Nebuchadnezzar | NEW City Builder Game like Pharaoh, Caesar & Zeus? (REVIEW)
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 27 сен 2024
- Nebuchadnezzar is a new city builder that will seem very familiar to fans of the old Impressions City Builder games like Pharaoh, Caesar and Zeus. It takes the old visual style and isometric angle and takes it to a previously unexplored area - ancient Mesopotamia. With 13 or so missions of gameplay, Nebuchadnezzar brings a game that pays homage to the classics - but does it match them, tower above them, or crumble unfavourably? Should you buy Nebuchadnezzar? Find out in this review.
Follow me on Twitter: / _partyelite
Become a member: / partyelite
Support me on Patreon: / partyelite
Send me a Tip: streamlabs.com...
Join us on Discord: / discord
#Nebuchadnezzar #CityBuilder
Nebuchadnezzar is a very impressive job for a team of two developers - there are some great elements, but there are also a few key misses. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts as well, whether you've played, are looking forward to it, or have a different opinion to mine in general. I'll be keeping my eye on the game as it gets post-launch support to see if those gaps get filled. This could be a very solid game, especially with mod support and future additional missions/scenarios!
You should review Foundations if you havent already it has the monument notion your missing in Nebuchadnezzar, thanks for the review!
Okay, I had been following this for a couple of weeks now, but I had no idea the development team was so smal...
There are two devs there...so what. Does it apologize the fact there is lack of important mechanics? I am not talking about complex things, just simple ones like happyness or paying taxes/wages. Workers and resources is a game by one developer, Mashinky is game by one developer, FACTORIO was made by one or two devs...and those are absolutely mind blowing games. I think Valheim is created by two devs also... Developers claimed so many times this is not Pharaoh, and they are right. I will play Pharaoh years later I forget that this game exists. It seems they are totally deaf to what community is asking for and still repeating "this is not Pharaoh". I asked them what is the challenge in this game one and half week ago, after seeing some gameplays, and they said "money"...really? Oh, and I almost forgot, releasing the game in this state, in the same year as Pharaoh remaster was announced is suicide... Only hope here is mods, but it is sad we have to wait until community makes this game good.
Zeus was my childhood game. It was so good, with all the gods, heroes and monsters present within your city.
Trying to best the other cities, watching them rise and fall, properly manage your economy and go to war with your elite troops, that take a ton of resources and care to build up. Building Temples to fit the needs of your city or strengthen already presents assets and having to shift your entire economy towards the project, by cutting of trade-routes or opening up new ones, while making a deficit, just to gain an advantage.
It seems all of that is missing here and that makes me sad :(. Had high hopes for the game, but it seems to be just another Lethis, that aims for the nostalgia, without any of the things, that made Zeus, Pharao and Caesar such classics.
Zeus was an improvement over pharaoh and caesar, with lots of new mechanics like being able to manage different cities and for the first time being able to receive help instead of only being forced to provide it to others. I didnt play this nabuchanezzar yet, but if this kind of thing is what you mean by "misses", well, then it's just the way pharaoh and caesar 3 were.
Really appreciate that you manage to express your criticism in such a respectful way! It seems rare these days.
Am personally still really looking forward to the game, though I guess I was already planning on injecting my own challenge by trying to push the residential layouts to the max, (now that we're not "forced" to do loops like in the old games).
But I wouldn't mind if the devs do end up adding in more constraints and challenges. I can see making the prestige system harsher being a good start, so that you get "punished" for having low level housing and so that you really need the foreign relations and trade income to reach the higher prestige goals. But we will see, I am keeping my fingers crossed!
Thanks! It's definitely a challenge in and of itself trying to say "I didn't love it personally, but if you are looking for x y z, you might like it"
Would love to hear your thoughts when you get a chance to play it!
For most games, I don't care that much about visuals as long as the game is fun. But for city builders, a good looking game is of major importance to me. I want to build a big beautifull city. I want to just stand back and look at it. I want my city to feel alive. Can't get that with such a game. Not every game genre are necessarely improved by better visuals, but for me, city builders definitely are.
I can picture playing this on Windows XP
The visuals are sufficient, but this is more Caesar II than III, perhaps without the wider world context for trade, events, and invasions.
@@flyingisaac2186 from what I have heard, i agree
Monument building was always the highlight for me in those older games, hope they update it a bit.
Monument building was what I liked the least about pharoh and thankfully it was not present on other sierra games. I mean, 3 hours to get a pyramid done is ridiculous.
For an indie game at its price point, I thought it was a nice nostalgic trip. It definitely needs a "war, poverty, and diseases" DLC to be comparable to the Impressions titles. Infinite money sandbox mode is sometimes fun but gets old pretty quickly.
I don't know PE, I think the issues with this game go further back than just the core experience being easy, it was the choice to continue developing this at all. To quote Tynan Sylvester (RimWorld) from an AMA several years ago:
"The markets people know about are saturated, because people know about them. A big piece of advice I'd give is: look at the market and try to figure out where the under-served parts are. What kinds of games do players want but can't get? Entering an already-saturated genre is a recipe for death. I think I could make a decent military shooter FPS, but I'd make like no money off it even if it was objectively fun, because that market is utterly saturated by big hyper-polished AAA releases. RimWorld was really deliberately targeted at a market that had a need that wasn't filled. I know there are other markets like that. So the real first challenge might not be making the game at all. It's very carefully and deeply inspecting and understanding the market to see where the need is."
The main problem with this game is that it's already another game, and another, and another, with about 10 more ancient city builders to follow over the next year or so. Not to mention the other juggernaut city builder and resource management games already on the market. At least Workers and Resources tried to find their niche. The profound lack of creativity on display here is the problem. That's a harsh critique, I know, but I think it's justified. As game culture matures and game history competes with with innovation, there's always the temptation to look back. That may work for Microsoft and Age of Empires, it didn't work out as well for Blizzard, so the idea that two, albeit well-intentioned devs, wanted to remake something from an earlier era of gaming was the original sin, the first major misstep. I understand that making games is difficult, profoundly difficult, and time-consuming, so not figuring out in advance that your efforts might be wasted, that's just a shame. It's tragic and demoralizing. To leave this on a more positive note, I sincerely hope the devs learn from the experience and move on to a new original project where they can find great success. From what they've achieved with Nebuchadnezzar, It's clear they have a great game in them.
You are right but only to a certain point. Pharaoh is an old game and few people under 25 have played it. If it got re-released on steam with a fresh coat of paint, I think it would be fairly successful. Look how successful Frostpunk was. It's more challenging than Pharaoh and the premise is very innovative, but Pharaoh is better in just about every other way.
Oh... what do you know. Thanks to a very helpful review on the Pharaoh + Cleopatra Steam page, I just learned that there is a remake in the making! Yes!!!! Pharaoh : A New Era !!!
@@expression3639 There are several YT channels that have shown gameplay from the new Pharaoh if you're interested.
But to be clear, I'm not saying people shouldn't try to develop new versions of older games or attempt to recapture something retro, only that if they're going to, for their own best chances at success, they need to know there's a place for it in the market, and that ideally it needs some kind of creative spin, otherwise you might as well just play the original game. Like Age of Empires (II), Pharaoh is a great example of the latter, updating the original game. A title like Dusk (retro shooter) is a great example of the former, a creative spin on an existing, genre-defining, set of titles (Id). Nebuchadnezzar doesn't really manage to do either. As I said, it's a shame.
Passion projects aside, I think sometimes indie devs, especially newer, younger ones, think that because game development is difficult and time consuming, their hard work should be rewarded carte blanche, forgetting there's a market of consumers who decide what they want to play. And the more crowded that space, the more difficult the job is to get noticed and to stand apart. There's a reason people know Lucas Pope, Bennett Foddy, and (to a lesser degree) Mike Bithell (and in another league altogether, Hideo Kojima), they lead with their original ideas. Not everyone needs to sell a million copies, few will ever hit the jackpot like Valheim has most recently, but presumably people want to make back their development costs and have enough left over to live and hopefully make another game. It's crappy to accept that you need to be a pragmatic realist in a creative industry, but, simply put, you do.
Anyway, I've gone on too long already. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and stay safe!
interesting. I wasnt going to get it either way, but from what you say it really does seem lackluster.
What the game is is usually the sandbox style in other games in addition to their normal stuff :D .
That's a great way to put it, yeah, hah. It's too bad really, cuz otherwise it's pretty solid!
I really appreciate the review. I have been looking forward to buying this game, but was trying to keep my expectations in check prior to launch, because this is a two-man Indie project and not all of those work out so well. Based on what I had previously seen, I had likened this game mostly to Banished, which is a pretty zen and easy village builder. However, that game did have fires and winter to contend with. Starvation could destroy a poorly planned village. So, there was at least some difficulty even though the game was otherwise pretty easy.
I’m disappointed to hear that there isn’t even that little bit of difficulty here, because I honestly can’t be asked to sit there with a really cool lego set, putting buildings and utilities together, if none of it has any weight to it. Disease, fire, corruption, and starvation would have been enough to keep me engaged, because I never felt like war was a satisfying part of those classic games you mentioned. However, if these aspects are missing from the game that is something I can’t ignore. I’ll keep an eye on this game, but it looks like Imperator: Rome 2.0 and the Marius Update will keep me well-occupied for now.
We need a fresh Zeus, the gods and heros were really something else
Thought this was a really good review and seems like it meshes well with my immediate thoughts on the game without having even played it. An immediate, squealing joy at the potential for nostalgia and good gameplay turning into a bit of a deflated sigh from a lack of developed core gameplay mechanics and rewarding loops.
Awesome stuff, thanks :)
That's a shame, I was looking forward to this. I remember spending days playing through the caesar 3 campaign in my early teens, I was hoping it would recreate that experience. :(
Nice in-depth review! I overheard the game doesn't have any sort of environmental and ambiance sound effects. Is this true? You'd expect quite a variety of noises in the hustle and bustle of a city like this.
I miss this type of games like EMPEROR RISE OF THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
Would love to see you go back to this game now it's had a few more mechanics added
At this point I think this might be a better option than the remaster of Pharaoh, which I hardly consider a remaster at all as it's just the exact same game redrawn and it's long overdue and at the end of the day it's the very same game from 23 years ago. This is the kind of game that kept me entertained when I was a kid and even today I play once and a while the same old games. Perhaps I'll enjoy this even more if it feels fresh in any way (at least on the account of being a different civ other than romans greeks and egyptians from ild sierra games).
seems like a shame they arent releasing this in Early Access... really does sound a little hollow without some of the trickier management features of Zeus and Emperor
Nice coverage, Cheers!
I feared the simplified Monument building when I saw the trailer. Sad to see those fears were justified.
I'll wait for the pharaoh remake.
Think I will stick with Anno 1800 for now, I do hope it gets better as I'm interested in this but after seeing your review it looks like it still lack a lot of things, the devs have a long way ahead of them
What I hated about that game was managing the warehousing...
Very helpful review, thanks!
Is there anything like this for switch? I miss these impressions city builder games
don't worry, you are not alone as a old school city building player seeking a challenges in the game.
Good review. Mirrors what I saw elsewhere from a very different-minded reviewer, as well.
Shame it's not challenging. And is there no sandbox mode?
Thank you for the review. I've played Caesar (2,3), Pharaoh, Cleopatra, Poseidon ... so when I saw this video I thought "yey", but after the video it is really a ney :(
Without challenge what's the point...
Try Emperor Rise of the new kingdom
www.gog.com/game/emperor_rise_of_the_middle_kingdom
@@XtOfjeChristopheClaeys Thanks, i didn't know that one. The Feng Shui property seems funny :D
@@Torresmos yeah I like that aspect in the game very much 👍
You can also set a wide-screen 'hack' and don't forget to install the patch also.
Look into the forums for some help and download some cities to look at the dynamics etc....
I wasn't necessarily going to buy it either way but still bit of a shame especially since Mesopotamia is a rather underutilized and very fascinating setting for video games. Personally am not to fond about the visuals either, but that might simply be a lack of personal nostalgia, having never played Pharaoh or Zeus ^^
I guess we're gonna wait for that pharaoh remake! Was really hoping this game would be good but it seems as shallow as Sumerians.
A challenge to make it a challenge? Challenge accepted??? Wait...
Its challanging to write a reply sometimes
@@thehaberdash True - words won't come or else I babylon far too much :D
@@_natalie you rock at making puns. I am Syria-s.... i guess Iraq too
It's 2021, we dont need mandatory tutorial missions on games anymore.
You don't, but the 10 year old kid playing a strategy game for the first time does.
Good review. I'n not a fan of the visuals, but it seemed promising. Its a shame about the lack of challenge/underlying mechanics you mentioned - seems Pharaoh is still the King of city builders (which is being remade by a new dev!)
Thanks for the coverage. I was pretty excited about the game but since I saw how it turned out I no longer consider buying it. GamerZakh had the same opinion and delivered it to devs directly, and they stay adamant on the claim that their game will not feature any of those things like disasters, fire or crime. Pretty shame, because in my (and not only my) opinion, this was the thing that made Impressions games exciting.
Maybe some moder will figure it out for them 😄
Do you think this is a good game for somebody who wants to get into these types of games? To learn the Mechanics of this genre? Before the remakes of the more challenging games come out.
I think atleast one of the maps shown in this video is straight up ripped from Pharaoh
But here's the thing. Its not like pharoh caeser or zeus
Good review which saddens me somewhat as so much could have been added and nothing really stands out as being innovative.
When I was watching I did think that at 7:12 you were spelling the word "SUCK" - well you almost did.
The first review that I read on Steam noted...
No military.
No religion.
No entertainment.
No crime.
No taxes or upkeep.
No building fires.
No building collapses.
No natural disasters.
Small maps.
I think that I'll pass on this one and wait in hope for Pharaoh: A New Era.
Can some people just take the likes of emperor, Zeus or pharaoh source code and make some overhaul mod like add extra contents, modern UI?
We're getting Pharaoh and Cleopatra joined into one remastered game later this year!
@@PartyElite Wow!! Thats a dream come true, hoping to see you do an early playthrough
You should give Distant Kingdoms a try!
"Nebuchadnezzar is a very impressive job for a team of two developers" This a key point that should be highlighted and to be honest you didn't address that nearly enough. While I am not saying lets give them a free ride and not highlight issues, to achieve what they have done with TWO people is impressive. While your criticisms are valid and excellently explained as ever it is still a beautiful looking game that can offer a relaxed gaming expierence. I think it was a tad harsh almost dismissing this casual aspect and easy to play nature. I would almost welcome the chance to build an ancient city without the stress of the game sticking one to me because I failed to deliver 2 grapes to caesar in record time (caesar 3). Not everyone is after a b*lls to the wall stress fest every time they approach a city builder.
It is important to recognise, highlight and support smaller indie dev teams as they have to start somewhere, other wise games and teams like this will disappear and we will be left in a world where on the big dev house ever produce anything.
Yep this is always the fine balancing act. It's why I mentioned the positives first, and even mentioned a couple times (though perhaps a little dismissively, it seems) that this works for folks looking for a more casual and worry-free experience. Reviews always come from the reviewer's perspective, and it all boils down to the fact that the game often felt like a chore rather than a challenge for me - and i definitely like a challenge. As always, thanks for the feedback! I appreciate the opportunity to improve and hone my approach.
@@PartyElite cheers for the fast response, I may have come across a bit hostile which was not intended. Yes it tough from your point of view, its certainly one I will keep an eye
Not at all mate! You've been with the channel for so long, I knew it was all positive vibes =)
@@PartyElite been messing about a bit on YT that has got me looking a lot more at indie devs and paying more attention to them. Have you tried the Timberborn demo? Evolved beavers with dynamite surviving the apocalypse, loads of fun
One can hear the disappointment in your voice, but maybe you fell for a bit too much hype/hope?
Looks a bit like a version 1.0 to me. All the important stuff is there, but the crazy stuff is yet to be released. I feel you should have said it's two people. We have to measure our expectations depending on if it's an Ubisoft quadruple A boast trying to steal $80 by reskinning the same game over and over or a $20 indie game trying to recreate and expand on an existing idea. Presumably, and looking at the resources available for example, the two devs are dedicated. If they indeed intend to make it heavily modable, then they can have extra hands to add all kinds of crazy stuff later on and you can pick and chose for the experience you want, like in total war. I'm not a huge fan of the art-style myself, but this is a game dev story I would like to see end with a success.
I think a major part of it, especially with smaller teams, comes down to resource allocation. Just as an example - Did we really need monument customization rather than things that add a layer of challenge? People will naturally have different answers to that question - my personal preference is for the latter.
And while I do like to get excited about prospects, fear not - I keep a level head and check my hype, always. Positive vibes until it's review time - unless it's clearly gonna be a bad time from the start haha.
I sincerely hope to see the game get upgrades and I will definitely revisit it if/when it does. It's got a good foundation - and it's definitely good for folks after a more chill vibe, as it stands.
@@PartyElite I definitely get your point on resource management. It happens for all sizes of studios. Even big ones work months on an update that does nothing useful pretty often. Seems to me like these devs probably developed what excites them first? Which by looking at it seems to be lots of different supply chains and 100% control on the layout?
Hopefully they hear the critique and work on some extra stuff now. Fingers crossed that it becomes a great game! If not with just the devs, maybe modders can help. Modders have extended my enjoyment of TWWH enormously, for example.
Is there a sandbox mode ?
I think scenarios and mods might eventually implement that!
That moment when you realise that 20 years old game is still better than this...
Such a shame i was really looking forward to it but by the sounds of it it needs a lot of work
Is this a port? Remake? Or is the dated style of graphics intended?
pfff ... it's a great game
The remake seems awful so far.
What "visual accomplisments?" The game looks like it is from 1998. Sad!
You think we didn't see that sub building placement at 4:42? We saw.
=P I did it twice for good measure
Bummer. Was looking forward to it but deal breaker on the issues
For me, that is good thing. I just want to build a nice place, not to worry about anything :)
Would be nice to have some raids or such so I can satisfy my slaughterlust by building perfect def., but I can live without :)
Played all from Zeus, Caesar, Pharaoh and Emperor, Think graphic wise, it looks more like Pharaoh.
Those shortcomings are very disappointing. The game looks beautiful and clearly there is a good economic network aspect...but there's nothing driving the game it seems.
I am not a fan of adding things like external threats, or random events, like fire or storm. It these things can be controlled by the player, to be zero, with proper design, maybe. But I don't want this game to get into city management, with taxes, many layers of stuff, military, etc. I like the logistics and puzzle part, withing fixed bounduaries of the map (otherwise it would be too easy). However, I wish there was more challange. For example, if there was a cost to keeping things alive, things breaking, unless you spend resources to fix them, or keep them running. Maybe make some resources dry out, after getting them out from the area (i.e. clay). The irrigation mechanic is nice, but too simplistic. I wish there was more to it. Not only for farms and crops, but also distributing water to rich areas for fountains, or irigiating city plants and trees, that would be nice. Right now, you can just plop some fancy trees and plants, and forget about it. It should instead incur constant cost all the time to keep them alive. For irigation, it would be also great for the canals to take time and irigiate land, not do it instantly. Plus, maybe some maps, where you have a finite amount of water seasonally, or from some lake, so you have extra puzzle challange, how to optimially use water. Other nice challnage would be to deal with crowded strees, limit their capacity. As well a challange of dealing with trash, and other sanitary matters. A bit of extra variety with land, would be also good. I.e. different types of soil, responding differently to irrigation, or different crops, etc.
very disappointing to see
So go back and play Pharoh again. Got it. It's unfortunate. I had this on my Steam watchlist and was really looking forward to it.
Skip this one. OK
ZeR
I had high hopes for this game. But all reviews seem to agree that, without any challenge, there's no point in playing, unless you simply want to build a nice looking city. Hopefully they can add some challenge and hopefully it'll be a free update, rather than a paid DLC.
Glad I'm not the only one who has said as much. Finger crossed for a big patch that adds challenges in some ways - wages for employees is a quick fix that didn't occur to me until literally seconds ago. Would force the players hand, financially, the more they expand.
But we'll see!
YASSSS
are we back in 1999 ??
Visually? I think the game looks great. But I had a soft spot for the aesthetic and the isometric city builders, so the nostalgia is strong with me
When is next planet zoo