Theos: Cities Of Myth Review Summary

Polished visuals, strong Zeus nostalgia, and customizable walker routes are appealing, but missing music and sound effects, barebones unfinished content, and poor optimization hold it back.

Polished and beautiful visuals: Multiple reviewers praise the game as visually beautiful, pretty, and beautifully made, with a charming cartoon art style and strong art direction. The graphics offer their own stylistic charm that stands out from typical games in the genre.

Strong Zeus nostalgia appeal: The game heavily evokes nostalgia for Zeus: Master of Olympus and the old Impression/Sierra city builders, resonating strongly with fans of those classics. Many describe it as a spiritual remaster or reimagining that captures the original's charm.

Customizable walker routes praised: The adjustable patrol and route systems are repeatedly highlighted as a major improvement, removing the need for unsightly roadblocks from older games. Reviewers find the patrol system well made with decent neighborhood recognition and manual or automatic options.

Enjoyable new temple system: The reworked temple and sanctuary system is widely praised, with multiple construction levels, per-city customization, and shrine bonuses that can be adapted to each mission. Reviewers consider it a real improvement over Zeus and fun to customize.

Easy to pick up and play: The combat system and overall game are easy to pick up, with straightforward tutorials that help players understand the mechanics. Reviewers note it is a decent starting point for players new to city builders.

Missing music and sound: Multiple players report that the game has virtually no music and very limited sound effects. The lack of auditory variety makes cities feel empty rather than bustling.

Feels barebones and unfinished: Reviewers describe the game as flat, monotonous, and clearly in an early access state. They feel it needs a lot of work and polish before it can be considered finished.

Lacks atmosphere and immersion: Players say the game has hardly any atmosphere and feels far less immersive than Zeus: Masters of Olympus. The absence of lively street and workshop sounds contributes to this emptiness.

Missing soul of originals: Several players feel the game is a soulless imitation that lacks the heart, humor, and charm of the prior Sierra titles. This is a recurring emotional complaint rather than a specific defect.

No voice acting for dialogue: Players note the complete absence of voice lines for dialogue. This reduces the production value and immersion expected from the genre.

Zeus-Inspired City Builder Remake: Multiple clusters confirm the game is a city builder modeled on Impression Games' Zeus, presented as a remake/remaster with a gods and citizens theme. Core mechanics, campaign, and setting all trace back to this inspiration.

Patrol Routes Replace Roadblocks: Walker control uses player-defined patrol routes that can be set manually or automatically, replacing traditional roadblocks. This system applies to nearly every building and is a standout mechanical change.

Warehouse And Resource Management: Warehouses and granaries feature resource slots that define which goods are allowed, alongside markets and trade stations. This inventory and logistics system tracks stock and supports a resource overview screen.

Warfare With Controllable Units: Combat occurs outside the city with a new approach compared to Zeus, featuring controllable troops, melee units, and archers with autonomous movement. An auto-battle option and enemy troop counts round out the battle mode.

Story Campaign With Missions: A campaign spans multiple chapters and missions such as Athens and Miletus, with easy through super hard difficulties. Objectives include unlocking buildings in colonies, conquering cities, and recruiting great people and philosophers.

Route plotting causes FPS drops: Players report severe performance degradation when manually plotting patrol or other routes. FPS can drop by 2-3x, making this core interaction feel unresponsive.

Game is poorly optimized: Multiple reviews describe the game as wildly non-optimized, with poor hardware utilization across the board. This is a broad complaint affecting general performance.

High CPU usage and loud fans: The game drives CPU usage high enough to make PC fans run extremely loud. Players view this as a sign of poor hardware optimization.

Tutorial crashes and slight lag: Long tutorials have been reported to crash, and some players notice slight lag during play. These issues add friction to the early game experience.

UI interactions trigger performance issues: Opening certain UI elements causes noticeable performance problems. This suggests inefficiencies in how the interface is rendered or updated.

Not recommended in current state: Multiple reviewers cannot recommend the game due to its current condition, with some citing bugs and unplayability. A few are refunding or shelving it until fixes arrive.

Nostalgia-driven recommendations persist: Several reviewers give positive reviews out of love for Zeus and old Sierra city builders, despite acknowledging the game needs work. Some recommend it as a remake or for fans of the classics.

Must-buy for classic city builder fans: Fans of old school city builders and Sierra-era Impression games are told this is a must-buy. It targets a specific nostalgic audience.

Veterans may be disappointed: Long-time fans of Pharaoh, Zeus, or Caesar are warned they may find the game disappointing or a major miscalculation. Its flaws are more noticeable to experienced players.

Appeals to genre newcomers: Reviewers suggest the game is a decent starting point for players new to city builders. Those without experience of the old classics will likely enjoy it more.

Story completion: 30.0h.

Reviews report a long, unclear tutorial, tutorial bugs, and tedious route/path mechanics; none describe the game becoming fun after these issues are resolved. The time-to-fun profile is therefore 'never clicks' in the available evidence.

Friction: Long, separate tutorial instead of learning during the first mission; Tutorial fails to explain mechanics fully; Player got stuck for a while figuring out a mechanic; Tutorial progression bug; Tedious route patrol and worker path-marking; Bare-bones controls and missing music/dialogue.

Classic City-Builder Purist: Compares systems and difficulty against the originals, expects meaningful challenge and depth, and drops the game when it falls short. Motivation: To recapture the depth, challenge, and feel of the classic Impression/Sierra city builders they grew up with. Stance: no buy.

Genre Patron: Buys and keeps the game even when critical of parts of it, treating the purchase as support for continued genre development. Motivation: To keep the classic city-builder genre alive by supporting the studio that still makes these games. Stance: buy.

Cosy Chill Builder: Plays on easy and normal difficulties for comfort, values chill vibes, gods, and light pacing over challenge. Motivation: To relax with a low-stress, easy-going city builder after a long day. Stance: buy.

Strong Zeus and Impressions comparisons: Many reviewers compare the game directly to Zeus: Master of Olympus and classic Impressions/Sierra city builders such as Pharaoh, Caesar, and Emperor. These comparisons frame expectations around nostalgia, charm, and content depth rather than originality.

Seen as Zeus remake or imitation: Reviewers repeatedly describe the game as a remake, reimagining, or spiritual remaster of Zeus: Master of Olympus. Some call it an imitation that has not yet succeeded, while others note it takes a different path.

Unfavorable comparison to Zeus content: Several reviewers say Zeus had more content, a better art style, and almost everything done better. The game is described as feeling less immersive in its Ancient Greece setting compared with Zeus + Poseidon.

Patches and hotfixes expected: Hotfixes are being released and developers have stated the campaign resource issue will be fixed. Reviewers hope updates add quality-of-life features and may update their reviews if things are patched.

Unfavorable Pharaoh remake comparisons: Reviewers compare the game unfavorably to Pharaoh and Pharaoh: A New Era, described as beautiful remasters with bugs fixed. Some would rather have a clean Zeus: Masters of Olympus remaster instead.