Escape to a world before our time, where kings and queens once ruled. Are you a fan of other parts of time, and enjoy building a town all controlled by you? These medieval building games might just be the choice for you.
I have a feeling I would be a peasant or even a jester around the time, the idea of being a ruler is much better. So live out your dreams of being at the top of your kingdom and manage it to your liking.
Many of these games are still in early access, so there is still a lot of potential for them to grow.
Kingdoms Reborn
Travel back in time: Experience the lives of the Duchies, Emirates, Norsemen, Shogunate, or Tlatoa kingdoms. You can play both solo and multiplayer while you progress through different eras.
Choose from seven different biomes, each with different adaptations and strategies needed. Begin in a small town, growing it into an even bigger kingdom.
In the colony sim, grow your empire through the eras with yourself or others, navigating growth and technology through the ages. Adapt to your surroundings and form knowledge of your area through an ever-expanding game with much more cultures in store.
With the many veins of choices, the possibilities of time spent on this game could be endless. One gameplay can be drastically different than another.
Manor Lords
A new game released this April, Manor Lords, explores building a medieval village from the ground up. Lead and defend your once small hamlet into an empire.
Establish and spread your influence on the world through how well you take care of your kingdom and outer towns. Build your militia to take over different areas, increasing a diverse amount of resources.
Manage your resources building amenities, and increase your settlement level, which increases certain traits it will have. You also have a chance to expand your small village, conquering other regions to maximize your rule in the world.
Bellwright
Your story begins after you are framed for the murder of the crown Prince, in which you flee for your life from the town. Soon, you find the contract in your assassination–providing more than you being wrongfully framed. You venture to the same place you left to unfurl this mystery.
In the shadows of your old town, you build a Newfoundland with no knowledge of your alleged crimes. Following, you join up with various villages to seek revenge on the Crown’s wrongdoing to your name.
This game is very RPG and combat-heavy, not necessarily a sole medieval building game- but it does have its quirks. The main story is what drives the game forward, solving the mystery of it all alongside the gameplay.
Medieval Dynasty
Play with yourself or friends in creating a Medieval Dynasty in an open-world game, full of possibilities. In this survival RPG game, you create a town, building it, and your family dynasty.
Begin as a simple farmer or hunter paving their way to becoming a leader of the town.
Experience the four-season cycle while you hunt, survive, and build your town. Choose your family through NPCs, building relationships of all kinds within your medieval home.
One amazing aspect of this game is the art itself within an open world. Hunting is very enjoyable as you can see the environment around you, as well as different animals used in resources.
Foundation
Made with an original soundtrack, Foundation is a laid-back city and resource management game set in the Middle Ages.
Start on an empty plot of land with a few settlers and you let each other take the reigns of the layout.
Pay attention to what your villagers need the most. Depending on how well they live, your reputation can be carried across several estates in the realm.
A big part of this game is organic urbanization, where your villagers create their own paths and homes that you can work around. Create your world with no restrictions and maximize your resources.
Banished
With nothing but their clothes and a leftover cart with supplies, a group of exiled travelers find their new home.
In the middle of nowhere, your soon-to-be villagers begin to settle in their new homes with new jobs at hand. With over twenty different occupations, your village begins to grow.
The game is very resource-heavy, but very reliant on your villagers as their growing and multiplying is important to bring resources along. Manage both the jobs and resources to ensure the safety, health, and care of your people to grow the town.
What makes this game so different from others is that you will always be challenged to keep your village alive. If you are seconds into having a peaceful day, something new will happen to keep you glued.
Settlement Survival
A top-down survival game similar to Banished, you depend on resources to keep your town afloat.
This game is made with realistic aspects and risks such as the plague and other historical pandemics in the Middle Ages.
Interact with a trading system with outer kingdoms, and make your common currency. Help your village survive in order to fulfill your task.
Unlike a lot of these medieval games, the gameplay in Settlement Survival has a bright and colorful artstyle, making it easily approachable.
See the trailer here to see this world!
Going Medieval
A plague wipes out almost 95% of a village, leaving only a few survivors- can you help them find a new home?
In Going Medieval, you take back land that has been taken over by nature, other people, and animals. Over the course of time, you build a fortress and grow your town to what it once was.
All protection and care lies on you to ensure the life of your settlement.
A lot of the gameplay has to do with outer interactions from other villages versus the attackers who attempt to go in your walls. Interaction between your villagers is also very important in making sure they are safe within the fortress.
The concept around what would be considered apocalyptic of the time works great in any game.
The Wandering Village
On top of a wandering creature, there lies a little village surviving their day to day life while traveling along the great world. Adapt to your surroundings while ‘Onbu’ (the colossus) explores different biomes.
Environment and setting is ever changing around the little world. As Onbu travels, you travel alongside him, while managing internal troubles in the town, as well as external.
The artstyle comes to you in threefolds, where the colossus itself is 3d, the village resembles painting-like art, and the people look drawn. Differences in that perspective brings some beauty to the game itself, dividing these three things from one another, each having its own aspects.
dotAGE
This village takes the phrase “respect your elders” to a whole other level in this pixel-art game. You play as the elder who has visions about the future growth of the town, leading the people called “Pips.”
Lead the path in turn-based resource management, guiding your town to the right choices. Inspired by board game mechanics, turn-based buildings can have consequences to each turn.
Fulfill the prophecy by surviving events that are enacted in the village.
Diverse in the genre, the mix of pixel art as well as board game elements, it brings a new beloved game for someone who wants to try something new.
Farthest Frontier
This early-access game takes you into an unknown world with untamed wilderness right in front of you. In real-time, see your village bustling with life and interact with the environment around.
Survive the wild and grow your town into a new town. Collect and harvest materials for your village and defend the town against the world.
The toggle system of this game makes it great, so you can take the game at your own pace. If you’d prefer to relax and lay back, choose the easiest or go up to an even more challenging game.
Travelers Rest
Managing a tavern has never felt more cozy than this game. Akin to Stardew Valley’s setup, Travelers Rest takes you into farming, crafting, and cooking. Build your tools and resources to become the best tavernkeeper in the realm.
Customization options are endless for your tavern, where you can choose your layout, theme, and decor to bring in your clients. Finding new recipes adds to the customization, and can be discovered along with traveling the world. Earn money, and knowledge, explore, and enjoy the game as a barkeep.
The game is a lot laid back and chill with no real consequences brought to you by a number of villagers dying or a natural disaster wreaking havoc.
Kingdoms and Castles
Grow a tiny hamlet into a beautiful and busy kingdom. In a dangerous world full of threats, you plan around keeping your realm safe.
A beautiful world with many scenarios, experiencing real-life tree and plant growth throughout the game. Live through season cycles and much more.
Strategically build your castle around your people’s happiness and bring in more serfs along the way. Defend the kingdom, making sure no attacks or invasions can get in.
Graveyard Keeper
This game calls itself the “most inaccurate medieval cemetery management sim of all time.” Deal with ethical dilemmas managing a graveyard, doing whatever it takes to keep your business growing.
Live in a medieval world doing one job, managing the dead. Gather resources and upgrade the graveyard church, and headstones, and gain money.
The hyper-awareness of the game that it is inaccurate and not ethical is what makes it even fun.
Albion Online
Albion Online is a free-to-play sandbox MMO, although it poses more as an MMO than a medieval game itself. The gameplay is very PVP and combat-heavy, where there are certain areas dedicated to fighting other players and NPCs.
What brings the “typical” medieval building aspect in this game is the sandbox aspect, where your choices can affect the world. Resources are another vital part of building this world, where you have your own personal village when you are not adventuring elsewhere.
