Citadel: Forged With Fire | PVP, PVE & A Final Verdict

I've spent some serious time in all three of Citadel's modes of play. I've tried out the easy grind, and the slow and methodical grind. Both offline, and online. For the most part it's the same experience throughout. All modes incorporate the same base crafting, and building mechanics while featuring the same maps filled with the same quests, looting opportunities, and boss/creature battles. Singleplayer itself can be played alone with the tedious grind settings in check or with advanced mods turned on that will allow you to enjoy the game without the hassle of needing to really farm or grind for anything. The opposite goes for multiplayer server play where PvP, and PVE demands the tedious grind in order for you to build your created character up to a point that he/she can engage in the endgame activities. One thing holds true any way you choose to play though, and that is the fact that character leveling does not reset upon death. This allows for picking up where you left off with the ability to craft everything you've unlocked through experience gained as well as your equipped gear still intact. It goes without saying that backtracking to pick up lost loot will be required if you want to regain all you've collected.

In regards to the PvP, and PVE side of things these modes are found on a simple server listing that takes in account ping, or connection quality as well as the region, the mode type, and the amount of players on the server. All that along with some version toggles for making sure you are connected with players of the same platform if you so wish. On top of all that you can favorite servers for returning to later, and will find them under the "Favorites" tab when it loads up for ease of access. There's also a history tab in case you forget to mark your favorite server. It goes without saying that within the server listings the PvP is where the player versus player action happens, and where the fight for survival is made all the more dire with the combat between houses at play. You can either create your own house/clan, and invite others to join, or join other houses so long as they are on the same server. There is an element of cooperative play among players of a house, so if you have a full house (pun intended) you'll be better fit to keep your castle, and supplies in check. The PVE mode also affords players cooperative play, but in this case there is no player versus player combat. It is the friendly co-op mode that can be enjoyed with friends, casually. Do note that there is a way to host, and lock servers. Allowing only those you want in, in.

As far as server size goes they seem to only house up to around 50 players per server. The stress on the gameplay in regards to population is about the same as in singleplayer with the occasional freeze or lag slowing things down. It's not too bad, and I think most of that has to do with the fact that the creature population is limited, and the land large in scale. Also worth noting is the nature of PvP server play. While server play in the PvP sense does offer wizard combat as a competitive focus you can also setup your own sports arena similar to Quiditch from Harry Potter. A sport arena that includes goals, and hoops as well as the competitive broom play. Tamed creatures can also be used as a means to dispatch your adversaries.

The Building ...

For a game of this type, and scope the building is simple to a point it's not as functionally smooth a process as it should be. Positioning building pieces can prove problematic according to arrangement, and the terrain it's built upon. Adding pieces on top of each other such as roof tiles on top of walls can also be a hassle as it does not afford the player the fine tuning adjustments that should be available. In server play the push to build a proper house is also made a futile task in that it degrades over time, can be damaged, and is compounded by the amount of harvesting it takes to get all the materials to make anything of noteworthy size. Even with co-op in mind the grind for materials is so severe, and the resources so sparse, and limited that it leaves a lot to be desired. The only time I found crafting, and building to be remotely enjoyable was in singleplayer with the advanced settings set in such a way as to negate the grind, and buff character sustainability.

The Verdict ...

To begin with I thought this game was going to be the one that got the formula right. Perhaps in singleplayer with the mod menu it did, but everywhere else it was such a time sink that it wasn't fun at all. The world being hardly populated by creatures, and as wide open as it is also did the game a huge disservice. Most of the time the creatures you would encounter were aggravatingly respawned, and did not feel like a natural part of the world they existed in. The glitches that had them plowing through ground, and into the water was also immersion breaking to that extent. On top of that resources felt limited as well, especially the resources that game maximum XP. I can't help but feel this game would have been better built with more time spent polishing it, and making it more than just a look good, sound good experience. The game definitely needs some more work, and hopefully it continues to get attention from the developer. For now though I'm going to have to say pass on this as it's not as grand an adventure as it should be.