The strategy game Millennia was released on March 26 on Steam and has received a mixed reception from players so far. A team member from publisher Paradox has now responded to the criticism and clarified under what circumstances the game was developed.
Which game is it about? Millennia is a new game published by Paradox, the strategy veterans behind Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron, or Crusader Kings.
Paradox acts as the publisher while the game is developed by the studio C Prompt Games. Millennia resembles Civilization, but there are no fixed nations. You establish your own nation and build cities.
MeinMMO author Schuhmann jumped into the game shortly after release and has already spent 40 hours in it within a few days. However, not all players share the enthusiasm. On Steam, Millennia has collected 1,891 reviews and only holds a “mixed” rating.
Bugs and glitches, performance issues, and poor balancing are criticized. Many reviews, however, emphasize that a good game is hidden beneath the problems. Millennia just needs more work to be truly good. On MeinMMO, we summarized the mood of the players.
Players are frustrated: Believe the studio is too small
What is the problem? Steam user shoobers believes he knows the cause of the current state of Millennia. He addresses the team size of the small developer studio C Prompt Games.
According to shoobers, it consists of only three people. While they are industry veterans responsible for classics like System Shock 2, Age of Empires 2, StarCraft, or Diablo, they are still just three people.
One of them is not even a developer, but “only” an art designer. According to the user, such a team size would not be sufficient to handle all the bugs and issues of the game.
Another Steam user named Skybsky addresses this point and expresses his frustration:
“Only three people, really? That explains a lot; I thought many people were working on the game. Paradox should invest in them and hire more good developers, so the team’s vision is supported. The game is so good in terms of gameplay but has one of the worst balancing/AI/performance and graphics.”
From this statement, it is clear how annoyed some players are. They want to enjoy Millennia, but the game is preventing them from doing so.
However, this assessment is incorrect; many more people are now working on Millennia at C Prompt Games. The developers have now clarified this.
The team speaks out, promises groundbreaking changes
What are the developers saying? The community manager of Paradox, Erik Jakobsson, spoke out on Steam and directly addressed the criticism that the studio is too small.
There haven’t just been three people working on the game for a long time. Initially, it was so, but now the team has grown and consists of exactly 20 people. This includes additional designers and programmers, among others.
Millennia is a new IP, but significantly smaller than other Paradox games. Therefore, the team is smaller and listens very closely to player feedback. The game is to be improved in the future through regular updates.
Why is the new update so important?
They promise probably the most important innovation in the new update: Players will be able to demolish cities of their vassals.
- In Millennia, you can gradually expand existing cities over time to include up to 4 villages, making small villages into huge metropolises. However, you need a lot of space on the map for that.
- The AI builds cities relatively close to existing settlements, hindering growth.
- Because you could only conquer cities and make them vassals but could not demolish them, many players felt hindered when expanding cities.
- The ability to demolish conquered cities is therefore seen as a “game changer” and fundamentally changes the game.
The community manager is currently asking for patience. Have you already played Millennia? What did you think of it? Please write it in the comments. One thing did bother Mein-MMO author Schuhmann in the end.
