Kaiserpunk: Mixed City-Building Bliss and Boring Battles Ahead

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Thanks to the popularity of games such as “Cities Skylines” and “Frostpunk”, it seems that innovative city builders are popping up all over the place nowadays. Fans of this genre have been transported to a range of fantastical settings, space exploration, and tasked with constructing cities in numerous environments. This month, they’re being taken on another exciting journey with “Kaiserpunk” from Overseer Games. In this game, players are asked to create a city during an alternative 20th century and dominate the world. Although it offers a good city-building experience, there are several aspects of the game that could use improvement.

In Kaiserpunk, gamers are immersed in an alternate reality setting where they construct a potent city from scratch. They need to oversee resources, maintain citizen satisfaction, and fortify against potential attacks. As their city grows, they venture into the vast unknown, competing with numerous rival factions to leave their imprint. This fusion of genres promises an engaging gaming experience for quite some time. Yet, it’s worth noting that a few players might feel that the game may lose its momentum as playtime progresses.

Kaiserpunk Delivers a Nice Mix of Genres

At the onset of their Kaiserpunk adventure, players embark on the mission of cultivating a formidable city’s roots. Initially, they get to choose the location, leader, and aesthetic of their city, as well as design its unique flag. Furthermore, they have the option to style their military force after Germany, Russia, or Western nations. Once satisfied with these decisions, they can commence their global conquest.

Just as a city-builder, they need to initially draw workers into their city by building necessary residences. Subsequently, they should continuously expand their city with structures like farms, industries that can produce advanced resources, and facilities that enhance morale such as schools. As they progress, it’s crucial that their production aligns with their requirements and they prepare for whatever the future may bring. Moreover, not only do they need to draw in various types of residents and unlock numerous new buildings, but also conflict seems imminent on the horizon.

As characters gain power, they should expand their horizons and assert dominance over their surroundings. To achieve this, they need to create armies within their cities and then send them into adjacent territories. Wars will take place on land, in the skies, and at sea, with the most formidable forces emerging victorious. With careful planning, the entire globe could eventually fall under their control.

In this strategy game, combat functions similarly to other games of its kind, offering a refreshing change from city development. Players deploy their troops to different territories, engaging in battles with whoever else is present. After the battle, they withdraw to regroup before the next round. When they successfully defeat the enemy unit, that territory becomes theirs, enabling them to build upgrades or fortify it with a garrison. Sometimes, their army also gains experience points, providing a diverse set of skills for players to select from. Once they’ve strengthened their forces, they can start over in another battle.

Some of Kaiserpunk’s Features Leave Much to Be Desired

In essence, the blend of city-construction and strategy within Kaiserpunk offers a generally satisfactory gaming experience, but falls short in several areas. To begin with, the cities appear devoid of life, as the streets are seldom populated by citizens, and the overall visual aesthetic is dull and monotonous, resulting in an unremarkable urban landscape. Moreover, the buildings lack distinct personality, making it difficult to tell one from another, sometimes even impossible. Unfortunately, there seem to be no user interface elements that highlight crucial structures, leading to confusion as important buildings can easily blend into the crowd.

Besides this, the game’s tech progression system presents a blend of advantages and challenges. Instead of investing points into a single tree or unlocking structures based on population thresholds, players earn points in three distinct tech trees based on their usage of specific building types. Each tree provides a variety of unlockables that are crucial to any city’s development. However, if players aren’t vigilant, they might advance levels without noticing, as the game only alerts them with subtle text in the corner. Furthermore, some levels only grant background perks, which can make the progression feel less rewarding than it could. Although it’s convenient that players don’t need to invest time into these trees, a more interactive experience would be preferable.

In the course of their journey, players will encounter various factions and need to interact with them diplomatically. However, the diplomacy system in this game is relatively basic, offering players just three dialogue choices when speaking with a leader: they can propose a military alliance, a trade agreement, or a scientific partnership, each resulting in the exchange of resources. The only other diplomatic action available is declaring war. Unfortunately, these leaders lack personality and have limited functionality, making for an underwhelming aspect of the game.

Ultimately, there appears to be no direct connection between actions like deleting, moving, or copying buildings and the buildings themselves in this game. Instead, players must click one of the five buttons in the game’s corner to perform these actions. Although this isn’t a major issue, it does feel unusual not to assign these functions to hotkeys. Considering the other problems mentioned earlier, Kaiserpunk seems to have several areas that could use improvement.

Kaiserpunk Has Strong Foundations Let Down By Its Many Issues

Despite all the discussion, Kaiserpunk is not a poorly made game; it simply fails to stand out. The city-building elements cater well to the expectations of genre enthusiasts, while the warfare component offers an intriguing deviation. Moreover, the game possesses sturdy foundations that, if further developed by the studio, could lead to something exceptional. However, the absence of captivating characters, the monotonous aesthetics, and the many underwhelming aspects significantly hinder the game’s potential.

Some gamers might appreciate certain aspects of Kaiserpunk, but others could find it offers a generally satisfactory approach to the genre. If previous games from the publisher are any indication, there’s a possibility that the game will be expanded with additional content to enhance the overall experience. For now, though, players must be patient and observe as more details unfold.

Kaiserpunk releases March 21, 2025 for PC. Game Rant was provided a code for this review.

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2025-03-21 16:07