Citizens of Earth Reviews
Citizens of Earth is a good premise marred by poor game design. I appreciate the old-school charm and contemporary satire, but the many of the game's mechanics are just too frustrating to overlook.
For the most part, Citizens of Earth is a curiously addictive romp, with the ability to elicit the occasional chuckle. However, it would be remiss not to slap a 'Buyer Beware' warning on it, due to its many issues, which is a real shame, as when it decides to work, it's a fun little time sink.
It looks like EarthBound, and to a degree it plays like EarthBound, but this has none of the charm or character of the SNES classic – and considerably worse combat.
This is a game which clearly values quantity over quality and is worse off for it, leaving you with the lasting impression that this was a team over zealously trying to make up for a failed crowd funding project. There may well be a half-decent game lurking beneath the facade of tired jokes and nods to RPG tropes and stereotypes, which Citizens of Earth then insists of portraying anyway, however it's far too caught up in its own bravado to realise it.
Eden Industries leaned on excessive fights the way movie writers too often lean on their own tired tropes, and the result leaves us waiting on the punchlines for too long.
Citizens of Earth is a wonderful RPG that plays around with convention and brings something new to the table. It's familiar and accessible enough for longtime or new RPG fans, and is an engrossing experience for all.
It delivers on everything it promises, and I'm still not having fun.