Soviet City

EARLY ACCESS REVIEW: TO BE EDITIED ON FULL RELEASE
I am surprised at the fuctionality of the game at its current point. I encountered no errors, and load times were a little long, but by no means unbearable. The art and design are very nice, and the score is very appealing, almost soothing in a brain-washing sort of way, which I can only imagine was intentional.
The controls are easy enough to learn, though it may take some time to get used to the menus. One criticism of the menus is that they are not always labeled as what you may expect them to be labeled with, but that is easily overlooked once you learn the layout, which the current tutorial does a fine job of.
The biggest issue I've had is a few grammatical issues with tutorial text and loading screens, but they are easily fixed, and easily forgiven.
Even at its current state, I would recommend this game to someone who enjoys city sims, as well as one that likes puzzle type games.

Soviet City is quite the spectacle... It's art style is quite beautiful and its soundtrack is hypnotic! Now I dont usually write reviews, but this game deserves its support! I have always adored the 'fake' soviet unions akin to the "Red Alert" series and this game really hits that sweet spot of my very abstract love for the dirty dirty Ruskis. Therefore I give the following things as possible feedback/advice to help this game reach its true potential via polishing and refinement:
- Slightly bigger maps, or at least an option for such
- A "free build" mode thats not so heavy on the objectives but still contain them to help drive the game
- A better explanation of the "Terror" abilities and a possible way of regenerating some of the points used (Maybe by completing objetives or something) Especially because meat and coal are vital to city survival in the early game
- Please PLEASE make the soundtrack available for purchase if you can, Oh MY GOD THAT SOUNDTRACK SON, SO GOOD!!!
There are probably a few things Ive forgotton to mention, Ill edit this if need be! Keep up the good work, cant wait to see the final product!!!

Soviet City has some of the most innovative and unique concepts I’ve seen in a city builder style game in a long time. I would have backed the game’s greenlight from the get-go based on the concept alone, but it had already been greenlit by the time I got there, so I followed it closely, watching and waiting for release.
As a longtime student of Soviet history, especially of The Terror, I was mesmerized by the idea of being part of the uncaring, murderous socialist machine. Make no mistake, this is a very dark game. State sponsored murder on a large scale, is, in fact, a critical part of the economy in the system, and can’t be forgone if you want to succeed. In the horrifying picture of socialism it portrays, people are quite literally nothing more than resources to be either worked to death and then recycled, or simply murdered on a mass scale (and then recycled).
Gameplay is similar to just about any other city builder, albeit strongly tied to mission objectives issued from above. Directives, such as “increase the population by 3,000”, can be met by building enough housing for those people, or by sneakier, more conniving methods typical of highly bureaucratic systems that are rife with corruption (you can simply have the birth certificates fudged at the local hospital and voila! 3,000 new “people” for the state).
The art style is utterly fantastic, and one of my favorite aspects of the game. It captures the bleak, stultifying brutality of a country undergoing a mass terror campaign. Everything from the People’s Palace (presumably where your exalted self resides), straight down to the most decrepit apartment block, screams totalitarianism.
The developer has been accused of “Russophobia” by a few very loud critics that presumably didn’t play the game, or only bought it just to accuse him of such. The same people seem to have little trouble throwing pejoratives his way about his nationality, and I find this terribly unfair. While many aspects of the art and even the concept harken back to Soviet Russia, they also evoke the other Soviet republics, Great Leap Forward China, North Korea and others in equal measure. The word “Russia” is not used once, at least not that I’ve seen so far, and even if it is, that’s hardly “Russophobic” of the developer or his product. Let’s all be civil. If this game is “Russophobic” so are most of the Call of Duty titles.
It’s an uncomfortable game, and it’s intended to be. It should make you feel a little bit… queasy, at times. That’s the idea.
I highly recommend Soviet City to people that enjoy city builders, socio-political history and dark (bordering on macabre) humor.

How could I not adore this game? I can build an economy based on slaves and human body parts! What more can you ask for? This also arguably has the best soundtrack of any game I have ever played. The game still has some work to be done, at this point it's an extremely challenging game, and there is a time limit on nearly every mission. While I understand the need to stick to the Soviet Planned Economiies "5 Year Plans" it would be nice to have a sandbox mode where I am not timed.

great art style and some quite unique mechanics and challenges. Its not so much based on history but more a parody of what some soviety city is like - there are a lot of neat ideas brought to the fore in how the player uses state terror and the double-edged sword this can be in both trying to keep the civilians under control but also answer the demands from the central government. Its well worth getting, can though be a little difficult to start with as there are alot of options on screen and time is ticking and there is seemingly alot one must do to meet 5 year plan goals and such - to some extent the game expects one to fail a few times in meeting such goals i think.

Were you the kid who liked unleashing total chaos upon your creations in Sim City? If so then this game is a must-have for you.

After I played a few hours I see this game different now.
It is very hard in the beginning and you have to figure out what to build and when.
It also has some bugs, but if you get to the point where you learned to manage terror and know what to do it is a really fun game.
I think this game is about how to handle a soviet dictatorship and not about anticommunistic propaganda, so just enjoy playing ;)