If there’s one thing the whole gaming community can agree on, it’s that, despite their more slow-paced gameplay, city builders are among the most addictive titles out there. As someone who likes to play games of this genre casually, I’m always excited to see what’s next, and that is Theos: Cities of Myth. This title, developed by Triskell Interactive and published by Dotemu, brings an interesting take on city-builders with Greek deities giving you varied objectives to gain their favor as you build your utopia in this title packed with style, engaging mechanics, and the gameplay loop we all love.
Appeasing the Gods
I had the opportunity to try an early build of Theos: Cities of Myth, and while it offered just a glimpse of what will come down the line, I thoroughly enjoyed everything it offered, as it has a solid foundation of guided city-building but with a lot of freedom to let your creativity run wild.
Essentially, you’ll pick a scenario and follow whatever goals your deity gives you. Athena, for instance, is all about improving your civilization, so your first tasks are about raising your houses’ levels, providing food to your citizens, and focusing on trading in the latter part of the scenario.
As someone who likes a guided campaign, I was happy to see that Theos offered these objectives, as it always made me set my sights on one specific goal. However, there’s also a lot of freedom for you to do whatever you want in your city, and frankly, that’s what stood out to me.
In terms of mechanics, Theos: Cities of Myth has many that will feel familiar to fans of the genre. You have your houses that level up after meeting certain requirements, such as going from level 2 to 3 by providing food for your citizens. Then, you also have your produce systems, which, in this case, let me place barley farms to feed my population. One thing I liked about farming and gathering other materials is how they feel like a mini-game of sorts. For barley, for example, you need to use up to three field shapes before collecting barley, and you place them down in a Tetris-like way, thus encouraging you to find the best layout to get the most out of your crops.
Another thing I also liked is the pathing system, which allows you to configure paths easily for several of your service buildings. Take the fountain, for instance. You can create a path manually that sends water to all the areas you tell it to. Then, any adjacent service buildings will copy that path, making the micro-managing part of supplying your population or preventing risks much easier.
A Promising City-Builder
Even if my time with Theos: Cities of Myth was short, it is already showing a lot of promise. Its mechanics, while familiar to many, still feel quite unique and offer a lot of player freedom when it comes to managing or customizing a city. And, for those who might feel this genre is a bit daunting, the guided objectives ease up the pace and let you learn the ropes without feeling under pressure. So, those looking for a new and addictive city-builder will have a blast with Theos, which will launch later this year on PC.
