Sengoku Dynasty First Impressions – GamesReviews.com

To say I could review Sengoku Dynasty would be an error – this is a big game with a lot going on, and the few days I’ve invested into the game isn’t enough to fully understand all the moving pieces here.

What I can say is that I haven’t been this invested in a survival game since ARK: Survival Evolved. Despite some minor technical issues and camera problems, I think Sengoku Dynasty is looking very promising, and the Japanese setting is fantastic.

Going into this experience, I had no idea what to expect, but I can guarantee you it wasn’t what I ended up experiencing. Some of the systems took time to understand – building my first house in the village, for example, was a lot more difficult than it really should have been.  But like with any good survival game, you quickly adapt to the various in game mechanics and before you know it, you are chopping and building with the best of them.

There is a lot of stuff to manage, though, and that’s where this game is different from other survival games I’ve played. Getting your village up and running is all good, but you’ll need to support that village, everything from new buildings and repair supplies to protection against bandits (I assume they are bandits?). At times, I find the management a bit much to handle, not that anything is particularly hard, but there is just so much to keep tabs on.

Building out the village is incredibly satisfying, though, and as you need more for your village, you’ll have to venture further and further away to collect what you need. Again, this is a very rewarding way to slowly build up your village. The people you invite have similar backstories that do become repetitive, but keeping them happy and investing in their futures was a lot more fun than I thought it would be.

That doesn’t mean my first dozen or so hours in the Sengoku Dynasty haven’t been all smooth sailing. There have been some technical problems that made building and harvesting a bit more cumbersome than I would like (from time to time, not often) but the main issue I’m finding is the redundancy of the tasks. You’ll be fetching a lot of stuff, again and again and again. If that is your sort of thing, and you find those kinds of tasks relaxing and fun, there is a ton of that here for you to explore. Personally, I got tired of those quests over time, and even the jaunts into the forest to collect wood for buildings became a chore I wasn’t enjoying as much.

The game works as most of these survival games do. You construct basic tools that can be upgraded, and upgraded tools can harvest better stuff, and more efficiently too. It is a good way for the game to drip feed you new ores and woods, while providing a tutorial of sorts for how new items can be used. It’s a good system that’s been used for decades now, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Combat has been another area of concern for me. It’s overly difficult, and I’m not sure if it’s me or the game. The animations feel a bit off, and I didn’t always feel like my inputs were doing what I wanted them to do. This could be a simple skill issue, but it is an issue none-the-less, at least for me.

What I do know, though, is that there is a really good game here that I’m excited to keep playing, despite my reservations. I will have more on this game in a few weeks, so stay tuned to GamesReviews.com! For now, if you wanted a survival, city builder set in Japan, this is one to keep your eyes out for! 

Note: the above article written by Adam Roffel, posted by Daniel Fugate