By Jordan Hall (ApocaRUFF), OnRPG Journalist
Back in August of 2017, I reviewed Citadel: Forged With Fire. It’s been a year since then and I’m back again to review the latest major update to the game, Citadel Reignited. The name is a bit of a spoiler, as the aim of this update was to ‘reignite’ the fun in the game by changing almost every part of the game in both small and big ways, introducing some new mechanics, and to overall just give the game a ‘second chance.’ Some of the biggest changes are the introduction of farming and cooking and the complete re-haul of the spell system. So, is it worth getting back into Citadel: Forged With Fire? Or giving it a chance if you’ve never played before? Lets find out.
Customization
One of the big chances in the Reignited update is the addition of more in-depth character customization options. It’s still not as complex as what is found in Dark and Light, but it comes pretty close. You can make your character look like a wise old sage, a long-armed giant, or a short and squat little goblin complete with green skin. There’s some things that you can’t change, though, that I feel like you should as the ability to drastically change your characters limb length while you can’t do too much with hips or shoulders means it’s really easy to get something that looks like it would beg you to kill it if you were to come across in in real life. That being said, the new customization options are definitely a big improvement.
You can almost hear it begging, “Kill meeee, kiiiiillll meeeeeee.”
Gameplay
After sinking a fair amount of time in the game (having to regrind a character after the developers completely wiped server data), I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m 50/50 on the update. Some things I’m on board with: I love the new systems, and the new Spellcrafting system is a lot of fun once you figure it out. However, the game was incredibly easy to progress in (just requiring a time investment and a lot of repetitive gameplay) prior to the update. To fix this, the developers made everything a lot harder to grind and only introduced a minor bandaid to help speed things a long (quests and daily quests). So, you still have a lot of time investment required to grind out a character, it just takes a lot longer now. Getting to level 10, for example, will be a headache that’ll take several hours of non-stop gameplay because potions were turned into a level 10 knowledge spell, and the only decent food only becomes available at level 5. This means grinding monsters (and even completing quests) is a lot harder and a majority of your experience up until level 10 will end up coming from gathering and crafting.
The increased time to level up and some of the re-workings of the skill tree are the only negative things I have to say about the update. Everything else is splendid. I just wish the developers had come up with a more enjoyable solution, especially for new players, who haven’t sunk 50+ hours into the game like I have, avenues to gain experience and level up instead of increasing the length of the grind to reach higher levels (where the game starts to get really fun). The only way to make the early game feel bearable at this point, in my opinion, is to play with friends. Which I suggest no matter what, because playing with others makes any game a lot more fun.
I’m not a fan of how long it takes to unlock potions.
Cooking
The new cooking systems introduce a new line of knowledge that unlocks various recipes that will allow you to create foods with both instantaneous effects and over-time effects, similar to potions. In a way, this makes it feel like the cooking system is an extension of the potion making system that was already in place. There’s also new crafting stations to facilitate the crafting (such as the campfire, which you’ll see in great numbers around the starting keeps thanks to the new New Player Tutorial Quests). I honestly didn’t have much interest in the system, but hey, I’m up for anything that increases the content of a game.
Each keep has two exits, and both exits are usually filled with campfires now due to a quest.
Farming
Another system that goes hand-in-hand with the cooking and potion making systems is the Farming system. Now you can place down plots and grow the various herbs and plants you’ll come across in the enchanted wilderness within the game. You can also create automated watering systems to help you take care of your new gardens and farms. This is a system that has a usefulness depends on your playstyle. Some players may feel it’s not worth the effort to come up with farms as they can manually go collect most of what you’ll get from farming in no time at all. I can see it being really popular with medium sized groups who may not always be on time at the same time, but usually has at least one person online, though. A lot of solo players will love it, too.
Spellcrafting
This is my favorite part of the update. At first it was a bit frustrating trying to figure out what did what. But following the tutorial and exploring fixed that. Previously, you would simply use skill points to unlock spells which was a simple and boring system. Now, based on the weapon you have equipped, the a few parameters are clicked, and you throw in an essence and you have what feels like a huge number of possibilities. Throw in the ability to add-in components when crafting your spells (such as random plants, or perhaps rare items for better effects) and those possibilities grow in number a lot. It’s a fun system that actually fits the game and setting perfectly. Now you have to share knowledge and work together to figure out how to cast magic instead of just throwing some skill points down a linear skill tree.
This is a huge improvement to the game, but could still use some fleshing out.
Raid Changes
One of my biggest issues with the game when I first played it when it went into EA in July 2017 was how easy it was to raid other players. Changes were implemented, but it was (in my opinion) too little too late. Well, things have changed and with Reignited the developers introduced a massive improvement to the raiding within the game. It’s now more difficult in a meaningful way.
That being said, the developers employed their favorite method for increasing difficulty: They made it more of a grind to prepare what you need to siege player bases. I’m kind of worried what effect this will have on the games population. Right now things are booming with the update still fresh and everyone wanting to check it out. However, will the increased time investment required to raid someone help stabilize the population or cause it to decrease?
Other Content
Of course there’s a decent chunk of other content added to the game. New multi-person dungeons are one of my favorite additions. There’s also a smattering of new monsters and enemies. I’ve yet to experience a ‘Broomstick’ league because there’s never been enough people willing to join in (if there’s not enough people the game just kicks you out of it after a bit). If you’re a fan of base building, you won’t be disappointed.
Conclusion
Citadel: Forged with Fire has received a new lease on life with the Reignited update. A few things still need to be smoothed out, but the plethora of new features and content are more than enough to rekindle the magic that I felt back when the game first opened for EA and I spent 40 hours in the game in just a few days. I hope the developers figure out a way to make the early levels more enjoyable though, because I felt like I had to force myself to play the game just to get past the first ten or so levels so that I could start having fun. Overall though, I would say that Reignited was definitely a success. So, do I suggest getting the game? Personally, I have a lot of fun with it.
- Features: 4/5 – More features are almost always good.
- Customization: 4/5 – A lot better than before.
- Graphics: 5/5 – I still love the way the game looks.
- Controls: 4/5 – No real complaints.
- Community: 3/5 – Not as strong as I’d like.
Citadel: Forged With Fire Reignited Screenshots
