Info about Driftland: The Magic Revival:

Official game description:
  
After a devastating war between ancient mages, a powerful spell is all that holds together the shattered planet of Driftland. Faced with the destruction of their entire civilization and life on the planet, the warring factions called a truce and tried to repair the damage – but it was already too late. By using all their remaining magic to cast a powerful spell, they managed to keep their world in relative balance.  
Many dark ages passed, but when all seemed lost, a ray of hope emerged once more: new sources of magic appeared, and new mages were given birth to across the planet. Now, as the dormant conflicts once again surface, this rediscovered power will determine whether Driftland is restored to its former glory or wiped from the cosmos entirely.  
You take on the role of a Mage Overlord with your own castle, tower, and a small realm on one of the landmasses. With your unique powers, you can explore a procedurally generated world and connect floating lands to expand your kingdom.  
Gameplay focuses on setting general goals for all your units without the need to micromanage each of them. The warriors, archers, and mages under your command are able to tame and ride different kinds of flying beasts and create various aerial units.  
*   Procedurally generated world  
*   Resource- and magic-based economy  
*   Move and terraform scattered landmasses with magic  
*   Tame and ride dragons and other creatures  
*   Explore and fight on the same map  
*   Set goals instead of directly controlling units  
*   Single player, campaigns, and multiplayer

Release date: Apr 18, 2019

Categories: Real-time Strategy, Resource Management, Procedural Generation, City Building, Fantasy, Indirect Control Gameplay, Multiplayer


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $10.00 - $15.00
  - Reasoning: The evidence shows a mix of opinions on the game's value. Some users feel the game is worth around $14.99, while others believe it deserves the full price or more. The general sentiment suggests that the game is worth buying at a discounted price, but opinions vary on its full price value. The majority of the reviews indicate that a fair price range would be between $10 and $15, considering the game's current state and the value it provides.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 40.0h
  - Story completion: N/A
  - Session length: 3.0h
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The evidence provides direct and indirect mentions of playtime. The first quote mentions a campaign playtime of about 40 hours, which can be considered for game completion. The second quote mentions a single session lasting almost three hours, which can be used for session length. The third quote indicates significant playtime investment to complete the first campaign. The fourth quote contrasts playtimes but does not provide a specific value for the target game.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game becomes fun once players start building and expanding their empire by linking islands, which is described as a satisfying and enjoyable process.
  - Stance: Fun after initial setup
  - Anchor: Building and expanding the empire by linking islands
  - Time to anchor: 1h 0m
  - Friction: slow pacing; repetitive early tasks
  - Unlock drivers: strategic planning; visual satisfaction of empire building
  - Conditions: solo play; strategic planning mindset; relaxation
- Player Archetypes:
  - Casual Strategist (sale)
    - Motivation: Relaxation and casual gameplay.
    - Playstyle: Enjoys a slower, more relaxed pace and less micro-intensive gameplay.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: casual RTS fan; grumpy old gamer
    - Reference games: Majesty; Settlers
  - Completionist Achiever (deep sale)
    - Motivation: Earning achievements and completing the game.
    - Playstyle: Focuses on completing all aspects of the game, including achievements and campaign goals.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: deep sale
    - Labels: achievement hunter
    - Reference games: N/A
  - Nostalgic Comparer (sale)
    - Motivation: Nostalgia and comparison to classic games.
    - Playstyle: Enjoys comparing the game to classics and appreciating the similarities and differences.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: old-school player
    - Reference games: Settlers; Majesty


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:
- Unique floating island mechanics (weight 0.69): The game introduces a unique concept of floating islands that players can move and manipulate. This mechanic is central to the gameplay and adds a strategic layer to empire building.
- Stunning graphics and visuals (weight 0.43): The game features beautiful and realistic graphics, excellent art, and a unique graphics style. Players appreciate the smooth and colorful graphics, as well as the good animations.
- Spiritual successor to Majesty (weight 0.37): The game captures the essence of the Majesty series and is considered a successor with more depth and a relaxed pace. It combines elements from Netstorm and Majesty successfully.
- Interesting and cool concept (weight 0.35): The game features an interesting and cool concept with practical execution, including a unique world design and gameplay mechanics.
- Unique races and magic systems (weight 0.32): Players can choose from different races, each with unique buildings, units, and magic spells. This adds variety and depth to the gameplay.
- Good value for price (weight 0.25): Players find the game to be unexpectedly good and well-designed for its price. It offers a great experience at an affordable cost.
- Intuitive and polished UI (weight 0.23): The game features a smooth, intuitive, and efficient user interface that is easy to navigate and well-polished.
- Diverse resources and biomes (weight 0.2): The game offers a variety of islands with different resources and biomes, adding diversity and strategic depth to the gameplay.
- Blends multiple game genres (weight 0.2): The game combines RTS and RPG mechanics, as well as city-building elements, offering a unique blend of different game genres.
- Addictive and creative gameplay (weight 0.2): The game offers addictive and creative gameplay with high replay value, keeping players engaged for extended periods.
- Unique resource management (weight 0.17): The game introduces unique resource and spell systems, as well as an interesting island management system that sets it apart from other games.
- Relaxing and meditative gameplay (weight 0.16): The gameplay is described as relaxing and meditative, offering a more laid-back experience compared to other strategy games.
- Challenging missions (weight 0.15): Some missions in the game are challenging, including the final mission, which provides a good test of the player's strategic skills.
- Promising future updates (weight 0.15): The game shows promise for future updates, with developers actively working on improvements and fixes.
- Recommended for RTS fans (weight 0.09): The game is highly recommended for RTS fans, offering a unique and enjoyable experience that casual RTS players will appreciate.
- Fun and engaging gameplay (weight 0.09): The game offers fast and enjoyable gameplay that is both fun and engaging, keeping players entertained.
- Pleasant ambient music (weight 0.09): The game features wonderful and pleasant ambient music that enhances the overall gaming experience.
- Good tutorial (weight 0.09): The game includes a well-structured tutorial that helps players understand the mechanics and get started quickly.
- Easy achievements (weight 0.09): Players find it easy to get 100% achievements in the game, making it a rewarding experience for completionists.

Common complaints:
- Repetitive gameplay (weight 0.42): Many players find the game to be very repetitive with little variety. This includes repetitive music, battles, and a general lack of depth beyond repetition.
- Poor unit control mechanics (weight 0.35): Players frequently report issues with the lack of direct control over units, making the gameplay feel clunky and unintuitive. This includes problems with AI unit control and a general lack of command over troops.
- Unintelligent AI (weight 0.28): The AI in the game is often criticized for being unintelligent and unbalanced. Players find the AI not challenging enough and too easy to beat.
- Lack of game depth (weight 0.23): The game suffers from a lack of automation, micromanagement, voice acting, and challenge. Additionally, there is a lack of unit diversity, making the gameplay feel shallow and cumbersome.
- Poor storytelling (weight 0.18): The game's storytelling tools and campaign story are criticized for being poor and confusing. Players find the story explanation lacking.
- Boring story and campaign (weight 0.17): The game's story and campaign are frequently described as boring and sluggish. Players find the development and overall campaign to be unengaging.
- Limited content variety (weight 0.16): There is a notable lack of content variety in the game, including limited unit variety and overall gameplay content, making the experience feel restricted.
- Game balance issues (weight 0.15): There are significant game balance issues, with certain factions having advantages that make the game feel unbalanced.
- Difficult to understand initially (weight 0.14): Players find the game difficult to understand the first time they play, with unclear game concepts and campaign design.
- Dead public multiplayer (weight 0.13): The public multiplayer aspect of the game is described as dead, with no active multiplayer community, reducing the game's replayability and longevity.
- Frustrating control system (weight 0.13): The control system is described as frustrating and unfriendly. Players find the UI and controls poorly explained and difficult to use.
- Resource management issues (weight 0.13): Players report problems with resource management, including having too many resources and redundancy in resource types.
- Lacks charm of similar games (weight 0.12): The game is often compared unfavorably to similar titles like Majesty, lacking the charm and living economy that made those games enjoyable.
- Lack of unit differentiation (weight 0.12): Units in the game lack differentiation and independence, making them feel too similar to each other and reducing strategic depth.
- Difficulty identifying hero units (weight 0.12): Players have difficulty determining which hero tames which flying creature, leading to confusion and frustration in unit management.
- Limited language support (weight 0.11): The game lacks support for certain languages, such as Chinese and Portuguese-Brazilian, limiting its accessibility to non-English speaking players.
- Flying units are hard to obtain (weight 0.09): Flying units, which are necessary for efficient gameplay, are hard to obtain, creating a barrier to optimal gameplay strategies.
- Similar faction gameplay (weight 0.09): Players find that the gameplay is similar for each faction, reducing the variety and replayability of the game.
- Economic micromanagement slows gameplay (weight 0.09): Economic micromanagement is criticized for slowing down the game, making the gameplay feel tedious and less enjoyable.
- Tedious late game (weight 0.09): The late game is criticized for being tedious, with repetitive tasks and a lack of engaging content.
- AI instability and bugs (weight 0.09): The game suffers from AI instability, including bugs and crashes that affect the overall gameplay experience.
- Lack of interesting gameplay (weight 0.09): The game is criticized for lacking interesting gameplay, with players finding it boring quickly and lacking engaging content.
- Units lack initiative (weight 0.08): Units in the game have free will but lack initiative, making them feel less dynamic and interesting.
- Unit management and balancing issues (weight 0.08): Players report issues with the unit management system and unit balancing, making the gameplay feel unbalanced and less strategic.
- Poor economy and imbalance (weight 0.08): The game's economy is criticized for being poor and imbalanced, affecting the overall gameplay experience.
- Lack of tutorials for beginners (weight 0.08): The game lacks proper tutorials, which can be difficult for beginner players trying to learn the game mechanics and strategies.
- Endless grinding (weight 0.08): The game is criticized for an endless loop of building houses and farms, making the gameplay feel tedious and repetitive.
- Overcomplicated and uninteresting plot (weight 0.08): The game's plot is criticized for being overcomplicated and uninteresting, making it difficult for players to stay engaged with the story.
- Lack of personality (weight 0.08): The game is described as too passive and lacking in personality, making it less engaging and enjoyable for players.
- Limited strategic depth (weight 0.08): There is very little room for different strategies in the game, reducing the strategic depth and replayability.
- Mechanics fall short (weight 0.08): The game's mechanics are criticized for falling short of player expectations, reducing the overall enjoyment and engagement.
- Mission design flaws (weight 0.08): Players report flaws in mission design, including nonsensical missions that detract from the overall gameplay experience.
- Unexplained mechanics and strategy (weight 0.08): Players report that the game has unexplained mechanics and strategy, making it difficult to understand and enjoy the gameplay fully.
- Useless skills (weight 0.08): Some skills in the game are considered useless, and players are unable to remove these useless found skills, affecting gameplay efficiency.
- Slim differences between races (weight 0.08): Players find that the differences between races in the game are slim, reducing the variety and strategic depth.

Gameplay feedback:
- Floating island empire building (weight 0.84): The game focuses on building and managing an empire on floating islands. Players start with a base and expand by claiming nearby islands, connecting them with bridges, and managing resources.
- RTS with resource management (weight 0.57): The game is a real-time strategy game with a strong emphasis on resource management and island exploitation. Players gather resources, manage their economy, and control units to expand their territory.
- Indirect unit control mechanics (weight 0.42): Units in the game have free will but can be influenced by orders. Players use indirect commands and reward flags to manage unit behavior and production.
- Unique RTS and RPG blend (weight 0.25): The game combines real-time strategy with RPG and kingdom simulator elements. It offers a unique experience with indirect hero control and magic systems, set in a fantasy theme.
- Building and upgrading structures (weight 0.24): Players can build and upgrade various structures to enhance their empire. This includes buildings for resource management, unit production, and territory expansion.
- Campaign with varied missions (weight 0.12): The game features a campaign mode with various missions, each with different goals and objectives. This provides a structured and varied gameplay experience.
- Multiplayer coop mode (weight 0.12): The game includes a multiplayer cooperative mode, allowing players to team up and play together. This adds a social and collaborative aspect to the gameplay.

Performance notes:
- Frequent game crashes (weight 0.21): Multiple reports indicate that the game frequently crashes, including crashes to desktop and fatal exception errors. These issues are particularly noted in both single-player and multiplayer modes.
- Performance issues noted (weight 0.2): Players have experienced long loading times and slow startup times, even on mid-to-high end gaming PCs. However, some players report no FPS drops or major performance issues.
- Positive feedback on optimization (weight 0.09): Some players have praised the game for its good optimization, indicating that it runs smoothly on their systems without major bugs or performance issues.
- Moderate system requirements (weight 0.09): The game requires at least 2GB RAM and a 1.5GB VRAM graphics card with DirectX 11. It is noted that the game does not demand much from the processor, with an i3 at 1.8GHz being sufficient.
- Steam detection issues (weight 0.05): There are reports of issues with Steam detecting the program closure, which can lead to problems with game management and updates.

Recommendations:
- Buy on sale or discount (weight 0.26): Many reviewers recommend purchasing the game only when it is on sale or available at a discount. The game is seen as good value for money at a lower price point.
- Recommended for RTS and Majesty fans (weight 0.21): The game is highly recommended for fans of real-time strategy games and those who enjoy Majesty-like games. It is particularly appealing to players with nostalgia for the Majesty series.

Other player notes:
- Long-term engagement (weight 0.05): Players have engaged with the game over a long period, indicating sustained interest and replayability.
- DLC purchase decisions (weight 0.05): Some users have chosen not to buy the DLC, which could reflect their satisfaction with the base game or their perception of the DLC's value.
- Comparison to other games (weight 0.05): Some users mentioned other games while reviewing this game. This could indicate that players are drawing comparisons between this game and others in the same genre.

Emotions:
- Disappointment (weight 0.25): Players feel let down by the game's repetitive and shallow gameplay, lack of variety in races, units, and strategies, and numerous technical issues. The story, multiplayer functionality, and overall game balance also fail to meet expectations, leading to a lack of engagement and enjoyment.
- Frustration (weight 0.2): Players are annoyed by repetitive and tedious gameplay, multiplayer issues, and various gameplay mechanics such as unit control and AI behavior. Additional frustrations stem from game balance issues, lack of tutorials, and constant micromanagement.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.1): Players appreciate the game's unique mechanics, engaging gameplay, and responsive developers. The enjoyable UI, affordable price, and pleasant graphics also contribute to a satisfying experience.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.07): Players find the game fun and addictive, with unique mechanics and an engaging campaign. The detailed gameplay and unique world contribute to an enjoyable experience.
- Frustrated (weight 0.06): Players are frustrated by unclear game concepts, AI behavior, and economic imbalances. Language support issues and limitations in upgrades and combat mechanics also contribute to the frustration.
- Excitement (weight 0.06): Players are excited about the game's unique mechanics, strategic depth, and addictive gameplay. The interesting map/strategy mechanisms and potential for future updates add to the excitement.
- Hopeful (weight 0.04): Players hope for future improvements, updates, and additional content. They believe the game has potential to improve and attract more fans.
- Boredom (weight 0.03): Players find the game repetitive and lacking engaging content. Slow pacing and unengaging battles contribute to the boredom.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.03): Players are enthusiastic about the game's unique concept, strategic gameplay, and positive mechanics. They enjoy sharing strategies and tips.
- Appreciation (weight 0.02): Players appreciate the game's unique mechanics, improvements over older games, and positive aspects of graphics and UI.
- Disappointed (weight 0.02): Players feel disappointed due to the lack of content, variety, and depth in the game. It becomes boring quickly and has several issues.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.01): Players feel nostalgic as the game reminds them of older games they enjoyed, such as 'Majesty' and 'Northgard'.
- Optimism (weight 0.01): Players are optimistic about the game's interesting mechanics and future potential. They have faith in the development and visuals.
- Excited (weight 0.01): Players are excited about the game's creative and addictive nature. The unique combination of puzzle and RTS elements is promising.
- Satisfied (weight 0.01): Players are satisfied with the game's ease of understanding and enjoyment. They find it similar to other games they like, such as Civilization.
- Disgust (weight 0.01): Players feel disgusted due to non-functional online lobbies, which they paid for.
- Anger (weight 0.01): Players are angry at the game's mechanics and mission design, which they find poorly executed.}