Build a sprawling Polis in Builders of Greece.
Builders of Greece is a city builder and management sim set in ancient Greece. The game was co-developed by BLUM Entertainment, known for working on games like the unreleased Gimle: The Broken Prophecy and Strategy Labs, also working on Builders of Rome and Builders of Egypt.
The publishers are CreativeForge Games, a Polish publishing company in Warsaw known for publishing games like Phantom Doctrine and Battleships: Command of the Sea, and PlayWay S.A., another Warsaw publishing company known for publishing games like Thief Simulator 2, U-Boat, and House Flipper 2.
City Builders are a big part of the Simulation genre of video games that have been around since The Sumerian Game was released in 1964, although the genre was fully established in 1989 with the release of SimCity. Most city builders require you to manage resources and your population’s happiness effectively; insufficient resources mean you can no longer build, or you’ll go into the red, leading you to debt or a game over. There is not enough happiness, and your citizens will outright leave your city.
Builders of Greece has two modes: Scenario and Sandbox. Meanwhile, Scenario mode is your campaign mode with a storyline. As of writing, there is currently one playable scenario, with what looks like another three scenarios possibly coming in the future. The Sandbox mode gives you access to maps from Scenario Mode, such as the Rocky Island from the New Beginnings Scenario, without the questline from the scenario.
When it comes to population management in Builders of Greece, you have access to a caste system. Starting with Thētes, also known as your lower class, you build them a simple cottage to live in. All your citizens require certain resources to keep them happy, and the higher the class, the more resources are needed to fuel their new lavish lifestyles.
Upgrading your citizens to a second class, Zeugitai will have you upgrading the cottages to houses. However, this is more complex than you think. Some requirements need to be met first. A good example is when you upgrade citizens from Thētes to Zeugitai, you will need to build Leshe’s to bring citizen happiness up to access the upgrade menu. The last citizen group is the Geomori. Each group has specialized skill sets, so ensuring you have enough of each of them is a priority, as upgrading housing will remove citizens from the lower tier.
As you build and expand, you will have to keep in mind that most production buildings need warehouses to function if they are too far away from the Agora. The same can be said about Housing and Market places, as your citizens will not want to travel across half the island just to get some wine.
Your population generates drachmas; much like any other city builder, you can control the tax. This does come in handy when you have a higher expense cost than income. Unfortunately, without Drachmas, you cannot build or research anything to progress. Each level in the caste system is taxed separately, and you can raise the taxes of one of the castes and decrease them on the other.
The technology tree is pretty straightforward and well-balanced, as you are forced to pace yourself and research the technologies tier by tier. You have to build the appropriate research facilities to access higher-tier technologies. However, you can only research one technology at a time.
Builders of Greece has an easy-to-track resource system, as the bar at the top of the UI can be changed up, allowing you to track other resources or more advanced resources on top of your basics. However, you’ll need to keep in mind that there are only 12 changeable slots for you to use to track your resources.
While you only have access to one map as of the current build in Scenario Mode and Sandbox Mode in Builders of Greece, you have the freedom to build your Polis anywhere on the map. You start with easy access to basic resources such as food, wood, and stone. While wood and food are infinite resources, stone will eventually run out in your quarries, so keep an eye on the production and build new quarries when needed.
As your technology tree progresses, this reflects the different ages your city can go through, such as moving on from the Stone Age into the Bronze Age and then into the Silver Age, until you reach the peak at the Golden Age, which means you have reached the highest tier you can reach in terms of facilities and troops.
Much like building something, you need resources to start your research and something called Research Points in Builders of Greece, which are generated over time in the research building you place down – like the Sophist’s House or the Academy.
However, if you think resource management, research, and building are all there is to the game, you’re in for a treat. You have a military tab, too. Keeping at least one force of units up and running is vital as Raiders will come to raid your Agora, taking your Drachmas and other valuable resources while leaving you scrambling to rebuild.
While not every battle ends in a victory, recovering your resources doesn’t take long. Luckily enough, you always have time to prepare before any raids occur, as the enemies need time to make their way over ocean waters and onto the beaches of your island. Much like the citizens, you’ll also have different-tiered soldiers, just like everything else in Builders of Greece… It requires research.
There are three different groups of soldiers: Infantry, Skirmishers, and Cavalry. Each has its range, and each group has three different levels. For example, In Infantry, the first unit type you unlock, you have Psilos, which you start with unlocked after building a barracks, which you can then research to unlock Hypasist and Hoplites. While they are melee units, they are the only ones you have until you build the Archery Range to unlock your ranged units.
Citizens aren’t the only ones you need to keep happy in Builders of Greece, as you will build temples to honor the Gods. Most of them require Prayer or sacrifice to keep them happy. However, even without worshipping Gods, random events trigger, such as Poseidon riling up the sea and making it dangerous to fish.
The graphics of Builders of Greece are incredible. The models and environments are crisp, making it feel like you are on a Greek island as you build up your Polis. While there are some visual glitches, they don’t detract from the overall gameplay.
The sound engineering has been well-designed, and while the soundtrack can be highly repetitive, it can still suck you in and let you lose track of time as you play. The voice acting for the narration in the Scenario mode is good, but the monotonous voice acting makes it sound like a history documentary.
Overall, Builders of Greece is a fantastic City Builder, and while it can use some work, it is forgivable as it’s still in Early Access. It’s an excellent game for those who haven’t played City Builders before, as the scenario mode has a detailed tutorial that keeps everything paced, so you don’t rush ahead and put your Polis in the red.
