, Townsmen is a decent city builder.