Hey all. I’m back with an ancient Japanese society type of town builder and action-packed survival title that recently launched fully for the PC on Steam. It’s my Sengoku Dynasty review.
Plot: The plot of Sengoku Dynasty is that you, the player, are a peasant who is tired of all the warring between various samurai during the Sengoku Era in Japan, also known as the Warring States era, having traveled to an island alongside other peasants to build a new home for yourself in a place called the “Peasant Kingdom.”
Unfortunately for you, your ship is destroyed in a storm, and you wash up on the shore of the land wearing the clothes on your back and that is it. You have no supplies or other friends beyond one other peasant you knew before, and a nearby ruin of a village that you can rebuild and start anew. You will begin with a single house and eventually forge a dynasty from there.
To do that, you will be mining, collecting, and farming resources. You’ll also be building helpful structures, growing your population, and eventually fostering a thriving economy and community. You will also be fighting bandits and other enemies as you expand your realm into new parts of the map. Comparisons will probably be made to Manor Lords or to the other similar titles published by Toplitz Productions. Those are fair comparisons, although Sengoku Dynasty is also highly unique in a lot of ways.
One really nice feature is that you can fully customize the title however you like to make the sandbox and overall experience perfectly cater to your preferred playstyle. This includes different game modes and settings, and there’s even the ability to fully disable the combat system so that you can enjoy a peaceful builder if that is what you prefer. The peaceful option is also a good one to help learn the system without the added pressure of having to fight. Sengoku Dynasty is designed as a single player experience, but it can also be played with up to four other people if you want to bring friends along to help out.
Gameplay: The gameplay is pretty good, and it plays a lot like other games in the survival genre. It’s even like Minecraft in a lot of ways. You are heavily encouraged to expand your village beyond just yourself and your one friend that washed ashore with you. But unlike Minecraft, the combat system in Sengoku Dynasty is a bit more advanced and nuanced.
For example, in combat you can block your opponent’s attacks and have your attacks blocked as well. You can also employ multiple types of weapons ranging from small knives to really big Eku (it’s like a really big oar that can be used like a club). You can even eventually make and use bows. And yes, you should definitely learn to block attacks and counter if you don’t want to die to the first few bandits you come across like I did.
Honestly, the gameplay in Sengoku Dynasty is fairly solid all around and really supports the ability to build up and expand your holdings. The only complaints I have are that, first, you can’t swim (it will in fact kill you), and there’s also the fact that the seasons only last four days at most. For the seasons, I would prefer more time to build things up before moving on. The game even lets you skip the rest of the season after the second day, but I would highly encourage others not to do so. The extra time allows you to build up your village before winter and start stockpiling supplies for various special projects around the valley.
You will need to use your limited time to do things like rebuild bridges and shrines. You should also construct watchtowers that you can assign villagers to work in just before the season ends. These are highly necessary projects if you want to move on from your initial village and liberate other regions in the valley. Expanding your realm unlocks new places to build more villages and increase your available resources. Then your villagers can gather more critical supplies like tin or specialized trees used for construction. In this way, you will constantly be growing and expanding your domain while also protecting and supporting what you already have.
Art: The art is fairly decent. While it’s not quite AAA in quality, it’s not bad either which is fine since my computer is no graphical powerhouse. Maybe when Sengoku Dynasty is released on the PlayStation 5, which is currently scheduled for next year, the graphics will have been given an upgrade. But it looks fine now and runs well even on more modest gaming PCs.
Music: The music fits the title’s theme but is not really something that you will likely notice too much.
Overall: Sengoku Dynasty is a fun title, especially for those who enjoy building and expanding a growing society or empire. I really enjoyed sinking quite a bit of time into Sengoku Dynasty, and I plan to continue to do so after finishing this review.
For those who like: Survival games, town building, action, customizable gameplay, good artwork, and titles set in ancient Japan.
Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above or a rather ordinary musical score.