Patron

Despite any aforementioned hiccups, Patron is an addicting medieval city-builder that can hold its head up high amongst the others in this well-established genre.

Patron is an engrossing and very enjoyable survival city builder. Once you can pass the first four to six years or so in the game it seems to get easier to manage everything the game throws at you. With fourteen maps to play through with different rule sets, there is plenty of long-term gameplay on offer. The progress in Patron can be slow, even with a fast forward button, but for those that like to ponder their next move on pause, Patron is perfect for a strategic play-through. Just be careful as there is so much to do and one wrong decision can send you crashing back to the start with an unhappy ending for your citizens. I love it!

Patron is a more difficult and modern version of Banished, both in practical and factual terms. The game offers an elaborate social system, an extensive research tree, but also the ability to issue various decrees that can cause your citizens to rebel. For fans of the genre, a clear choice that will keep you entertained, however the lack of any campaign or larger goal may strike some players with a certain emptiness. Perhaps a goal to "build a large monument", such as in the free game in Pharaoh, would have been enough and it would have been immediately a bit more fun. Nevertheless, this is clearly a tasteful game that will find its player and delight them.

Patron is great for city builder fans that absolutely like the planning and early elements of starting a town.

Patron is effectively a more difficult version of Banished. But there are enough subtle differences to differentiate them and the game's overall polish is fantastic.

Patron is an ambitious game, working hard to stand out in a genre that is saturated with countless clones of each other. The social system is intricate, although I think it still has some work to be done to make it feel as massive as Overseer Games would like it to be. Still, there is a lot to like about Patron, and it is a perfectly enjoyable city builder.