- We handed Paragon Pioneers 2 to our App Army community
- They found it suits both shorter and longer sessions
- A strong recommendation for fans of city builders
Paragon Pioneers 2 is a city building idle game from indie developer Tobias Arlt. It sees you building up your empire over time as you discover more islands to conquer. The aim – as is often the case in the genre – is to keep your citizens happy. So, we handed PP2 over to our readers to see how they got on.
Here’s what they said:
Jojó Reis
Very good game to relax. Paragon Pioneers 2! It’s the kind of game you’ll want to play when you’re stressed. Here you will build, and when I say building is creating huge cities and the more you play the more addictive the game becomes, you will just want to evolve your city and this is a lot of fun. The game works super well on touch and has very animated graphics. If you are the type who likes to own your own game, this one gives a super cool taste and in a super relaxing way, undoubtedly another great game that came PC for cell phones
Brian Wigington
I was excited to try this game as it looked like it would have a 16-bit charm to it and a leisurely pace. I do think it checks those boxes but I did become a little frustrated at some of the placement mechanics for the units/buildings early on. Paragon Pioneers 2 is a settlement growing or colony building sim with a nicely done simple graphical style and enjoyable music with a slightly medieval sound (flutes and lutes).
I do enjoy the overall setting and attention to detail that the game offers and the way that as you grow your population you also gain new types of buildings and settlers. Essentially, lumberjacks to get more wood, foresters to plant trees, homes to grow population, and so on. The animations look great and the sound effects are good from chopping wood sounds to notifications that tasks are complete. The only gripe and this may just be me after a long weekend, is the sometimes not crystal-clear directions in the tutorial.
Sometimes I was asked to build something and I was not sure where I was allowed to build it or where to place it. Again, I probably needed to pay closer attention to the text as others have said. With this only caveat, I do plan on growing my humble village and exploring the territories at my own pace. There seems to be a lot of depth here and Paragon Pioneers 2 seems like a great game to pick up and play in short bursts.
Bruno Ramalho
First of all, this is a very nice title for anyone who enjoys city builders/strategy games, but in a “mobile package”. It’s very well thought out, and it works great on a phone. The interface, the way we have to place our buildings in a grid, the production chains, and the amount of things you can do in this game are crazy. I like that you have a kind of The Settlers feeling because you can see your “settlers” moving around the island transporting goods, and chopping wood (which you can hear them do).
The graphics are really good, even though it’s a game that’s made to look good on a mobile phone, without the freedom you get with other games with placing buildings wherever you want or moving troops and people wherever. As this uses the Unity engine, it can take a toll on your phone battery. But the developers have thought of that, and if you go into the Settings screen, there’s a lot you can do to save your battery. Things like less quality in the great-looking water effects, removing the inhabitants from the screen, changing resolution, and changing frame rate. Very well thought out by the developers, kudos to them.
This can be a very deep game, so you will take your time reading all the “tutorials” that happen in real-time while you’re learning the ropes. I really enjoyed my time with Paragon Pioneers 2 Lite, and I think this one is a keeper for sure, for anyone who likes to keep gaming sessions short, or if you want to spend some hours around the game like I did.
Chad Jones
Paragon Pioneers 2 is a fun yet complex city builder, the further you play the more elements they add. It has a minimalist feel and it’s approachable as long as you read everything thoroughly. There are multiple difficulty game settings and I find it to be a great pick up and play in short gaming sessions.
Andrés Youlton
Paragon Pioneers 2 is an idle city building game, focused on starting and developing a settlement, going from getting wood, to fighting orcs to get more land, while keeping your settlers happy. My main gripe with the game is the enormous amount of information and things going on, which not necessarily is a bad thing, but I feel a little overwhelmed at times, and I still can’t figure out how some things work. If you like idle games and complex city builders, this is a great game to play during work breaks, which for sure I will be doing.
This is a colourful and appealing idle city builder game like many others in many respects but I like the simple and intuitive gradual build-up of facilities and eventually utilities and luxuries for your growing community. The small map you started with seemed initially to be kind of cramped to me but worked just fine. And of course, as it started to get crowded, the territory to the north opened up for conquest and colonization.
The controls were simple and worked fine. The music is pleasant enough and suits the game, though I generally play with the sound off, so I didn’t listen to it for long. I enjoy being able to start on the easy difficulty- as a rule, I enjoy these games more for the discovery and levelling than the challenge.
I’m not normally a fan of idle games but I’m fine with this. It makes sense that the workers will keep on working while I’m away. And I liked the real-time waiting for results from the battle. Really this is a quality experience and simply a fun game for the genre. One in which I’m hard to please, but I like this one. Happily recommended.
Pierpaolo Morgante
PP2 is a wonderfully crafted idle game where you build your civilization from the ground up to become a powerful and thriving empire. You start out developing a settlement, and as you add buildings, you unlock more and more items and more and more areas of the game.
PP2 combines elements of idle games with city builders, fighting, and exploration, and it does so in a gradual way. You definitely need to follow the tutorial, as well as every in-game info card, to understand and take advantage of every complex dynamics that the game is built upon, but what results is a gem of a game. This is even more remarkable if you consider that it comes from a solo developer.
On a more ‘technical’ note, the controls and the interface are great, and they are super easy to learn. Some mechanics might require some work to understand, but the Wiki and the Discord server are great ways to get feedback and suggestions. I usually play without music, so I can’t really speak about the soundtrack. The art is cute and quirky.
Overall, I recommend PP2 because it’s a fun and well-made game that can be played either in long sessions or picked up a few times a day to follow the progress of our cities in a more relaxed way. For fans of city builders, this is a must-have.
Oksana Ryan
This is a good example of what I call the ‘build and they will come’ type of game. It has it all, from planting trees, providing food for your pioneers and battling enemies to claim their land to give yourself more land to grow your crops and accommodate more pioneers.
I didn’t find anything new in the game but it is done well and is straightforward to master and start your empire. However, and I find this with most empire-building games, it takes an age for some of the actions to complete. At first, I was whizzing away but as the settlement grows, the longer it takes for things to complete and I found myself leaving the game to do other things and coming back. However, to be fair, there is plenty to keep you busy and I know I’ll be going back to check on progress.
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