In September 2021, Medieval Dynasty , came out from the studio Render Cube (published by Toplitz Productions).
The genre? A city-builder with RPG undertones, dusted with survival action. A delicious blend I only discovered recently (read: a week ago...).
The concept is straightforward: you play a character who is granted permission to settle on a plot of land in the region, where you build and develop your farm, then your hamlet, and eventually a full town. The only condition? Pay your taxes every spring.
How you grow your village is entirely up to you.
Gameplay Driven by the Seasonal Cycle
The cycle of seasons sits at the heart of Medieval Dynasty's gameplay.
Elles influencent 4 éléments majeurs du jeu:
- Weather, which affects the food, clothing, and shelter needs of both the player and their inhabitants.
- The environment, with a growth cycle governing fields and nature as a whole.
- Tasks to complete, balancing resource management to survive winter with preparations for spring and summer construction.
- The life of the kingdom, including the unavoidable tax due each spring.
As a result, gameplay loops naturally follow this seasonal rhythm. Beyond the purely game-mechanical dimension, the developers wanted to highlight a historical reality that touched all of medieval Europe — a major common thread with Kingdom Come: Deliverance 1 & 2, which placed realism at the core of its gameplay, as I discussed this article).
Every decision must be weighed through the lens of immediate need versus future need. Spring is critical for choosing crops, since food needs to last through winter. Autumn is the last window to stock up on firewood and begin planning for the year ahead. Each season has its advantages and drawbacks, and priorities must be adjusted based on what the village needs and what you're actually able to deliver at that moment.
The Game's Gameplay Loops
To summarize concisely, Medieval Dynasty's gameplay loops break down as follows:
- Micro-loops
- Moving around
- Gathering natural resources (spot a resource → interact → collect the item)
- Crafting (open a workshop or workbench → select a recipe → craft an item)
- Fighting enemies (ranging from wild boars to bandits)
- Session loop
- Constructing buildings and farming areas
- Developing fields (plow → fertilize → sow → harvest)
- Exploring the region (set out to explore → gather resources needed for a specific goal (build a structure, resupply the village) → return to camp)
- Macro-loop (spanning one season, repeated yearly)
- Managing the seasons (prepare crops in spring → manage production in summer → harvest in autumn → survive winter → pay taxes in spring)
- Developing infrastructure (construct new buildings → recruit inhabitants → assign villagers to roles)
- Completing main quest objectives to advance to the next chapter of dynastic progression
- Méta-boucle
- Growing your dynasty across multiple generations (marriage, children, succession)
- Climbing the feudal hierarchy (from peasant to king)
- Unlocking new technologies, buildings, and mechanics as chapters progress
- Building a prosperous, self-sufficient village as the ultimate end goal
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