Citadel: Forged with Fire is a bit of a mixed bag graphically; while textures and 3D models are generally high quality, and there are some truly stunning locations to explore, the oversaturated aesthetic present throughout much of Citadel: Forged with Fire is not for everyone, and makes the final product look cheap.
Citadel: Forged with Fire has decent character customization, with players being able to choose from a massive variety of skin tones, including more alien colours such as deep blue, hot pink and slime green.
Unfortunately, players are limited to only four hairstyles per gender, and as a beard enthusiast, being limited to 4 styles of facial hair felt restrictive.
While Citadel: Forged with Fire can be played solo, there is little solo content beyond traditional sandbox activities and mediocre quests that serve as an in-game tutorial.
Image credit Citadel: Forged with Fire - Published by Blue Isle Publishing and developed by Blue Isle Studios.
Citadel: Forged with Fire is a survival video game developed by Blue Isle Studios and published by Blue Isle Publishing, it was released on 1 November 2019 and retails for $39.99.
Citadel: Forged with Fire is available on the following platforms: PC, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
Blue Isle Studio have stuck with Citadel: Forged with Fire far longer than many would have; however, it’s clear to anyone watching that they are running out of steam, and I don’t blame them.
Despite receiving a substantial content drop in February 2021, Citadel: Forged with Fire has continued to haemorrhage players at an alarming rate, reaching an all-time low monthly peak of 92 players in September 2021.
In August 2021, it announced that many official servers would be closed to consolidate the remaining player base and increase activity; unfortunately, this consolidation attempt backfired, and as a result, almost 50% of the remaining player base quit within a few short weeks.
Blue Isle Studio has done all it can to save Citadel: Forged with Fire, and it’s time they move on to greener pastures, and the community lets them do so.
I will be the first to say Citadel: Forged with Fire has never impressed me and has always felt like the “poor man’s survival game”, but I cannot deny the developers have done everything within their power to keep the title alive and despite making some pretty serious mistakes along the way, show promise as a developer.
While I would be hesitant to buy into another early access title by the same developers, I would certainly be willing to review any future title or purchase it upon full release if it shows promise.
We do not know exactly how many people play on console; however, the Citadel: Forged with Fire subreddit is a ghost town, and what little activity remains is often players lamenting how few people are playing.
However, we know how many people are playing on PC due to Citadel: Forged with Fire being available exclusively on Steam, which maintains an average of 35-40 players online for most of the day with peaks of around 100 players concurrent players during EU/NA prime time.
Citadel: Forged with Fire is struggling, having seen its average ccu drop by almost 50% since most official servers were closed due to low activity.
While server consolidation was and is an understandable and much-needed measure on the part of the developers, it’s clear what little that remained of the official server community did not take kindly to “losing their homes”.
Citadel: Forged with Fire supports:
Citadel: Forged with Fire supports:
The Citadel: Forged with Fire in-game store sells:
Citadel: Forged with Fire is rated PEGI 16 and contains the following:
There are just so many better and more active games on the market that I cannot in good conscience recommend purchasing Citadel: Forged with Fire at this time.
