I love a good city builder, and when Builders of Greece popped up on Steam Early Access, I was all in. The ancient Greek setting? Sign me up! It delivers a classic city-building experience, not unlike Banished, but with its own unique features and game mechanics. You’ve got an expansive tech tree, military units for defense, and some interesting management mechanics to customize how your city grows.
Now, let’s talk about what works – Builders of Greece is absolutely gorgeous. The detailed buildings and vibrant landscape instantly transport you to a bygone era. I genuinely loved the way happiness mechanics work: keep your lower classes fed and content, and the upper classes will flourish too. Expanding your city is all about that central Agora (marketplace), but you’ll quickly learn the importance of smaller ‘satellite’ hubs to sustain the far reaches of your civilization.
However, while the city-building foundation is solid, there’s quite a lot that needs work. The interface needs some love; it’s clunky and not always intuitive. The camera controls can be frustrating, making quick maneuvering awkward. And let’s face it, the whole tax system is baffling at times. Combat is similarly… unrefined. You give your troops a general direction, and they sorta-kinda handle the rest.
Worse, though, are the bugs. This might be Early Access, but some of them are game-breaking. Frequent random crashes when building roads were a major deal-breaker for me. And don’t get me started on the save system – on several occasions, my city would load to 50% and then freeze, making hours of progress vanish.
The Verdict (for now)
Builders of Greece has potential, but it’s just not ready yet. If you crave a Grecian twist on the classic city-building experience and can tolerate a buggy mess, you might get a kick out of its core concepts. For me, the constant crashes and wonky systems soured what could’ve been a truly enjoyable experience.
Hopefully, with a few patches and more fleshed-out mechanics, I can revisit it in the future and build up that glorious Greek metropolis I have in mind.
Quick Pros and Cons
- Pros: Beautiful setting, solid tech tree, unique happiness system encourages strategic building.
- Cons: Clunky UI, frustrating camera, frequent crashes, confusing tax system, combat needs improvement.