The Guild 3 is a complicated title. While fun, it is also a game with an identity crisis, and in trying to do so many things, it saturates its own experience.
THQ Nordic’s The Guild 3 is a fascinating title. The newest title in the titular Guild series has many fans curious about what improvements may have been made to it. For those who are in the unknown, they may be asking, “What is The Guild?”
Put simply, the game is set in the late Middle Ages (Particularly 1400) and chronicles your characters (and their dynasties’) lives as you seek to control an entire medieval city. At least if that’s what your goal is. Ultimately, the purpose of The Guild 3 is to give players a massive sense of scope and freedom, with the ability to do so much. As an avid reader of medieval history, who is always on the lookout for the next medieval-inspired title, The Guild 3 was curious.
To start this review, we are going to look at the gameplay. In a simple description, it feels like a combination of a city builder, an RPG, and a life sim. Picture if you meshed Crusader Kings III, Mount and Blade Bannerlord, and The Sims 4, and that’s kind of what The Guild 3 feels like, or better yet, attempts to feel like.
The game is complicated, almost too complicated; as a person with little experience in the previous titles in the series, I will happily admit that when I first opened this game, I was overwhelmed, even with the tutorial (which was very poor). Getting to grips with even the most basic aspects of this title is menial and tedious, and players who are low on patience will find this game an indomitable grind.
The UI of this game is very poorly optimized, leading to a massive amount of confusion throughout the title. The colors constantly clash, the text isn’t clear, and ultimately, what can be a slow experience is brought to a near-complete standstill.
Despite this, the game does have its moments. Managing your business is a fun turn. Watching money roll in as your minions… I mean workers… Slave away at a forge, or a criminal enterprise, or more, is endlessly engaging. However, it can lose its luster when the AI rivals are not much of a threat, whether that’s simply in businesses or in more nefarious, criminal enterprises.
Despite the game appearing like a managerial sim, it can also surprise you. Combat can be an aspect of the game that players can explore, while it can be fun. It often serves as a clunky distraction from the overall main experience of building stores and earning money.
The Guild 3’s best feature, in my opinion, is its atmosphere. Hearing conversations going on across town, the hustle and bustle as you and your workers mine, forge metals, and more throughout the day, leads to some of the most cathartic and immersive moments of gameplay that make the experience that much richer.
One of the most significant issues I find with The Guild 3 is that, realistically, I tend to find myself not playing the game but instead trying and observing. Everything takes so long to accomplish in this title that playing at normal speeds is nearly impossible; instead, you will spend most of your time mindlessly skipping your way through the wide range of jobs your family member engages in.
When it comes to other aspects of The Guild 3, like its visuals, the game has a rather even keel split. When it comes to models of buildings and such, environments, and water. The game is good. Although it is still somewhat outdated, the graphics aren’t enough to detract from the overall experience.
However, on the other hand, the character models are very poor. Skin textures are muddy, there don’t seem to be enough differences in appearances, and on top of all of this, the character customization is incredibly poor and only highlights the character models’ weaknesses.
In terms of the sound design in The Guild 3, it’s immaculate. I believe that audio is one of the most underrated aspects of video games, and The Guild 3 has a lot of stellar audio. Footsteps, cranking metal, buildings, and wind are all fantastic and make the experience of playing the title less of a chore.
Overall, the ultimate issue that clouds The Guild 3 is over-saturation. The game almost has too much content, to the point where it becomes unnecessarily convoluted and complicated, making it difficult to play in the most basic sense.
Once players get to grips with the complex systems (which is hard due to the poor tutorial), they are then treated to what can be an interesting managerial sim with an RPG-esque twist. This can be fun for a short time, but ultimately fails to capture the imagination for long.
With poor character models and even poorer customization, any element of forging your dynasty is diluted to the point that it becomes almost a useless and uninteresting aspect of a game built around the creation of dynasties.
It is possible that with future updates, the developers at THQ Nordic, who have, without a doubt, worked (and are continuing to work) very hard on this title, and many of the complaints mentioned in this review and levied by the community, will be addressed.
The Guild 3 is uniquely situated in the sphere of the gaming world. I compared it to various other titles earlier, but in reality, it is incomparable. There is no real experience that mirrors this title. In an industry saturated with content, The Guild 3 has succeeded in, at the very least, surprising me a great deal.
While the execution of the title leaves a little to be desired, I cannot help but be captivated by the very idea of this game. The potential for what it could be or what potential sequels could conjure up. I am very intrigued to see where this franchise may go in the future.
The Guild 3 is available right now on PC. Here at GamesCreed, we cover everything gaming. From the latest news to stellar reviews, GamesCreed has you covered.
