Info about dotAGE:

Official game description:
You are the Elder. You had a vision of a doomed future, so you took a handful of Pips, your fellow villagers, and led them to an empty valley to start anew. They need your guidance to survive the events foretold by the Prophecy, so make sure your Pips work hard!  
DotAGE has deep worker placement mechanics inspired by board games.  
Build your village and assign your workers to their daily tasks, grow crops, herd animals, bury corpses, forge tools, upgrade buildings, train professionals, and produce dozens of resources.  
Take your time and think carefully before passing the turn!  
The memories of the Elder are unclear, so each run will be different, with new buildings to discover. Play with more than 200 buildings, 30 professions, and 70 resources.  
As you play, the memories of the Elder will come back, unlocking new game mechanics and content, such as new ailments, the mysterious VIPs, and new Elders!  
Each turn, the Domains, the forces that govern the world, will unleash increasingly powerful events on your village.  
From poison, to disease, to earthquakes, to kittens. Will you be able to survive them all and find out what is causing the apocalypse?  
In addition to each run being different, the game has multiple difficulty levels, so pick the one that suits your playstyle.  
Enjoy a relaxed turn-based town builder with its cozy graphics, or prove your mastery of the prophecy with the increasingly difficult mastery levels!  
This game is a love letter to the games of my childhood, made with passion in 9 years in the little spare time I got by a single developer from Italy.  
The music of the game is real medieval music, taken from the Montpellier Codex, rearranged by Luigi di Guida.  
I hope you enjoy the world of Dotage!

Release date: 4 Oct, 2023

Categories: Turn-based Strategy, City Builder, Resource Management, Roguelike, Colony Simulation, Worker Placement, Meta-Progression


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Fun & Addictive Gameplay (weight 0.81): Players consistently describe the game as highly enjoyable and engaging, often leading to a strong 'one more turn' desire. Its addictive nature and high replayability are frequently highlighted as core strengths, making it hard to put down.
- Innovative Strategy Mechanics (weight 0.39): The game features an innovative blend of roguelike, city-builder, and worker placement mechanics, creating a unique and engaging strategy experience. Its core gameplay loop, including resource management and building placement, is well-designed and deeply satisfying.
- Dedicated Developer & Polish (weight 0.32): The game benefits from a highly dedicated and responsive developer who frequently releases updates, bug fixes, and new content. This commitment, combined with a polished user interface and smooth user experience, significantly enhances player satisfaction.
- Deep Replayability Systems (weight 0.21): Replayability is greatly enhanced by robust meta-progression systems, including unlockable elders and memories, which introduce new content and gameplay variations. Randomized maps, tech trees, and events ensure each run feels fresh and requires adaptive strategies.
- Charming Pixel Art & UI (weight 0.15): The game's charming pixel art style is consistently praised for its aesthetic appeal and ability to create an immersive atmosphere. The user interface is also noted for being clear, intuitive, and visually pleasing.
- Challenging & Rewarding Difficulty (weight 0.12): The game offers a challenging yet fair difficulty curve that demands careful planning and strategic thinking. Players appreciate that the game is demanding and rewarding, providing a significant sense of accomplishment upon overcoming its obstacles.
- Engaging Soundtrack (weight 0.08): The soundtrack is highly regarded for its quality, being described as surprisingly good, catchy, and fitting perfectly with the game's mood. It contributes to a relaxing yet focused atmosphere.

Common complaints:
- Excessive Game Length (weight 0.26): Runs are excessively long, often taking 5-15+ hours, which makes the game feel like a 'slog' or 'chore' and significantly reduces replayability. This issue is compounded by slow progression, repetitive turns, and lengthy animations that prolong gameplay even on accelerated speeds.
- Unfair Randomness & RNG (weight 0.23): The game relies too heavily on random elements, particularly concerning the tech tree, building availability, and events. This high degree of randomness makes strategic planning difficult, can prematurely ruin runs, and often feels like an unfair or cheap way to increase difficulty.
- Unclear Mechanics & Tutorials (weight 0.19): The game suffers from a high entry barrier due to unclear mechanics, poor or overwhelming tutorials, and a general lack of essential explanations. This leads to player frustration, issues with micromanagement, and difficulty in understanding core gameplay loops and progression.
- Repetitive & Lacks Depth (weight 0.18): Gameplay quickly becomes repetitive and boring, especially in the mid-to-late game, devolving into tedious busy-work. The game lacks sufficient depth and compelling core loops to sustain interest across multiple long playthroughs, with its roguelike and builder elements feeling unimpactful.
- Punishing Difficulty Spikes (weight 0.13): The game's difficulty is often perceived as brutal and unfair, with sudden spikes and irreversible consequences for minor mistakes or bad luck. This leads to frustrating game overs and a feeling of 'self-abuse,' particularly on higher difficulties where recovery is nearly impossible.
- Cluttered & Unclear UI (weight 0.08): The user interface is often described as cluttered, inconvenient, and lacking essential quality-of-life features. Key information, such as building details, tooltips, and tech tree insights, is difficult to access or understand due to poor iconography and inconsistent wording.
- Frustrating Unlock System (weight 0.08): The 'memories' and building unlock systems are criticized for being slow, unintuitive, and adding more randomness rather than meaningful progression. Unlocks often feel 'same-y' or even make the game harder, requiring excessive hours to access all content without significant gameplay changes.
- Critical Save File Bugs (weight 0.07): Players frequently encounter critical bugs such as corrupted save files, lost progress, and game crashes. These technical issues can softlock the game or cause significant data loss, forcing players to restart long runs and leading to considerable frustration.
- Tedious Resource Management (weight 0.06): Managing resource accumulation, overproduction, and complex supply chains becomes tedious and unengaging in the late game. This involves excessive scrolling and repetitive adjustments, making turns feel like a chore rather than a strategic challenge.

Gameplay feedback:
- Unique Genre Blend (weight 0.39): The game uniquely combines turn-based strategy, city-building, resource management, and worker placement with roguelike elements. It often feels like a complex digital board game, offering a distinct experience from traditional city builders or 4X games.
- Challenging Difficulty Curve (weight 0.23): The game offers a wide range of difficulty levels, from casual to brutally hard, with a steep learning curve. While core mechanics are simple, mastering the game requires strategic depth and adaptation, often leading to early failures.
- Survive Prophesied Apocalypse (weight 0.17): Players act as a village Elder, managing resources and preparing their settlement to survive an impending apocalypse. The core objective involves countering four specific "Domains" (Sickness, Fear, Temperature, Nature) that manifest as recurring threats.
- Deep Meta-Progression System (weight 0.16): The game features a robust meta-progression system, including a dynamic research tree and a "Memory" system. Players unlock new buildings, events, Elders, and other content across runs, providing long-term goals and fresh experiences.
- High Randomization, Replayability (weight 0.14): The game features significant randomization, including maps, available buildings, tech tree variations, and numerous random events. This ensures that each playthrough feels unique, preventing optimal strategies from becoming stale and enhancing replayability.
- Deep Strategic Planning (weight 0.11): Success hinges on meticulous long-term planning and adapting strategies to unpredictable events and random elements. Players must constantly think several turns ahead, preparing for known upcoming disasters and adjusting to new challenges.
- Varied Elder Playstyles (weight 0.08): Players can unlock and choose from multiple Elder characters, each offering unique advantages, constraints, and playstyles. This significantly alters strategic approaches and contributes to the game's replay value.
- Resource-Driven Disaster Counter (weight 0.08): The core gameplay loop involves managing scarce resources to build infrastructure and stockpile specific counters against various disaster events. Players must balance production, expansion, and preparation to mitigate the impact of these threats.
- Extended Play Sessions (weight 0.07): A single game run can be very long, often lasting 10+ hours, even on normal difficulty. While faster modes exist, players should expect significant time commitment per playthrough.
- Detailed Villager Management (weight 0.05): Players must manage individual villagers, referred to as "Pips," including their food consumption, health, and various debuffs. This micro-management aspect is crucial for maintaining village productivity and survival.
- Gradual Early Game Learning (weight 0.04): The initial stages of the game serve as a gradual tutorial, introducing core mechanics like building amenities and population growth. Players are advised to start on easier difficulties to learn the game's pacing and systems effectively.
- Impactful Seasonal Cycles (weight 0.04): The game incorporates a four-season cycle (spring, summer, autumn, winter) that significantly impacts gameplay. Seasons influence resource availability, crop growth, and introduce specific challenges, requiring players to adapt their strategies.

Performance notes:
- Frequent Performance Issues (weight 0.05): The game frequently experiences various performance issues, including crashes, lag, and freezes, particularly in late-game scenarios. Some users also reported memory leaks and high CPU usage, indicating areas for optimization.
- Minimal Bug Encounters (weight 0.02): Some reviewers reported experiencing very few or no bugs even after extensive hours of gameplay. This suggests a relatively stable and polished game experience for many players.
- Overlapping Audio Bugs (weight 0.01): Players occasionally encounter a specific audio bug where multiple music tracks play simultaneously. This can disrupt the game's soundscape and overall immersion.
- V-Sync Animation Fix (weight 0.01): Some players experienced choppy character animations, which could be resolved by disabling V-sync in the game settings. This indicates a potential optimization issue related to V-sync implementation.
- Helpful Auto-Save Feature (weight 0.01): The game includes a reliable auto-save feature that helps mitigate the impact of crashes or freezes. Players can often resume gameplay from the last turn, minimizing lost progress due to unexpected interruptions.

Recommendations:
- Highly Recommended Strategy/Builder (weight 0.31): The game is overwhelmingly recommended for fans of turn-based strategy, city-building, colony sims, and resource management games, often compared to titles like Rimworld, Against the Storm, and Civilization. Reviewers praise its challenging yet rewarding gameplay and consider it a must-have indie gem for its genre.
- Start on Easier Difficulty (weight 0.07): New players are strongly advised to begin on easier difficulty modes (casual or easy) to learn game mechanics, accumulate global points, and avoid burnout. The game is noted to be challenging, and this approach helps players get accustomed to its demanding nature.
- Try the Free Demo (weight 0.05): Many reviewers strongly advise playing the free demo, highlighting it as an excellent way to understand the gameplay loop and determine if the game aligns with personal preferences. Numerous players purchased the full game immediately after trying the demo.
- Requires Significant Time (weight 0.04): The game demands a considerable time commitment, with players needing to be prepared for potentially long play sessions and a slower pace. It is not recommended for those with limited free time, and some suggest options for more casual playstyles.
- Improve Building Mechanics (weight 0.03): Players desire more control and depth within the building system, specifically the ability to disable or choose building recipes before completion. There's also a call for better balance and synergy among buildings, such as making wells more useful, to enhance strategic depth.
- Consider Buying on Sale (weight 0.03): Some reviewers recommend purchasing the game when it is on sale, specifically suggesting prices around $10 or 50% off. This indicates a perception of better value at a reduced price point.
- Implement Flexible Saves (weight 0.02): Reviewers suggest adding save points to allow for more flexible gameplay, enabling players to experiment with different outcomes or "farm" blessings/events. This feature would cater to both casual players seeking leniency and hardcore players wanting to add challenge.
- Utilize Prophecy Book (weight 0.02): Players are advised to closely observe and understand the "prophecy book" within the game. This is crucial for effective planning and controlling the direction of village development, indicating it's a key strategic element that players should master.
- Improve Localization Support (weight 0.02): There are requests for enhanced localization, including a better Chinese name for the game, Chinese versions of update announcements, and the addition of Thai language support. This highlights a need for broader language accessibility.

Other player notes:
- Progression & Unlocks (weight 0.06): Players discuss the extensive time required to unlock meta-progression, memories, and new content, often taking dozens of hours. Some note that they haven't cleared the game or unlocked all content even after significant playtime.
- Art & Sound Design (weight 0.04): The game's art and sound design are generally well-received, with some appreciating the 2D graphics and medieval music. However, a few players found the music to be 'weird' or unconventional.
- Long Play Sessions (weight 0.04): Individual game sessions or full playthroughs can extend for many hours, with some reporting 4-5 hours per session or 20 hours for a first playthrough. This indicates the game requires a significant time commitment from players.
- Bugs & Stability Issues (weight 0.04): Players encountered various bugs, including soft-locks and issues with save stability, which can deter them from continuing or starting new games. There is a strong desire for these critical issues to be fixed promptly.
- Challenging & Punishing (weight 0.04): The game is described as challenging and punishing, often requiring players to be patient and expect to fail multiple times. This difficulty is particularly noted for those unfamiliar with the genre.
- Engaged Solo Developer (weight 0.04): Players highly appreciate the developer's direct communication and active presence on platforms like Twitter and Discord. This engagement is particularly noted and valued given that it is a solo developer project.
- Unique Roguelike City-Builder (weight 0.04): The game is recognized as a unique blend of city-building and roguelike elements, drawing comparisons to titles like Frostpunk and Agricola. This distinct genre combination appeals even to players who typically do not enjoy city builders.
- Anticipate Future Content (weight 0.04): Players express strong anticipation for future updates, expansions, and new content. They are eager to explore additional levels, buildings, characters, and events that the developer might introduce.
- Folkways DLC Content (weight 0.02): Players who purchased the Folkways expansion have started experiencing its unique content. This includes new and sometimes bizarre elements like eating people, cat-loving TV treants, and dwarves.
- Community Localizations (weight 0.02): The availability of user-made language patches, such as a Korean one, highlights community engagement and a potential need for broader official localization options.
- Low System Requirements (weight 0.02): The game is noted for its accessibility in terms of system requirements, being able to run on lower-end PCs. Its manageable file size is also seen as a positive aspect.
- Time Flies By (weight 0.02): Despite the long play sessions, many players report that time passes quickly while playing. This indicates an engaging and immersive experience that makes hours feel like minutes.
- Improved Threat Visibility (weight 0.01): Players suggest that information regarding threat increase, while present in the tips tab, could be more easily visible. Displaying it more prominently on the prophecy screen would improve clarity and user experience.
- Resource Prioritization Needed (weight 0.01): A common quality-of-life improvement requested is the ability to prioritize or lock resource consumption. This would provide players with more control over their village management.
- Multiple Save Slots (weight 0.01): Players would prefer the option to have multiple save slots. This feature would allow for different playthroughs, experiments, or to revert to previous states more easily.
- Adjustable Animation Speed (weight 0.01): Players appreciate the option in settings to speed up the animation for Pips returning home. This quality-of-life feature helps streamline gameplay and reduce waiting times.
- Slow Paced Gameplay (weight 0.01): The game is characterized by its slow-paced gameplay. This pacing is a defining feature that may appeal to players who prefer a more deliberate and less rushed experience.
- Repetitive Operations (weight 0.01): Some players find that the long game runs involve repetitive operations. This repetition could potentially lead to tedium for some players over extended sessions.
- Desired RPG Elements (weight 0.01): Players express a desire for more controllable and playable systems within the game. Specific suggestions include the addition of dungeons or more RPG-style elements to enhance gameplay variety.
- Option to Reduce Turns (weight 0.01): There is a mention of the possibility or a desire to reduce the number of turns in a game. This could be a feature to shorten session lengths or adjust difficulty.
- More Random Events/Safety (weight 0.01): Players desire more random events to increase variety and unpredictability in gameplay. Additionally, they suggest implementing safety measures to prevent sudden, unexpected deaths.
- Memorize Terminology (weight 0.01): Players note that some game-specific terms need to be memorized to fully understand mechanics. This indicates a learning curve or a potential need for a more comprehensive in-game glossary.

Emotions:
- Satisfaction (weight 0.27): Players feel satisfied due to the game's high overall quality, including its deep and balanced strategic gameplay, engaging turn-based mechanics, and rich content. The game's strong replayability, charming aesthetics, and consistent developer support also contribute significantly to player enjoyment and a sense of value. Overcoming challenges and mastering the game's complex systems provide a rewarding experience.
- Frustration (weight 0.14): Frustration primarily stems from significant UI/UX issues, various game-breaking or progress-hindering bugs, and an over-reliance on unpredictable randomness in events, tech trees, and map generation. Players also experience frustration due to unfair difficulty spikes, tedious micromanagement, and the excessive length of runs that can be lost due to unrecoverable mistakes or unbalanced mechanics.
- Excitement (weight 0.1): Players feel excitement due to the game's highly addictive "one more turn" gameplay loop, its unique blend of genres, and its overall exceptional quality. The challenging yet rewarding strategic depth, coupled with strong replayability and the promise of new content, keeps players deeply engaged and eager to continue playing.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.09): Players experience enjoyment from the game's engaging and often addictive core gameplay loop, which combines strategic depth with accessibility. The charming art style, humor, and unique genre blend contribute to a fun and cozy atmosphere, while the challenging nature and high replayability ensure sustained interest, even through "glorious defeats."
- Disappointment (weight 0.08): Disappointment arises from critical bugs leading to progress loss, the game failing to meet expectations, and a perceived lack of depth or innovation, especially in the mid-to-late game. Players are also disappointed by issues with game balance, unfulfilling rewards, excessive run lengths, and limited replayability, which can lead to repetition and boredom.
- Joy (weight 0.05): Joy is primarily caused by the game's high overall quality, charming pixel art, and delightful humor, which create a comfortable and engaging experience. The addictive gameplay, combined with the satisfaction of winning and the game's unique blend of genres, contributes to a deeply enjoyable and often surprising positive experience.
- Addiction (weight 0.04): Players report addiction due to the game's highly engaging and compelling "one more turn" gameplay loop, which makes them lose track of time and sacrifice sleep. The continuous desire to keep playing, discover more content, and experience the game's early-game flow contributes to its strong addictive quality.
- Appreciation (weight 0.03): Players appreciate the game primarily due to the developer's consistent and active support, including steady updates, quick bug fixes, and responsiveness to feedback. The perceived passion, care, and thoughtful design philosophy of the solo developer, along with the game's overall quality and unique approach, foster a strong sense of appreciation.
- Surprise (weight 0.02): Players are surprised by the game's unexpected depth, quality, and substantial content, often exceeding initial appearances or expectations for its genre. The game's unique genre mix, brutal difficulty, and ability to make time fly also contribute to a sense of pleasant surprise.
- Engagement (weight 0.02): Engagement is driven by the game's challenging yet accessible rogue-like city builder mechanics, which offer deep strategic demands and evolving gameplay. The compelling progression system, rich content, and the constant need to adapt and overcome challenges keep players deeply immersed and invested over time.
- Admiration (weight 0.02): Admiration stems from the impressive achievement of the solo developer, whose dedication, ingenuity, and passion are evident in the game's brilliant design, well-thought-out systems, and beautiful art style. The game is often seen as a "work of art" and a strong contender for "best in genre," highlighting the exceptional effort behind its creation.
- Challenge (weight 0.01): Players perceive the game as challenging due to its high difficulty, steep learning curve, and ruthless nature, which punishes unpreparedness and mistakes. The game's high randomness and low fault tolerance contribute to an expectation of failure, making the experience demanding from the outset.
- Boredom (weight 0.01): Boredom sets in due to the game's repetitive mid-to-late game, characterized by a lack of new content, unchanging victory conditions, and excessive length without sufficient challenge. The slow pace, especially in the early game and during repetitive late-game turns, also contributes to players losing interest before completing runs.
- Hope (weight 0.01): Players express hope for the game's future, anticipating significant improvements, particularly in UI and bug fixes, which they believe will make the game even more solid. This hope is fueled by the developer's evident passion and a desire for continued content expansion and quality-of-life features like language support.
- Relief (weight 0.01): Relief is felt when critical issues, such as bugs or confusion about content unlocks, are resolved, often through developer intervention, or when players successfully recover from difficult in-game situations. The game's design, which respects player time and avoids stressful time limits, also contributes to a sense of relief.
- Annoyance (weight 0.01): Annoyance stems from the game's excessively long playthroughs and the tedious, repetitive late-game management, which can feel like "self-abuse." Issues with micromanagement, resource clarity, UI problems, and unskippable cutscenes further contribute to player frustration.
- Amusement (weight 0.01): Amusement is derived from the game's quirky humor, including clever translations and self-deprecating jokes, as well as its ability to generate chaotic and dramatic emergent events that lead to entertaining catastrophic village stories. Unique details and the game's punishing yet entertaining nature also contribute to a sense of fun.
- Anger (weight 0.01): Anger is triggered by perceived unfairness in game design and balance, particularly unreasonable difficulty spikes and game-breaking bugs or events that render a long run unplayable. The frustration of losing significant progress due to seemingly insurmountable challenges also contributes to this emotion.
- Determination (weight 0.01): Determination is fueled by the game's challenging nature, which instills a strong desire in players to persist, restart after failures, and ultimately overcome difficult goals, such as defeating the "Doom." The rewarding nature of these restarts reinforces this resolve.
- Anticipation (weight 0.01): Players feel anticipation for future game progression, driven by the desire to discover new technologies in each run and unlock more content. The game's challenging nature also contributes to the excitement of returning to explore different leader playstyles and overcome new obstacles.}