Build a thriving community and watch out for winter.
Of Life and Land is a medieval settlement-building strategy game. It was developed by Marco Burri as a solo project at first before Kerzoven came to be in 2022. The Switzerland-based developer is known for his work on Legend of Ahssûn as a generalist in the game’s core team. The Publishers of the game are both Kerzoven and Metaroot.
The game starts you off with one scenario, Kerzoven. In this scenario, Elaine of Kerzoven has been tasked to develop the undeveloped north for the ever-growing Kingdom. You are put in charge of the entire project. From resource management to even the diplomatic relationships with neighbouring settlements as well as keeping the ever-delicate balance of nature and man as you build up your settlement.
Of Life and Land may be a city builder and management simulator but it is incredibly detailed compared to a lot of other games in the genre when it comes to the simulation aspect of the game. You start building from the ground up having to construct a few modest shacks for your people to live in at first as well as a Gatherers Shack, which you need for storage and to let your people forage for food as you get food plots up and running.
A Forester’s stump to gather wood and a sawing place to create planks. You will also construct a Simple Stonemason to gather raw hewn stone for construction and a rudimentary tailoring table to start crafting Rough Rags and Clothes for winter. Of course, with the seasons different things are available such as food being more scarce in winter in the Valley, Hills, and Coast whereas in the Tablelands the temperature cools down only a little.
As your population grows and your citizens become higher-tiered they will need more and more things to keep them happy. When you get your community centre up and running it allows you to manage diplomatic relationships when you open your map but also accept new citizens into your settlement.
While many different city builders have the environment of the game or world easily yielding to your management Of Life and Land is different. You don’t just have to worry about your people becoming overpopulated or resources becoming scarce because you build over or destroy any useful resources but you will have to worry about animals stealing food stock and the weather as well.
The weather system and the temperature and the pollution filter on the map are reminiscent of Eco, if it’s too cold your people will freeze to death but the same can be said for the opposite as the heat can kill your citizens just as much as the cold can.
Of Life and Land has many different biomes you can access during the scenario. Although most are accessible through the map as you send scouts to explore the new regions. Unfortunately, not all your resources are in one area as each biome is a separate map that you can have access to. While two of the other Biomes you can immediately settle in after discovering, the other two already have flourishing settlements so you will have to work on the diplomacy of the area you want to have rights to settle in.
For example, the Tablelands is the first area you discover, it’s also where you can get copper which is needed for level three buildings and production so getting a settlement there is highly necessary. Although the Tablelands has its own problems as it is a desert, water is scarce so sending water over from your first settlement in the Valley is a must until you get a Well built to gather water.
There is a lot that goes on in the game that it can be overwhelming for players not used to an incredibly detailed city builder as you are micro-managing multiple settlements while working on trade agreements and expanding for an ever-growing population. Every citizen, animal, and plant has their own needs and you will have to keep an eye on those needs as well as the weather and food supply.
The level of detail isn’t necessarily a negative aspect as Of Life and Land does offer the option to slow down and pause simulated time when needed or if everything is going a little too slowly you can speed it up. If you don’t want to play the games scenario there is a map builder you can use to create your own maps to play on.
When playing Of Life and Land you must keep in mind that there is no real way to adjust the game’s font size. However, there are display options that allow you to increase the size of your UI which in turn increases the in-game font but there is a catch. While it makes the text easier to read, the now enlarged UI and menus can clutter the screen especially if you have multiple tabs open at a time.
Of Life and Land features a low poly art style which works incredibly well with the medieval city builder as it creates an incredibly vibrant backdrop for your settlements to grow and expand. Each of the different areas has different designs which easily helps to differentiate between forest, desert, coastline, and mountain ranges. The maps can be scenic especially once you get later in the game with higher tier homes.
The sound engineering is well executed. The music in the background adds to the medieval theme with a more fantasy tavern sound. The sound effects were well implemented and added to the immersive feel of the game whether it was the ambient sounds such as the crashing of waterfalls and the many sounds of the animals to the pings and chimes from your mail and journal going off. The sound design in Of Life and Land is just incredibly solid all around.
Overall, Of Life and Land is a great game for veteran city builders and players who enjoy the micromanagement aspect of the genre. Between the low poly art and the soothing medieval music, it gives off a rather relaxing atmosphere to what is otherwise a very harsh but forgiving city builder.
