Meridian: New World Review Summary

Gorgeous graphics, fun gameplay, and an engaging twist-filled story are undermined by terrible unit pathfinding, low unit and faction variety, and frequent crashes.

Praise for graphics: Reviewers consistently highlight the game's visuals, describing them as beautiful, cool, and vibrant, with appealing details and modern HD quality.

Fun and enjoyable gameplay: Many find the game fun to play, with smooth and slick gameplay that keeps them engaged even in early stages.

Engaging story with twists: Reviewers praise the well-structured and original story, noting surprising twists that enhance the narrative experience.

Unit weapon customization: Reviewers like the ability to customize individual units with different weapons or tools when producing them.

Good value for price: Several reviewers find the game surprisingly good for its price, offering reasonable value and quality.

Terrible unit pathfinding: Units frequently veer off routes, get lost, stop moving, or take inefficient paths. This issue is especially pronounced with groups of three or more units and causes units to die quickly.

Low unit and faction variety: There are very few units, buildings, and only one faction, leading to repetitive gameplay and limited strategic options.

Clunky controls and UI: Controls feel outdated, stiff, and difficult, while the UI is confusing, impractical, and unfriendly. Micro-management is particularly cumbersome.

No multiplayer mode: The game lacks any multiplayer or co-op option, offering only single-player story and skirmish against AI. This makes the game boring for many players.

Poor AI behavior: The AI is lackluster, unfair, glitchy, and uses repetitive rush tactics regardless of difficulty. It offers no interesting challenge.

Classic RTS Gameplay: The game is widely described as a classic real-time strategy title with base building, unit production, and a style reminiscent of 1990s RTS classics like Command & Conquer and StarCraft.

Unit Customization Options: Units can be customized with various weapons and loadouts, and some feedback mentions roughly ten different weapon types per unit.

Skirmish and Campaign Modes: Players highlight the availability of both a story-driven campaign and a skirmish mode against AI opponents, offering two distinct ways to play.

Tower Defense Missions: Several campaign missions incorporate tower-defense-style segments, adding variety to the RTS formula.

Only One Faction: The game features a single playable faction, and the enemy uses the same faction, limiting strategic variety.

Frequent crashes and instability: Players report constant, random crashes, including during startup, gameplay, and saving. Some crashes produce error logs or occur after a short playtime.

Game fails to launch: Many users cannot start the game at all, encountering black screens, indefinite loading, or processes that run in the background without displaying a window. Issues occur on both Windows 10 and 11.

Poor performance and optimization: The game suffers from severe FPS drops, stuttering, and low frame rates even on high-end hardware. Optimization is widely criticized, with performance worsening as unit counts increase.

Windows 10/11 compatibility issues: Multiple reports indicate the game does not function properly on Windows 10 and 11, often failing to start or crashing due to an abandoned engine.

Runs smoothly on some systems: A few users report smooth performance on lower-end hardware like a Core i5 laptop, and fast loading times, indicating the game can run well in certain configurations.

Recommended for RTS fans: The game is strongly recommended for fans of real-time strategy games, especially those who enjoy classic RTS titles. Casual or non-RTS players may not enjoy it.

Worth the price: Many reviewers find the game worth its price, often highlighting value on sale. However, some consider it overpriced, indicating divided opinion on cost.

Not recommended: Several reviewers advise against purchasing, citing poor value and waste of money. Some even caution against trusting positive reviews.

Command & Conquer nostalgia: Fans of Command & Conquer and similar classic RTS games are likely to enjoy this title. It evokes a familiar feel for veterans of the genre.

Highly recommended overall: Many reviewers give strong positive recommendations without specific reservations. They encourage others to buy the game.

Community fair range: $5.00 - $20.00.

Game completion: 13.0h.

Most reports describe a game that does not become fun: early play and missions are called boring, and bugs, AI issues, and progression friction block a satisfying loop. Isolated positive reports exist, but they do not establish a consistent unlock point.

Friction: Bugs and technical problems; Poor AI and pathfinding; No multiplayer or co-op; Missing or ineffective tutorial; Repetitive, tedious missions; Slow or inconsequential abilities and units.

Unlock drivers: Adding multiplayer or co-op; Continued developer maintenance and updates; A proper tutorial and interface onboarding; More varied mission objectives.

Old-School RTS Veteran: Plays campaign and skirmish maps with classic build orders, expecting smart unit control and little hand-holding. Motivation: Reliving classic RTS base-building and skirmish challenge. Stance: buy.

Single-Player Campaign Story Seeker: Plays through scripted campaign missions, talks to crew characters, and makes choices between missions. Motivation: Following a multi-mission sci-fi story with character choices. Stance: buy.

Competitive Multiplayer RTS Player: Focuses on online PvP, multiplayer skirmish, and competitive matches rather than single-player missions. Motivation: Testing skill against human opponents. Stance: no buy.

Steam Deck: The review set is limited, but the decisive Steam Deck-relevant evidence is a report that the game does not launch on Linux/NixOS. Since Steam Deck runs Linux, this is a high-severity barrier and aligns with the Broken category. Other feedback mentions minor general performance and control concerns, but no evidence of launcher workarounds or Proton toggling is present. The launch failure alone is sufficient to classify the Deck experience as broken.

Classic RTS inspiration: The game is described as a pure old-school RTS reminiscent of Command & Conquer and similar classics.

Solo developer project: Multiple reviews highlight that the game is essentially made by one person or a very small team.

Compared to StarCraft: Reviewers frequently compare the game to StarCraft in combat style and overall strategy feel.

Early Access title with ongoing development: The game is sold as an Early Access title and is still in development, so limited content is expected but more is planned.

Unfavorable comparisons to RTS giants: Some reviewers compare the game to C&C, Supreme Commander, Warcraft, and StarCraft and find it lacking.