Are you a fan of games like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing? Have you ever wished they were a bit more gritty and realistic? Well, I have a treat for you. Medieval Dynasty is all of that and more.
Doesn’t Hold Your Hand
Medieval Dynasty doesn’t hold your hand in any way. There are no tips telling you which menus to use or instructions on how to do things like hunt or even drink. Where do you get seeds for your garden? You’ll have to talk to every person in town to work that out. You really have to explore the game and try things out to figure it all out for yourself. Until you’ve tried it you won’t know that it takes two spears to take down a boar and three to get a deer. You will have only some very basic quests to complete like building a house and successfully surviving a season. You won’t realize that your bags have a weight capacity until you load up on logs for your house and realize that you can’t move. Yes, this exact thing happened to me as the sun was going down and I was in a panic because I didn’t want to be stuck outside overnight. What would happen if I was? I had no idea but I know enough about these sorts of things to know it’s not how I wanted to spend my first night in the game.
Life Revolves Around Your Needs
For a good long while in Medieval Dynasty life is going to revolve around your needs. You need to eat, you need to make sure you stay hydrated, and of course, you need to keep your health up. Life is all about taking care of your needs. Trapping rabbits is great and all, but it won’t be enough meat to sustain you. You’ll need to hunt down the bigger game. But be careful, the bigger game fights back. Don’t forget to harvest plants you find along the way too which will change seasonally. Every season, which only lasts 3 days, will have different plants for you to gather. It might sound a little bit grindy, but you know what? I’m ok with that. Because real life revolves around your needs too and Medieval Dynasty is going for a realistic game.
A Couple of Small Issues
There are just a couple of small issues that I have with Medieval Dynasty all of which come down to personal preference. The biggest irritation of the entire game is that when you’ve run out of something, like spears, and then you make more you have to reslot them so you can use them. I’ve lost many a deer to this issue as you have to open the inventory screen and put your spears in the right keybind, giving the deer time to run off in who knows which direction.
The second issue that I have with the game is something that I know is very much a me problem, though I do know others suffer from it too. Games with a first-person camera view make me feel SO sick to my stomach. It seems to be related to motion in some way. I have found a way around it in Medieval Dynasty though. If I make sure I don’t have anything in my hands while I’m moving there is no feeling sick! Thankfully, this game makes that really easy to do. I don’t know if this will work for everyone who has this problem, but it has made the game playable for me.
Graphics and Sound
Medieval Dynasty is a GORGEOUS game. It pushes for a very realistic look and does it well. Though, as it has been noted in many games before this means that the game is very brown. One of the things that I love the most is how realistic the forest feels. The ground isn’t just a flat plane of green made to look like the forest floor. There are layers and depths to the ground that makes it look more realistic.
Sounds in the game are… well, I’ll be completely honest, I’m having a hard time bringing any to mind. It’s a subtle game that doesn’t have music playing when you venture from one area to the next. The sounds are equally subtle and realistic as a result they become kind of easy to forget. Again, I wouldn’t say this is a bad thing in any way. How often do you take notice of the sound of your boots walking through grass?
I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of this amazing game and since it is in Early Access Alpha right now there will constantly be new things added to the game. I can’t wait to see what more this indie game becomes.
Pros/Cons
Pros:
Beautiful Graphics
Realistic Game
Challenging
Cons:
Can be a little frustrating not having any guidance
UI Not Always User Friendly
Final Verdict: Medieval Dynasty is the gritty, realistic Medieval life simulator that you didn’t know you needed in your life and you shouldn’t live without.