I just started playing Patron, a city builder from developer/publisher Overseer Games. Although I am still learning the ins and outs, I definitely think Patron has a strong foundation for longevity in the city-building genre. The game systems all work as you would expect, but they feed into one another in ways that, if you are not careful and forward-thinking, can catch you off guard and really wreak havoc on your builds.
by the time I was a few hours deep, I thought I was really getting the hang of things, only to foolishly build too much, too fast. Before I knew it, my filled coffers were teetering on the brink of collapse, with not enough firewood to provide heat for my townsfolk and not enough food to feed them. Folks were either dying off or fleeing for salvation. And every dead or AWOL citizen only added more fuel to the fire (metaphorically, I mean; I still didn’t have enough firewood).
See, jobs are assigned to specific citizens, so if, say, Pete is responsible for milling lumber, but he drops dead, that mill will go quiet. If you don’t happen to notice, this will seep into other areas of industry that require wood for upkeep or to operate.
Patron‘s design philosophy seems to be about offering a deceptive level of simplicity that snowballs into a greatly complex network of interlinking systems. You start with a few key structures that you must employ and manage in order to build the chain that will link every aspect of your town together. And kudos to Overseer for making Patron easy to grasp yet hard to master.
As you become more and more established, you can invest resources into researching all sorts of things, from new buildings to ways to better entice new citizens (the base model is procreation from your foundlings), to specific decrees that increase taxes or reward you for having certain structures in proximity to one another. It’s a nice drip feed that incentivizes monitoring your resources and making tough choices in the hopes of reaping greater returns.
One of my favorite parts of Patron so far is just watching each person go about their business and seeing their immediate demands represented in an icon floating over their heads like they’re Sims. It drives home the fact that you’re managing the townsfolk as well as the buildings.
Another great feature is that you’ll occasionally get pop-up decrees from the King. These are seemingly random events that require you to choose one of two options, both with pros and cons. For example, there is a religious uprising that is mucking up the workings of day-to-day life, so what do you do? Do you give the local priests a hefty sum to preach these rabble rousers back in line (which will boost your religious standing but reduce your overall security), or do you instead invest some of that gold into keeping police on the streets to maintain law and order (which reduces your religious standing but improves your security rating)? Your choices can have some lasting repercussions in some cases, but mostly this is about balancing your current resources and needs.
In one instance, a boat showed up full of convicts, along with an official decree from the King. My options were to either to fall in line and give them residence, or turn them away and risk the wrath of the King. The former would boost my population a bit, which would mean more workers but also more mouths to feed. It would also irk the gentry, who are vehemently anti-immigration. But turning away these convicts would mean I’d take a hit to population expansion, and it could also carry untold problems down the road from an angry King.
These clever little random choice events give Patron some extra flavor. They pause the action so you have time to weigh your options, but each choice could lead to issues that might not be immediately apparent. Since these events seem to be randomized, they can sometimes seem like an act of a vengeful God or a gift from the heavens.
For instance, when I was running into food shortages and just needed to make it through the winter, a message popped up that a boat had wrecked offshore. I could either focus on rescuing the people onboard or focus instead on scavenging their cargo. This was a no-brainer, albeit a harsh one, as I opted for the food. I guess I had to let the crew drown, because it meant I’d get enough pumpkins to keep my current flock from mutiny. It got us through the winter, but at what cost?
Admittedly, it makes me a bit uneasy knowing that kids reach adulthood at about age 12 in this game, but I try not to think about that when I force them into coal mines or on dangerous hunting expeditions. Let’s just hope there will never be a popup event that asks me to put down a union that wants to enforce child labor laws. I mean, I’d do it, but would hate to have to be that guy.
