For anyone who’s ever wished for Age of Empires to be a more tranquil and peaceful experience, City Tales Medieval Era is here to scratch that itch. It’s a city builder set during the Middle Ages that allows you to grow your metropolis in peace, with some narrative elements to keep you on your toes.
The first new game from fledgling studio Irregular Shapes, City Tales Medieval Era is a city builder made by fans, for fans. The building game tasks you with constructing a sprawling medieval settlement, starting from little more than a woodcutter’s axe and a dream – what else? – to eventually having castles across the hillside and homesteads far and wide.
There’ll be over 60 buildings to choose from in modeling your medieval city, with some procedural generation to make each construction seem distinct. Likewise, some alchemy is required for proper placement, since neighbors and local wildlife both impact how a building grows and thrives. It might not be best to have your market right by the forest, for instance, or your church atop the local mountain-range.
In comparison to the likes of Civilization and the aforementioned Age of Empires, City Tales is touted as a “relaxing village simulator,” where you won’t be worrying about invasions or nuclear devastation. Myriad supporting characters grant some emergent storytelling, but it’s a bit more lo-fi than many other strategy games.
This goes right down to the art-style, which as you can see in the trailer, is easy on the eyes. It’s bright and colorful, meanwhile the UI looks clean and easy to navigate going by the first screenshots, too. It seems like a very pleasing project, and a strong start for Irregular Shapes.
City Tales Medieval Era is out on Steam Early Access in 2025. You can check out the Steam page for more info and wishlisting here.
In the meantime, have a look at the best medieval games if this has you in the mood to grab your sword and shield, and the best open-world games for more sandbox adventures.
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