"Pioneers of Pagonia": Bustle, Wonder, Economy
"Siedler" creator Volker Wertich presents "Pioneers of Pagonia", a detail-loving city-builder with guaranteed bustling and a fantasy touch.
(Image: Envision Entertainment)
After two years in early access, Envision Entertainment's "Pioneers of Pagonia" is ready for launch. According to Volker Wertich, more than 250 changes and improvements were made during the EA phase alone. The lack of accessibility, which we criticized, has also been thoroughly revised. The result is a varied and detail-loving city-builder with a fantasy touch, which, with its complex production chains and evil spirits, doesn't just make the Pagonians sweat.
Extensive Campaign
In 2023, the original "Siedler", now at Ubisoft, spectacularly failed with "Neue Allianzen". It was not only for this reason that a murmur went through the fans when "Siedler" creator Volker Wertich announced a new city-builder with his new team at Envision Entertainment in a fantasy universe: complex, detail-loving, and bustling.
"Pioneers of Pagonia" im Test (5 Bilder)
(Bild:
heise medien
)The first point of contact for all new settlers is the story campaign. In around 30 hours of gameplay, spread across seven different maps, they slip into the role of the titular Pagonians. They build their houses, smithies, or watchtowers on various islands. They help friendly neighbors, fend off bandits with their soldiers, or must send their warlocks into battle against spirits. Some islands even feature a real boss fight. However, this is nowhere near as complex as in a real-time strategy game and is limited to just a few commands.
Videos by heise
City Builder for Connoisseurs
Envision is not reinventing the city-builder genre. Players must mine resources, which they can use to build structures that unlock new production chains with their tools. This becomes quite tricky very early on, despite different difficulty levels ranging from "Story" to "Hard". Already in the third section, players use countless building types, from "Mine" to "Trading Post" to "Garrison". As the game progresses, this intensifies with wizard academies and improved production buildings. "Pioneers of Pagonia" is therefore not a game for people who just want to dip their toes into the genre.
The numerous improvements made during the EA version only partially change this. The game now provides settlers with many building tips and explains the production chains. If a construction stop occurs, it is now easier for players to understand. The Pagonians now also reliably go where we send them. As soon as a new building is erected, the training for the corresponding craftsmen begins automatically. Players can also conveniently choose whether they want to automatically train a supply of soldiers or workers, or only up to a certain number. All of this is logically thought out and implemented.
Empfohlener redaktioneller Inhalt
Mit Ihrer Zustimmung wird hier ein externes YouTube-Video (Google Ireland Limited) geladen.
Ich bin damit einverstanden, dass mir externe Inhalte angezeigt werden. Damit können personenbezogene Daten an Drittplattformen (Google Ireland Limited) übermittelt werden. Mehr dazu in unserer Datenschutzerklärung.
Detailed and Complex
But still, "Pagonia" is quite finicky if the settlers forget something. A small road not connected to a building? Nothing works anymore. A resource source runs dry? Sometimes such important information gets lost when the settlement gets a bit larger and things are bustling everywhere. The small storage facilities quickly fill up, leading to a production stop.
Many design decisions delight genre fans, but in our opinion, they are a bit too detail-loving. Especially with the buildings, it's hard to get an overview. There is a military camp and a garrison, although one of them would have sufficed. For traders, players can set up a special depot, and goods can be stored in small drop-off points or in a warehouse. This leads to a lot of micro and macro management.
Exciting and Varied Missions
Those who find this too petty will be appeased by the outstandingly good game and mission design in the story campaign. There is no strategy that always wins. Players often have to adapt to the situation. Sometimes resources are missing, which can only be obtained through trade. In other cases, they must aggressively confront factions that threaten the borders with constantly new outposts. Sometimes mines must be captured under time pressure, and other enemies can only be defeated by special soldiers. Despite the long playtime, it remains varied and exciting.
In addition to the campaign, players can assemble islands from nine different templates so far, on which they can peacefully bustle around or compete against other factions. There are also special "scenario" maps from the developer or the community. The extensive game package is rounded off with co-op mode, which we did not test.
Envision has further improvements and free as well as paid content updates and DLCs planned for the future. The map editor is also to be further improved. Further details will be announced in the roadmap, which will be released in January. A version for Linux is not planned so far, according to inquiries.
Conclusion:
"Pioneers of Pagonia" by Envision Entertainment has fulfilled the promise made during the early access phase. Behind its innocent, storybook-like facade lies a demanding city builder that, with its varied and exciting game design, is among the best the genre has had to offer in recent years.
However, the numerous improvements from the EA phase do not hide the fact that Envision sometimes overdoes the love of detail. Some game design decisions seem petty, while the combat is limited to the essentials. Experienced genre fans will not be bothered by this, but genre newcomers should only cautiously take their first steps on the shores of the Pagonian islands.
"Pioneers of Pagonia" will be released on December 11th for Windows. It costs approx. €40. USK from 6 years.
(mack)
