December 2023 was distinguished not only by numerous new products, but also by various updates. One of these was the patch for Medieval Dynasty, a sandbox that was released in 2021 and gathered a lot of fans.
The update added a new map and the long-awaited co-op mode for up to four players, which turned out to be almost identical to that in another project of the publisher Toplitz Productions, called Sengoku Dynasty. You will find out how it overlapped with Medieval Dynasty in the short review below.
When playing cooperatively, you need to connect to the host server, which is one of the users. After the first connection using the session code, everyone can create a character using numerous settings, such as choosing gender, face, hairstyle and much more. Then, once in the world, the quests become common, and the map itself is saved exclusively by the host and it is not possible to continue without him.
The minus is insignificant, but from the whole group with whom you are going to play, it is advisable to choose the person with the most stable Internet and the best computer configuration.
In total, up to 4 people are supported in the cooperative mode at the same time, which turned out to be enough and expansion would clearly threaten an imbalance. Even at first, having gathered with friends, we were able to rebuild the original village very quickly – it didn’t even take a couple of hours.
The map is completely new and can be played solo or with friends. However, my friends and I were unable to complete the main quest of the new location in more than 15 hours. It’s probably not completed yet, or you need to level up your dynasty or complete a lot of side missions. The latter, by the way, are quite funny and well written, as are the dialogues with NPCs. You can whisper call the lord a freak, quarrel with the village fool, watch the story of the local Romeo and Juliet, help the cannibal go to the toilet, and much more.
However, the main gameplay, as before, is still built around the construction of a village and all kinds of freedom of action. Going on raids against bandits, bears, discovering new recipes and building blueprints (common to everyone) or completing quests together turned out to be much more fun than alone. Everyone also has the right to control the villagers and build anything, anywhere (except in the vicinity of NPC villages).
Therefore, we can say that for me the game received a second wind. And by setting the difficulty settings higher than standard, you really have to survive in the Middle Ages with your people and children-heirs. Yes, if anyone didn’t know, you can have children here and maybe play romance.
On the downside, after the update, new bugs appeared, which also affected the co-op. For example, all gold for quests, as well as Steam achievements, are saved only by the host, even if the action is performed by another player. Even with a quick save (F5), there is a chance that the user will resave the host’s game and the latter will not be able to do anything about it. But we encountered such a situation only once.
In general, the project shows itself excellently in terms of development. And considering the excellent optimization of the game (runs great on the GTX 1060), the abundance of content and the absence of glitches when playing with several people, I am ready to recommend this project to fans of sandboxes in the style of the Middle Ages.