Have you ever imaged how the European survivors of the Black Death Plague rebuilt once the plague was over? Going Medieval is a city-building simulation game where you get to lead a handful of lucky survivors as they start a new settlement. After which they and their descendants can live in peace and happiness. Because nothing bad ever happens in Europe ever again.

The Story Of Your Settlement.

The idea that you're building a town after the Black Death Plague is at least a little bit important because the game has a bit of story telling to it. Individuals have names, backgrounds, and personalities. And as the game progresses little story bits pop up and prompt you to make decisions that will have an impact on your town. My three starting settlers were all men, so when a lady named Leuild Green wanted to join us I decided to welcome her with open arms. She had a tragic story or imprisonment and torture. And when her captors came looking for her I had the option of turning her over or fighting them off. I chose to protect her and we were soon locked in epic combat! Or at least very tense combat because I only had four people and couldn't afford to lose any of them and didn't really know how to play the game yet.

Fight!

We were victorious. And the weapons and armor they dropped made me feel like we were prepared for another attack. Should anyone be foolish enough to challenge me in the future. The chance that you can be attacked gives you an excuse to build fortifications and walls and eventually a castle. And that's cool because doesn't everybody love a good castle?

You'll Have To Eat Too.

There's a lot to do besides defending your settlement from raids though. At first you'll spend a lot of time harvesting berries and mushrooms for food. But after doing a bit of research (accomplished by writing books) you'll be able to unlock new technologies like farming. Tailoring, smelting, advanced building techniques, and more can be discovered. I assume you don't know basic things, like farming, because everyone who knew died from the plague. In many ways, you're starting over. Rebuilding civilization from nothing.

Let's Get Building.

Constructing buildings is another part of Going Medieval that is especially good. As you advanced your technology you can build more elaborate structures. And you can have some good fun designing the buildings your people will live in. Including a castle, once your people re-invent working with stone.

Closing Thoughts.

The game is in Early Access on Steam. And the developers were kind enough to provide me a free copy to play and review. There are other similar games out there, but I feel like Going Medieval is worth playing, largely because of the building and base defense. And their Roadmap for future development has some cool stuff on it like Settlement Diplomacy, Raiding Other Settlements, and Mounted Siege Weaponry. Which sounds like making friends with your neighbors, or going to war with them, could be a big part of the game's future. They also want to add Taming Wildlife and Animal Husbandry, which would make the more peacefully farming side of the game really neat too. This game is pretty good right now, has a lot of potential to be great in the future.