There seems to be a trend recently in city-building titles that pushes the genre toward more relaxed experiences. It’s not totally new, of course, but I feel as though I’ve been seeing and playing far more games in the genre dedicated to peacefully building economies without the threat of starvation or invasion to add tension to the experience. While I do love a good defensive city builder, the relaxing titles are certainly welcome and often play into the city-builder-player’s desire to make a large, functional, and aesthetically pleasing town.
Laysara: Summit Kingdom is one such brand-new relaxed city-building title that has just entered Early Access, and one that stands out within its genre for its unique theme and premise. As the title suggests, Laysara: Summit Kingdom challenges you to build your kingdom’s economy on the peaks of snowy mountains, taking on a uniquely Himalayan charm and pairing the aesthetic with a unique mechanical focus that fits incredibly well.
See, the challenge in Laysara: Summit Kingdom is not just to make a functional economy, though that is very much present, with an Anno-style worker system where each class of citizen requires food, faith, and economic fulfillment in order to grow and contribute to your economy. The truly unique challenge to the economic sim of the game is space. Building upon the peaks of Himalayan-themed mountains, you face the historically relevant problem of how and where to build your cities with very limited buildable area in which to do so.
This unique challenge can, at times, make Laysara: Summit Kingdom feel less like a city-building game and more like a puzzle. Not only is buildable space limited, but each building must be within range of certain other buildings in order to function or meet its requirements. Because of how this mechanic is designed, building your cities feels less like an ever-expanding sprawl and more like a shifting jigsaw puzzle, where you will be assembling, disassembling, and reassembling your villages over and over again as their needs expand and they require access to new network centers.
While certainly a unique take on the genre, not all fans of the genre will love this change of pace. As mentioned before, this unique playstyle feels different, even counterintuitive to what you would expect from a game of this kind. While the challenge is interesting, it also puts a distinctive kind of restraint on city building that other titles in the genre do not.
Fans of routes and planning will definitely enjoy the intricate supply mechanics of the game, where supply chains must be built and traveled and can even connect one producer to multiple different buildings. The mechanic is not the best explained, but once you get the hang of it, designing efficient routes can be really fun.
One aspect of the game I really did not like was how grid-like and straight everything had to be. Since the game is played on a traditional grid system with straight roads and hard edges only, you often feel the frustration of missed space at the edges of the mountain. Not only that, but the way the game is designed around distance fulfillment makes your cities look a little samey. There is definitely the most efficient way to connect houses to the market on a square grid, and it can get old after a few games or mountains. Something like the building system in Manor Lords or City Tales: Medieval Era would fit this particular title far better than the grid system.
The art and models of the game, which are an almost Civilization-style mix between cartoony and realistic, fit the game incredibly well. I especially liked the way it captures the golden-roofed structures of Tibetan monasteries and holy buildings, with temple building being a major part of the experience. I also enjoyed how combining two structures side-by-side created a new look, though I wish the game went a bit further with this, perhaps doing the same on the opposite axis or creating new structural designs with three or four adjacent buildings.
The biggest problem present in Laysara: Summit Kingdom is probably how poorly it explains its own mechanics. The tutorial is not terrible, but you will likely leave it feeling as though you do not understand everything the game has to offer. In particular, supply lines and needs fulfillment have some hidden depth that is not fully explained in the tutorial. When I went into sandbox mode, it took me a while to figure out that the civilians of each mountain have slightly different fulfillment requirements. I only learned this after repeatedly placing the same prayer shrines to no effect.
Beyond that, the game could also use a bit more variety in its buildings. The number of buildable structures available is not terrible, and with the game’s pacing, you will not be able to build all of them for quite a while into your campaign, scenario, or sandbox. Still, a bit more could not hurt, and perhaps additional variety within existing structures would be greatly appreciated.
All in all, Laysara: Summit Kingdom is in a great state for an Early Access title. The game provides a unique, almost puzzle-like approach to city building that certainly offers a challenge but may be hit or miss depending on how genre fans prefer to play. Still, the Tibetan and Himalayan aesthetic is incredible, and it would be hard to argue that the tight-spaced building mechanics of the mountain peak are anything but unique in the city-building genre. For that reason alone, I can see fans of city builders flocking to Laysara: Summit Kingdom and still finding plenty more to enjoy within.
Pros:
- An incredible Himalayan theme and setting that feels distinct within the city-building genre
- A unique space-based challenge centered on building functional economies atop mountains
- Gorgeous art and visuals, especially during temple building
Cons:
- More puzzle-heavy than most city builders
- Frequent demolishing and rebuilding that challenge the usual sprawling flow of the genre
- A slight lack of building variety and less-than-perfect tutorials
TryHardGuides was provided a Steam code for this PC Early Access Review of Laysara: Summit Kingdom. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page!
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