Stuck in Steam Early Access for almost five years, the Purple Lamp and GolemLabs game The Guild 3 has finally made its full release. With their 1.01 going live in early June, the developer’s efforts have finally paid off with the full release. We got our hand on a copy with the Purple Lamp and GolemLabs release. So check out our review of the full release of The Guild 3 and find out how it is.
Story: A tale of dynasties and trade that lacks a bit of substance
Set throughout various European locations during the Middle Ages, starting in 1400. A time that would see an end to an era dominated by nobles and the clergy. A time that would be the beginning of free, prosperous cities full of trade and growth. Tucked in between the narrow cobbled streets of the city or the dusty pathways that lead outside the city is where you’ll make your fortune. Starting from the bottom as a lowly commoner, you’ll begin your lineage with a single business.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much of a story to accompany you as you grow your business empire. Instead, this enterprise management game will have you dealing with rival families and using your skills to get out of situations. Still, as you play, you find this is solely centered on repeatable actions that will only be shown through experience, currency, and influence gains, not by any meaningful interactions between characters.
Gameplay: Managing an empire one establishment at a time
The road to success begins with the choice of game conditions. Before we start the game, we have to determine our character’s appearance, dynasty colors, and, of course, the city where we have to move up. Then, from external components, we smoothly pass to practical matters. For example, the initial capital and position in society, whether to start as a poor man with a couple of pennies in his pocket or as a city dweller with some capital. And although it’s not at all necessary to start from the social bottom and discover the fascinating world of begging, it’s much more fun starting from the bottom.
It’s also worth noting the conditions for victory in The Guild 3: whether it will be the achievement of absolute power over the region, the receipt of a valuable fortune, or, say, outstanding economic achievements. But the primary choice will be that of your starting skill, which will determine what you will do at the beginning of the game. You’ll have your choice of professions from fishing or farming if you like to provide food for the city’s inhabitants. You can also provide medical services through herbalism or manual labor via pottery or copper processing. Several “free” professions are also presented: minstrels, gravediggers, and robbers, which were our favorite paths during our review of The Guild 3.
Characters will have parameters many will find in role-playing games like strength, intelligence, and charisma. But the influence of these parameters a felt very little on the gameplay as you progress through the game. It will be noticed that from craft to craft, little changes on how one will accomplish tasks in each, Build your establishments, hire employees and carriers responsible for creating and selling goods. You can monitor the production of goods if you choose to, manually refilling each establishment’s queue. You’ll find that using the automatic queuing feature will create greater ease of gameplay, especially once you own a handful of establishments.
Unfortunately, with little difference in how each craft plays, things will become depressingly tedious by the middle of the game. This Enterprise management game doesn’t involve cunning tactics or intelligent calculation to become a business magnate. But instead, through a sequence of the same actions repeatedly, except at a grander scale and with more room for events to happen and shake things up.
Graphics/Audio: A living world that grows and changes
While The Guild 3 can be tedious at a certain point within the game, what players will find with The Purple Lamp and GolemLabs game are beautiful middle-aged Europe cities alive with people moving throughout, conversing, and making a trade. A world that is happening even when your there just doing your own thing, the developers managed to build cities full of life, even when things become overly tedious. Running the game speed at higher speeds will take the sting off some of the tedium there, but it’s worth slowing things down to look at how these beautiful cities grow.
Conclusion: A tedious but one-of-a-kind experience
What you’ll find within the Purple Lamp and GolemLabs game is not something you can find anywhere else. Even if the game doesn’t exactly do what it does well, you’ll see a game that offers glimpses of a game that can be enjoyable, entertaining, and engaging. With so many clever ideas and in a setting that is just as interesting as any, it’s unfortunate that it has difficulty getting out of its own way.
If you want to check out the Purple Lamp and GolemLabs game after reading The Guild 3 review here, you can find it available on Steam for $29.99. Additionally, you can learn more about the developers Purple Lamp Studios and GolemLabs by heading over to their development pages to follow any other projects.
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