Reviews

• Vsync

  Dec 16, 2022

  Outstanding game! I can easily say that this game is definitely underrated. It is so much better than most of the alternatives here on Steam. I do believe this game will gain popularity at some point and if it doesn't shame on the gaming community. +The visual style is phenomenal +Gameplay is very balanced +Mechanics are smart and fun +Fair amount of replayability +Good support from the developer who releases every update by himself Kudos to the sole creator of Cliff Empire. It is a one-man show you should not miss. If you like city-building games with a twist get this game right away!!! I can't stress this enough.
• SonnyBone

  Jan 1, 2023

  Once I realized that the game only classifies grain as food, it all fell apart. The various facilities that create greens, fruits, fish, and wine do not count towards your food total. There's a specific goal that requires you to ship a certain amount of food to the orbital base. I sent hundreds of what I consider to be food... (fruits, greens, fish, etc) but the game wanted me to ship grains, so I failed the quest and had to pay a fine. This made me stop and realize that the greens/fruits/fish only count towards nutrition variety ... and your citizens will starve and leave your city in anger even though you have tons of edible food stored in warehouses. Once you figure this out, it may be too late and your city will come to a grinding halt as you reallocate your food production and replace it all with grain fields. How peculiar. I then started to peel back the layers of everything else and realized that not much else makes much logical sense. You have multiple cities connected by bridges but they all act independently of one another. You can't have a successful city that specializes in mining, one that focuses on growing food, and another that educates your citizens and produces money in office/IT type buildings. No, every city has to do everything because in order to send supplies elsewhere, they have to be bought and sold, not just transferred. Almost like you're playing a game of Monopoly by yourself. You can even take out loans if you're low on cash.... by borrowing from one of your other cities. You even have to pay yourself interest! There are some great concepts and ideas in here but it's not tied together well enough to entice me to play it multiple times.
• AirToob

  Jan 14, 2023

  For modest PC requirements and a modest price, provides a great deal of bug-free enjoyment. The game does come to an end after many hours, but you can play it again a few times by varying the choice of starting cliffs.
• WarmSpaceMan

  Jul 9, 2023

  Game's a fun chill experience in the beginning, but once things get moving difficulty skyrockets for seemingly no reason and the objectives just turn everything into an idle game. Watching my resource surplus blip out of existence while waiting for the cliff's structural supports to git built at the speed of smell is nothing short of agonizing. Some of the quirks of the game wear out their welcome rather quick too. Watching my citizens starve because of a sudden dip in food units while there's a metric tonne of fish, salads, apples, and grapes is funny the first time, but annoying every subsequent time it happens.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 25, 2018

  [b][i]Cliff Empire[/i][/b] shows an extremely promising start with a solid foundation to make it a complex and engaging city builder. You start with picking a spot on your cliff for a storage depot, which is dropped pre-built and loaded with resources and drones from a space station. From there you have a fairly specific building order that is explained by the comprehensive tutorial. You need a power source, residences, landing platform, food and water, battery charger, and portal for selling things back to the the space station. Batteries are used to keep power running in your city when your sources fail. Solar panels don’t work at night and wind can change from day to day. If you’re over-producing on power, the excess is charched into batteries that keep the power on, or can be used to build vehicles or even sold for profit. 3D printer factories can build consumer goods to sell and engines for your drones. For travel you build suspension bridges that allow trading between cities, which opens up the optimization possibilities. There are all kind of services to provide your people with health care and entertainment, and also a research system that can improve just about every facet of your cities. The concepts in [b][i]Cliff Empire[/i][/b] are strong and the building has quite a lot of strategy to it, but you can more or less solve it fast and you are then left with just maintaining the balancing. Should you get [b][i]Cliff Empire[/i][/b] now?. There is a solid foundation, but not a whole lot to do at the moment. I really enjoy what is there already and am excited to see what future development adds to the game. [b]THE GOOD[/b] - Solid foundation - Quite a few structures and goods to produce - Nice art style [b]THE BAD[/b] - Early Access - Not much to do when city is build - Limited data feedback [quote] [i]If you like this review, then please consider giving it a thumbs up. I've also reviewed other games that you might find interesting. If so then[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/27418263/] please click here.[/url][/i][/quote]
• gamedeal user

  Nov 1, 2018

  This is a stunningly good game for the price (7€)! Roughly it's like the Anno series : you build residences, provide for the residents, keep them happy, and make money. There's a very limited amount of space to build (especially at first), and throughout the game, lack of space is your foe. Every upgrade, every decision comes at the cost of precious space - and you'll need enough money and resources too. As you progress, you make "slight improvements". And some not so slight. These cause your cities to "flex" and you'll gradually tool each cliff to a certain task (e.g. food, fuel) and branch out into unexpected places (the not so slight changes). I was a bit confused by the medal/honor system. You get medals by weathering (usually literally) events. Each unlock of the medal tree is worth working for and radically changes the game. It's not _lacking_ balance (it's really well balanced) but it is lacking "why the heck is this city not balanced". You have to use your brain (and sometimes it can be a bit confusing). E.g. your farms are overproducing and so no one is eating the grain, but they continue to draw power so the reason you have no fuel is your drones are moving single units of grain around instead of uranium. There are plenty of ways to work around these situations (shut down a bunch of farms or prioritize the nuclear power plant), it's just identifying them that is a bit tricky. The very-late game probably needs a little TLC. Building the ground infrastructure is extremely slow, and the UI for ordering their parts is clumsy if you want to build them fast by dividing the work between hangars. (suggestion : make all hangars across the world share a construction list?). Another thing is the "dependency" between the ground drones and the resources they collect. Running out of uranium can cripple a whole cliff that is dependent on capsule enery. Also, I'd love to see, overall, how my city is (out of some "maximum potential). Am I anywhere near a perfect city? It's also pretty, the display is clear, it has good controls, and you can fly through the geometry in your own "president jet". Oh, and there is lots of variety. Perhaps 40 different basic buildings, plus variants, upgrades... I highly recommend this game! It took me totally off guard. I expected a budget city builder and got one of the best I've ever played.
• gamedeal user

  Jan 24, 2019

  [b]I value when a game tries to do something new, something a bit different, and [i]Cliff Empire[/i] surely puts a fresh and welcomed twist on the city builder genre.[/b] And all at a crazy low price-point, too. The whole thing is super polished, from the crisp and detailed artwork to the intuitive UI. I can't help but feel like the whole game is a giant toy set; the artwork and graphics really have this 'model train set' effect on me. And I love it. Walking around in first-person mode just feels surreal. [url=https://imgur.com/a/Nj8dq6O]test[/url] [i]Essentially, as with any city builder, you want to build a balanced city that thrives.[/i] So where is the twist? Well, this city doesn't need roads or power connections. Because space is limited on your little cliff, this is more of a [i]Tetris[/i] juggling excercise. But this doesn't mean that placement isn't strategic. You'll want your builder drones to have efficient paths, which means you'll probably want storage depots close to mining operations and farms, for example. I do want to again emphasize that the UI is exceptionally well done. Once you figure out what the bars represent - it is very easy to understand the state of your city. The tutorial is nice, albeit difficult. [b]Pros:[/b] +This is surely an interesting and welcome twist on the city builder genre +This is quite polished and feature-complete +The price-point is too low +The artwork is super crisp and fun +Walking around in first-person mode is icing on the cake (and I love the spotlight function for night time) +The tutorial is well done +The UI is remarkably elegant for this genre [b]Cons:[/b] -Now this is a deliberate design decision, but this is one of those games where as you are learning you will frequently get yourself into impossible situations (for example, if you don't build a mining operation - you will run out of material and not be able to build at all) [b]Well worth full price for fans of the genre.[/b]
• gamedeal user

  Apr 24, 2019

  tl;dr: Enjoyable, yet unforgiving. + Fun to play. + Looks nice. + Sounds good. + Very cheap. + Runs on potato. + No major bugs. + Various innovative features. + In spite of its compact appearance, it contains dozens of hours of content per playthrough. * The premise is bonkers. * Building placement often doesn't matter. - The finance system makes no sense at all. - English localization could be better. - Minor UI issues. - You will often have the game running in the background or overnight while you do something else, waiting a few hours for research to finish. - Will gleefully grind you into a fine paste if you ever overextend and will not give you a chance to get back on your feet. The learning process is a vertical cliff called "debt spiral", and by the time you notice it it'll be too late to do anything about it. - Later on you will have additional locations beyond your original three cliffs to manage, which in my opinion is a pointless distraction. Cliff Empire requires a combination of patience, frustration tolerance, and perseverance, but rewards the player with a very pleasant city building experience. I recommend it.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 28, 2019

  I love the game BUT there is one BAD BAD BAD thing that I want to call the attention to for devs. DEVS: Don't get me wrong I just love this game and addicting as heck. Devs, the first game I got dealt had edges on the cliff that where not bridge buildable. all of the edges were round all the way around. before starting a new game I tried just demolishing everything on the edge to see if I could put the bridge down to connect to the other ones. NO SPOT! If I had no been tenatious enough to just start a new game and figure I had done something wrong and tried out a new game, I might have asked for a refund. I want to say I don't recommend just because of this issue to get your attention. But I won't for now. NEW PLAYERS: After several hours I finally figured out that when you are starting a game ... immediately pause it and see if you can build a bridge construction site to the other places before you do anything. Some sides might not be squared off enough to build a bridge to connect the cliffs. work those connections out first... THEN pause the constructions on all the cliffs and continue game as normal. You shouldn't have to do this but since there is no warnings or part of the tutorial... figured I Would warn you all and give you the work around. IF you don't have an edge to build a bridges somewhere to get all the cliffs connected, then just restart till you get a game that you can. IF you see a beam looking connection between cliffs then don't worry about that one because one of the nearby cliffs will work with it and it will eventually build more of a solid connection on its own.
• Polemarchus

  Jul 9, 2019

        Cliff Empire не совсем типичная градостроительная стратегия. Среди прочих представителей своего жанра она выделяется специфичным дизайном, не совсем стандартной механикой развития города и собственным взглядом на его экономическое развитие. Кроме этого к разработке игры приложили основные усилия всего лишь два человека из команды Lion's Shade, которая в своё время вызвала мой интерес в качестве разработчика других игр - FootLOL и Tempest.

        Не смотря на столь выразительные качества, о существование этой игры не знают многие поклонники градостроительных игр, столь «голодных» на любые новые проекты в своём любимом жанре. Отчасти это связано с тем, что «ранний доступ» тянулся медленно, а также на протяжении всего этого срока широкой огласки игра не получила. Кроме того со стороны сразу заметен специфичный дизайн, что несомненно играет важную роль в качестве первого впечатления. Футуристический вид построек, ограниченная цветовая палитра и необычная концепция строительства и развития колонии могут могут вызвать не только интерес, а возможно даже и скепсис у потенциального игрока. В общем у этой игры сложился весьма стандартный путь самобытного инди-проекта, не претендующего на громкую огласку.

        Сюжет Cliff Empire происходит в недалёком будущем, когда человечество достигло определённых успехов в прогрессе и как подобает большинству постапокалиптических произведений совершила ряд роковых ошибок, поставивших судьбу цивилизации на грань вымирания. В результате ядерного конфликта поверхность Земли покрылась большим слоем радиоактивного тумана, из-за которого Земля перестала быть временно пригодной. Предусмотрев такой вариант событий, группа учёных создала специальные плацдармы среди гор под будущее строительство поселений и дальнейшее осваивание поверхности планеты человеком. Спустя какое-то время часть землян начинают возвращаться на родную планету и строить колонии на вершинах искусственных скал. Именно этим придётся заняться игроку.

        Геймплейно проект Lion’s Shade больше всего схож с играми серии «Anno». Поверхность каждой скалы разбита на квадраты различной величины, которые отведены под строительство зданий. Для их строительства доставка ресурсов происходит с орбиты, собственно как и осуществляется приток новых колонистов в новый мир. Сами платформы генерируются заново при начале новой игры. Их главными особенностями является независимое от остальных развитие, наличие отдельного набора уникальных ресурсов и бюджета. Однако это не значит, что игроку придётся всё время развивать их по отдельности, в последствии отдельные части можно объединить в одну городскую сеть и связать их между собой переправами.

        В начале игры нам предлагают установить площадку для высадки колонистов, пребывающих с орбиты. В зависимости от условий, которые предоставляет ваша колония своим жителям, они могут либо пребывать дальше, либо начать возвращаться назад. На это влияет множество факторов, в число которых входит экология, разнообразие пищи и комфортные условия для жизни. Экология является главным показателем престижности жизни на данном участке, зависящий от количества грязных видов производств, к примеру - от шахт. Эта проблема решается с помощью различных установок по очистке воздуха и воды, или с помощью парков. Основными требованиями является её разнообразие, что лишний раз мотивирует игрока создавать фермы по изготовлению разносортной пищи. И наконец комфортные условия для жизни достигаются с помощью производства мебели и бытовой техники для жилья, а также его снабжение различными гаджетами.

        Но обычными постройками выбор не заканчивается, так как в игре ещё есть уникальные сооружения. Часть из них является городскими службами, ведь пожары и набеги мародёров изредка случаются. Если же вы не успеете наладить своё производство и у вас начнётся дефицит в ресурсах, то на помощь могут прийти специальные «торговые порталы», позволяющие его восполнить. Спустя какое-то количество времени после начала игры можно построить университет, позволяющий создавать свои технологии, а с помощью уникального здания «лаборатория» можно открыть доступ к чертежам настенных построек.

        Cliff Empire это градостроительный симулятор, сочетающий в себе уникальный дизайн, постапокалиптический сеттинг и некоторые интересные идеи, пусть и не доведённые до совершенства. Несмотря на статус «раннего доступа», игра уже ощущается вполне завершённым проектом, над которым трудилось всего несколько человек и чей труд определённо стоит вашего внимания.