Mittelborg: City of Mages

Does not feel like a game.
Feels more like spending your time doing nothing more than a swipe in the map to move a mage and a click here and there.
Only funny part are the random events, which anyway after a while seems to be the same.
Cannot re-play too much. Guess it could be good in my phone on a boring time to wait an airplane or a train.

I rarely leave bad reviews on Indie games. But I have a gamebreaking bug on the game, and the developers have not helped me though I've reached out multiple times, and send bug reports. They directed me to Discord, but my comment there has been ignored since late August. So I have never been able to actually play. Basically the sides the game flicker and make certain parts invisible. Maybe it's good! Definitely don't buy this if you have a Mac.

This game is a rogue-like guessing game. Guess wrong on what to defend and game over.

The game is very simple. Most of the challenge is not to understand its strategy but to play it over and over again to unlock achievements which grants massive bonuses the subsequent replays. Repetitive and boring.

What is more important is that this game, after 6 months of release, is still bogged down by game-breaking bugs, which make playing really frustrating. I had to abandon the game a few times during good runs because of that.

Without the bugs it would have been a simple little game like many others, which you may or may not like depending on your tastes, but given the current level of quality this is simply a waste of time.

There are games, which really require you to focus, to do your best, to be in your personal GOD MODE ON and so forth and so on.

And then there are games you play, when you come back home after a bloody long working day - you are way too tired to show monsters who's the boss, to solve puzzles, to save the world etc. You actually should go to bed, but your brain keeps processing work-related things, and so you can't sleep.

And on such evenings you would play Mittelborg. Easy going and relaxing - you can stop any time and continue any time. You won't be challenged, but you won't be bored either.

game doesn't feel balanced for early game. too much damage being dealt out so all you do is replenish your forces every turn.

This game is not very good. This seems more like puzzle and single screen luck and options selector. After a couple hours you will get bored. I will surely not recommend this game to anyone. Most things are static and after 2 or 3 hours you will feel bored. The cost is not much and for about $6.99 you can have some fun. But, don't misunderstand this game to be some great or long-time enjoyable option. There is nothing much in the game. It goes so slow and is not an RTS but a "Turn-Based Strategy: game.

If you want to see something different, then you can once try this game. The only +ve is that this is something different or new. Animation is good (for 1 single screen -- which is all), but other than that this game is not loads of surprize or fun. And, is very slow paced.

TLDR: Core game play is pure random chance, which is garbage.

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I will admit I didn't play the game a long time, less than an hour. Which is not normal for me, there honestly isn't much to this game though. But I will go ahead and tell you my experience with the game and let you decide if you want to risk it.

Alright so first.
The concept seemed cool and something new.
The visuals and art work are great.
The music was forgettable, standard issue. Nothing about it stands out, which is fine.

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The stuff above I doesn't really matter to me its like the cover of a book.

Here is my real issue with the game.

It is solely based on random chance.
You have to guess the order of actions to survive. You can spend currency to be told what is going to happen, but not the order.

Alright, so even poker has odds if you know what you're doing. You are shown 4 actions will happen, so there is a 25% chance of each shown action to happen on the first turn, 33% chance on the second turn, 50% chance on the third. Now guess the correct order. The more actions that appear, the lower your chances of guessing correctly early on, and the better near the end of the round.

Now to top it off, even if you guess correctly you are still punished by insanely high damage. You don't make enough income to recover your defenses and buy items and upgrades. You will die by attrition by turn six most of the time.

Alright, next the only thing you really get to do is "move mages." Basically the mages are the choices you get to make. The more mages you have, the more guesses you can make for each round. So you have guessed correctly for five turns now and death is getting close because even on correct guesses you are still taking damage that increases each round. The only way to extend the life of the tree is to "execute a mage." So basically to survive another 2 rounds you loose the ability to make guesses which can mitigate damage.

You can get additional mages, which might make it manageable. However you have to sacrifice items to get a mage. I never managed to get enough currency to buy items, and the few quest items I was given wasn't enough to get another mage.

There is no continuation if you die. Any progress you made to unlock an additional mage, gone. Items you were lucky enough to get, gone. There are traits you can unlock after slogging through the core game play long enough. They carry over I guess, good luck unlocking them though I couldn't stand the game long enough to make it that far.

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There are a couple of things that might make the game worth while.
A: Increase income gain.
B: Decrease the damage of the storm in the early turns.
C: Have a perk or something to show the odds of what order actions will happen.
D: Take everything off the same currency if you don't want to increase income gain.
E: If you're going to force me to die keep some progress from the last game. Upgraded a building, still there. Nearly unlocked a mage, still there.
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As it stands I can't recommend the game in good faith.

Edit: typo

This game hides its charm at first couple of cycles, but the more you play - the more involved in the story and the gameplay you get. After a few hours (!) of playing it, I turned it off only to write this review. So, here I am and I recommend you to try this indie jewel. Well, Mittelborg awaits my commands, I must go. See you in the Plains!

I feel, that this is a great game in ALPHA state, that left Early Access far too early!

Which means, that some bad design-choices have been made, and that Mittelborg is not completely thought-through (yet):
The game starts very confusing, which partly is to the fact, that the tutorial is not preparing the player properly, and partly to the fact, that the player starts completely helpless, and unable to win, and will only get stronger the more you play.
I think that this is a bad design!
The same applies for the main gameplay, that offers little depth and much RNG, and just does not give a feeling of control or real influence...

Since the story and progress is saved between deaths, this also means, that this is a single-playthrough-game, which you will beat eventually, just by trial and error,
and at this point, i dont have any intention to touch the game in the current state, again.

Which is a shame, as all pieces for a great game are there, just not put together properly, yet!
Please, devs:
Add comfort, replayability/diversity and polish to the game, and it will do wonder to the overall quality...

But, there still is a lot of potential and love in Mittelborg, and i think, that the game could become a real gem, if the devs will keep refining and improving...


So, while i do not recommend the game as it is, i will still upvote my review-
As long as Mittelborg isnt finished and still improved, i do believe in it, and will keep supporting it...

It was a really nice concept and I've played it at first launch. They then did some "improvements" but that was mostly transforming the game into an ipad/tablet version. It has a mobile game UI now and is not really intuitive. I got stuck in the forced-tutorial being ordered to do something that is not visible anywhere. And I didn't get the chance to skip the tutorial. Therefore I was stuck in something that maybe is a bug? because certainly i checked every menu, upgraded every building and was lost for more than 10 min skipping storms trying to see if that would be an event that has to be triggered later, idk. Nothing worked. So yeah, maybe buggy.. idk

I mean, still appreciate they tried to do their gig. They just went the small-studio route of targeting mobile gamers since they're a pretty big market it seems. But for us PC gamers it is all in your face, the PC UX was not a priority clearly. I feel they should be marketing this on the Appstore instead of Steam.

Other than that I would have honestly played this a lot more, the concept was simple and fun enough

This is really tedious, frustrating and bland.

The core gameplay is to send your mages to the right places during the tempest. Which means sending them to the gates if the color of the day is red, and to the tower on the right if the color of the day is blue. You send them left if the color of the day is white, and to the bottom left if the color of the day is yellow.

If you send them to the wrong place, you will be hit for 100% damage (red and blue), or miss out on 100% of the reward (white and yellow).

If you send them to the right place, you will take 75% of the damage, or get a reward that is not quite enough to recover from the damage you took on another day.

This is the first game I've played where the tutorial didn't lock me in to doing as I was told (that might be a good thing) and then had a game character scold me for being disobedient. ("You must do as you're told" said the NPC.) That might be why the 'sacrifice' button simply didn't appear when the tutorial told me to press it? Then again, I restarted the game, created a new profile, clicked through to the bit where the sacrifice button actually appeared that time - and then what little chance of survival we had disappeared because I had executed one of only two mages that were available to defend the city.

Let's face it, when you've been going for an hour and you're still waiting for the fun to start, it's probably time to look for fun somewhere else.

Bought thinking it would have more replayability than it did. each games random and ends up feeling much the same as the last 20 times you played it and died 4 rounds in.

Not nearly enough here to justify a 15 dollar purchase. Content is very lacking. I wish I had stopped playing 15 minutes earlier and qualified for the refund.

Overall the game is Bland, Shallow and in extremely early development (From the looks of things). It can kill a couple of hours but In its current state acknowledge you are investing in what it May become rather than what it is.
Below are my gripes and recommendations for the game developers.

Mittleberg in one word currently feels bland. It uses words like roguelike to define its nature however at present that feels to be a misrepresentation. Yes the game has random elements however it is less working to overcome obstacles and more trying to endure things that happen to you.

In its current state it feels as if there is no agency. Every run I do the exact same things.
Max upgrade the “Adventum” (Resource Generation)
Push my other Two districts to level 3
Max out Both Districts
Send wizards to gather relics and potions
Spend any Extra “Ether” on potions and scrolls.

If I win or lose seems to be governed almost entirely by how accurate I Guess where the Storm will strike. Unless I prep specifically for 7/10 of the events to land specifically on my Barrier I lose. There is no Agency.

It never feels like I am taking a risk for a specific reason. Sending my wizards on a quest is Irrelevant at its best and actively harmful at its worst. The only persistent enhancements between runs are achievements that are entirely passive. The quest popups fail to have any meaning due to a lack of context as well as no definite changes. To often am I given a popup that shows I gained or lost no Ether. Why would I not Feed every wandering beggar if it doesn't cost me any real food.


Suggestions

Add some sort of system distinguishing wizards from one another.
Add a some sort of Lords or Class or something that defines how I play Etc.

Sir Bailey of the Scouting Family has a keen sense of where the storm will Strike but Often forgets to stop by the market when he makes his reports.
Madam Elequina of the Richter Family has a proud history of Winning in Martial and Magical Combats. The damages from these “Victories” have resulted in the invention of the Richter Scale

Wizards could be separated into Schools and Families and perhaps have Stats. Ideally they would be unique enough that a streamer would name them.

Ultimately Things like the Races, Culture, History, Location and lineage could be things that change how it plays even before the player begins making story choices.

Making the storm the result of something or effected by player-esq decisions

Changing City art would Add a lot to add a dynamic Feel

Honestly Don't know what it would take to make the Quests (or Events) interesting
But They aren't really engaging, interesting or impactful.

Would recommend looking at Paradox for some inspiration.
Keep up the Good Work ! :D and Best of Luck

When u think u r a bad luck gamer... then u shouldnt play this game... for real

Nice game! Reminds me the heroes of might and magic 3 shadow of death.

Feels like a phone game, not really a 'Roguelike Survival Strategy game' You have one singular currency and three starting 'mages' that are basically +10% bonuses you can allocate around between turns. That's it, you don't get to customize a character or ironically enough even make any decisions at first unless a random event pops up. So you're left going day to day random event to random event until you die, and when you die you don't have any unlockables or extra content for your next game from the looks of it so...

Basically, I don't see any real decisions, especially since the biggest 'strategy' is sending a mage off on an expedition to hope you find the right item you need for the random events that pop up.

Yes sure there is the strategy of risk management and making sure everything is shored up and agents allocated appropriately...but it feels very shallow and honestly not worth the price tag at all in my opinion.

Edit: Some constructive criticism.
Add a tooltip or something on upgrades so players, new players obviously, can strategize and figure out what they are unlocking.
Add a hint or a tip or something to quest decisions so you have an idea of how it might work or what kind of place you're importing lumber from something anything to give context and meaning to the decisions beyond 'Well let's just try to fix the roof with clay and see if it works!'
Have some kind of customization even if it's just choosing your career prior to becoming leader, even if it's just one free upgrade or something it'd add at least a tiny amount of pre-game strategy and well, character to your character.

Really like the idea behind the game!
The game has a deep backstory, and the way you progress on this story is really interesting. The texts are really beautifully written.
Definately would recommend!

Great game! I have been waiting for it for quite a long time. Great story and text, and atmospere. For all who loves great story supported by cool art and mystical atmospehre - I strongly recommend!