Religious buildings are a common feature of medieval-themed city builders. Games such as Banished, Anno 1404, Patron, Foundation and others include churches, chapels, monasteries, cathedrals (and in Anno’s case, mosques) and other religious buildings that typically provide a bonus of luck or fulfill a “need of faith” for citizens and residences in built nearby.
But you won’t find any religious buildings in Farthest Frontier, the new early access medieval city builder from Crate Software, creator of Grim Dawn. In fact, there is no religion at all involved. While it includes public facilities such as theatres, markets, pubs and hospitals, there are no churches or chapels to build and citizens have no faith requirements to meet. (There is a shrine, but more on that later.)
Some players are curious about the absence of religious buildings, while others seem downright annoyed at the omission. “Where is the church? (opens in new tab)” is the title of a discussion on the official forum, where the lack of a church is called “a shortcoming” (translated from French). “I fully agree that churches are a must-have and a basic need of the settlers,” says another commenter. Another player in the thread states that “churches are an absolute must” and expresses disbelief that the “developers didn’t realize this”.
“Well, mosques/temples/etc. also existed at that time. I’m sure anyone who was shocked that we weren’t adding churches would be just as pleased with adding those instead, right?” reacted Zanta (opens in new tab)a designer at Crate Software.
“We have purposely left the belief ambiguous in [Farthest Frontier] even if churches are a ‘staple’ of medieval Europe, something we deliberately left vague,” Zantai continued. “The setting for the game is inspired by certain time periods and places, but it’s not set in those places. The player can decide what suits him.”
This doesn’t mean that Crate Software is against the idea of some kind of religion in the game, which is still in early access. It just doesn’t want to represent real religions.
“If we ever incorporate some kind of belief system, I think it would be best if it was a customizable system where you name the belief and determine the bonuses/features. There is way too much baggage and drama around real world religions said Zantaï.
Farthest Frontier isn’t the first city builder to sidestep the potentially messy topic of religion. Cities: Skylines, the largest urban planner of the past decade, has only one cathedral as its landmark, but no churches or other religious buildings, something player-created mods (opens in new tab) have added for those who want them. Other city builders, such as OstrivMake religion a requirement: A church is necessary for a city to grow above a population of a few hundred. But Ostriv is set specifically in 18th-century Ukraine, while Farthest Frontier is not set in any particular time or place. (As an example, the game includes dire wolves, which went extinct about 10,000 years ago, way before the Middle Ages.)
The closest thing to a religious structure currently located in Farthest Frontier is a sanctuary, which can be upgraded to an altar, but there is no specific religious designation for any of the structures. Shrines and altars offer “a desirability bonus for nearby residences,” the taste text says. Nothing else. (If a house’s desirability score is high enough, it can be upgraded to a nicer building.)
Another commentator in the thread asked if the drama surrounding religion kept churches out of the game, what about resource extraction or the idea of colonization? Shouldn’t those historically controversial elements also be removed from the game? In other words, they suggested (rather uselessly) that the whole game shouldn’t exist.
“I will happily draw the line at religion every day,” Zantai said. “And I think that’s all that can be said on this subject.”
Other players commenting in the thread are perfectly happy with the lack of religion, or with the possible inclusion of non-specific religious structures.
“I’m an atheist, so normally I hate to push for any kind of religious inclusion in games…but it seems oddly odd that there are no ‘temple’ buildings in the game. I think there are something needs to be added: it doesn’t have to be a church. Could just be called an ‘elders gathering place’ or something like that,” said one commenter.
“I like how the sanctuary is vague but serves a purpose, I think it would be appropriate to have a building that serves a similar purpose,” added another player. “It could just be a building with smaller shrines that add desirability and need a worker for maintenance.”
“Personally, I’m glad there’s no religion mechanism, but a general temple or something to celebrate the dead would be cool,” said another.
I think it’s refreshing to rethink the standards of city builders (or any game genre for that matter), and just because something is traditional and expected doesn’t mean it should automatically be a requirement. At the same time, I also wouldn’t mind anything non-specific when it comes to religious buildings in the game. Not that my citizens have much time to visit any shrine or temple anyway. All those bees aren’t going to breed themselves.
I’ve reached out to the Farthest Frontier development team for more details, and I’ll update this story when I get a response.
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