Going Medieval

GFA METERSTRONG

Buy on the GFA Shop

Reviewed by GFA Staff

Vertical building and terrain control (the real hook)

The game's “freeform construction” vibe comes from how much control you have over elevation: build upward into towers and layered defenses, or go downward into cellars, mines, tunnels, and kill-corridors. The map itself is multi-level, and you can terraform earth and water for construction or military advantage. This is the thing that makes it feel meaningfully different from flatter colony sims—your castle ends up looking yours in a way grids often don't.

Building a multi-storey fortress with complex vertical architecture

Colonists feel like people, not just stats

Settlers have roles/skills and needs, but also personality traits and preferences you actually have to respect if you want stability (and fewer tantrums). The store page even gives an example of a settler whose job skills, personality, and desires shape what they're good at and what keeps them happy.

Managing settler needs and individual personality traits

Defending your work is fun (and frequent)

Raider waves are a big part of the rhythm: you build defenses, set traps, craft tech, arm settlers, and fight back—often leaning on who's best suited for brawling vs ranged vs supporting roles. It's satisfying because the base you designed is also the base you're stress-testing.

Defending the colony against a raider attack

Moddability and State of the Game

It's explicitly positioned as a moddable sandbox and supports Steam Workshop. It's also clearly being actively patched post-launch: patch notes like 1.0.53 (March 2026) focus on bug fixes and stability issues. And community sentiment is strong overall: Steam shows Very Positive English reviews overall and Mostly Positive recent reviews.

Extensive underground excavation and tunnel networks

The honest downsides

The UI / visibility can get fiddly once you've built a complex multi-floor fortress. Managing Z-levels and readability is the tax you pay for vertical freedom, and it can feel like you're occasionally fighting the camera instead of the raiders. Mid-to-late game can lose a bit of sparkle for some players once your survival is stable and you're mostly optimizing.

Verdict

A genuinely addictive castle/colony builder with best-in-class vertical construction and strong survival/defense loops—occasionally held back by the usual 3D readability/UI friction and a late-game that can become more about optimization than surprises.