Waste of money. They should reduce the price to its actual value of 5 to 10 dollars. For some, unknown reason, they did their 1.0 launch in a completely broken, unfinished state. I loaded it up expecting that I would be jumping into an improved version of what I originally purchased. That was not the case. [b]Problem 1: The Story.[/b] An event indicator appears on your screen and pauses or unpauses the game. You then click a button to enter a text based conversation. This happens every five minutes. It is constant, it always interrupts and most of the time it is [i]JUST[/i] reading. You gain nothing. You lose nothing. It is so much of a problem they added a checkbox to disable it. [b]Problem 2: Quests[/b] Quests generate as you play, every time a new objective appears it unpauses the game by force and rips your control away for a moment to tell you to do something with a text box that you have to click a button to confirm. Also happens, pretty fucking frequently. Why does it unpaus...
Thrive: Heavy Lies The Crown
- Release Date:
- Jun 18, 2025
- Developer:
- Zugalu Entertainment
- Publisher:
- PlaySide
- Platforms:
- Windows
Game Tags
About This Game
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About the Game
Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown is a medieval fantasy city-builder with real-time combat and weighty decision-making. As a new ruler, you and the survivors of Aldamor travel to the curious land of Nysamor in search of a new home. Together, you will work to raise up a great kingdom, and define your legacy.Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown offers a fully-realized single-player experience for solo play, or the ability to play in up-to-four-player multiplayer. But choose wisely – in Nysamor, every choice has consequences, and these consequences can dictate the very fate of your kingdom...
Assign your subjects tasks – collect resources, build structures, explore the wilds, and secure your kingdom’s reputation – via trade or by the sword. As your settlement and influence grows, you’ll need to make tough decisions that can permanently alter the lives of your people, your settlement, and the world around you.
A Benevolent ruler shows compassion for the earth and its kin. A Tyrannical ruler takes pleasure in exploitation and torture. What will your choices say about you? Will you conquer your enemies or unite against common foes? Will you embrace the magical forces of the Waelgrim or try to control it? How will you fulfill your destiny?

Each decision you make has long lasting consequences for your reign, and takes you ever further down the path of Benevolence or Tyranny. Thrive's narrative event system immerses you in the land of Nysamor, discovering the true nature of the Waelgrim, while ultimately defining your rule. Whether your reign is Benevolent or Tyrannical, both paths have their advantages – and challenges. Be mindful of the legacy you want to leave behind.

Full of lush fields and diverse terrain, Nysamor is a beautiful, unknown land, rich in possibility and potential conflict. Compete for resources across a 4X-inspired World Map with numerous AI villages and kingdoms. Neighboring villages will respond based on their own allegiances, whether that is staying true to the reign of Wyrmaxa, or being slowly swayed, through intimidation or compassion, toward the path you tread.

Adventure solo or with 1-4 players. Siege castles, plunder trade routes, or confront fantastical Waelgrim creatures in intense RTS combat, alongside or against other players or AI. But be warned – soldiers need food, water and more to fight. The cost of war can take a heavy toll…

Place city structures, set up road networks, build defenses, and assemble a powerful military to exert your will. Build your legacy through effective planning, advancement and a detailed tech tree. Gather resources, harvest production areas, and expand your lands. Trade with or take the fight to other players or AI factions. Do what you must to ensure your kingdom can survive the harsh realities of medieval life.

Join the conversation on the official Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown Discord.
Screenshots
User Reviews
It's just another silly clone of the "place a whole lot of management buildings but you can only succeed if you place them EXACTLY in the optimal configuration" style game. Totally unpolished and with plenty of issues right at the start. There is so much requirement for building support radius that you can't actually build anything fun or interesting just the same old patterns repeated. Zero options to change settings or adjust things in game makes this even worse.
--- Bad --- You need to spend gold to build a wooden fence You need to spend gold to plant a tree The armory suddenly stops working for no reason and you become unable to hire soldiers, in spite of having all required resources Absolutely no idea how to complete the neighboring town quests (they ask for resources, but you can't send anything anywhere) - there's also no explanation about that in the help section Can't connect the dirt path to the stone road at region entrance Even after building a dirt path from near the entrance to the trader's hut, the caravans insist on moving through random soil and trees Invaders often just walk through your soldiers, ignoring getting slashed or pierced by arrows, completely invalidating any expected combat immersion The logistics system is quite lacking, being inspired by a few other titles such as Banished, Foundation and Anno, but failing to provide a good amount of customization Absolutely no insights about supply and demand. Good luck...
I think this is a game I would absolutely fking love. Problem is, I never had a chance to. It was crashing every 10-20 minutes for me while playing it, so I refunded it. System specs if that helps the devs: Ryzen 7 9800X3D DDR5-6200CL28 64GB X670E motherboard RX 7900XTX 2TB PCIe 5.0 SSD If the devs can make significant headway on the crashing, I would gladly re-buy this game again. But in its current state, not worth any money, at least for me specifically.
I tested it on Gamescom 2025, was great, downloaded it now it is a nicely designed game. Has a lot of new stuff I haven't seen in City builders. I like the multiple city building you need to do, feels like a bit like Anno. I do have to say that it doesn't feel 100% finished the trade routes are difficult to manage. I would also like to name some Caravans, haven't found out how to do that. If it will be great, we will see in the future.
Great freaking game, its got it all build your econ up while balancing military, diplomacy and lots more! Its a great game thus far and im certain there's plenty of playing it over and over again, dont think ill get bored of this one guys! Finally a decent strat game that i can get behind! For sure look into this game if anything it deserves a look see!
YUP
its mid
System Requirements
Minimum
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: Intel Core i5 4690 @ 3.5 GHz | AMD Ryzen 5 1600x @ 3.6 GHz or better.
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 5 GB available space
- Sound Card: Integrated
Recommended
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows® 10 (64-bit)
- Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-7600 (quad-core) / AMD® Ryzen™ 3 2200G (quad-core)
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB) / AMD Radeon RX 580 (8 GB)
- DirectX: Version 12
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 15 GB available space
- Sound Card: Integrated
FAQ
How much does Thrive: Heavy Lies The Crown cost?
Thrive: Heavy Lies The Crown costs $27.99.
What are the system requirements for Thrive: Heavy Lies The Crown?
Minimum: Minimum: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 10 Processor: Intel Core i5 4690 @ 3.5 GHz | AMD Ryzen 5 1600x @ 3.6 GHz or better. Memory: 16 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 5 GB available space Sound Card: Integrated Recommended: Recommended: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows® 10 (64-bit) Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-7600 (quad-core) / AMD® Ryzen™ 3 2200G (quad-core) Memory: 16 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB) / AMD Radeon RX 580 (8 GB) DirectX: Version 12 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 15 GB available space Sound Card: Integrated
What platforms is Thrive: Heavy Lies The Crown available on?
Thrive: Heavy Lies The Crown is available on Windows PC.
Is Thrive: Heavy Lies The Crown worth buying?
Thrive: Heavy Lies The Crown has 43% positive reviews from 14 players.
When was Thrive: Heavy Lies The Crown released?
Thrive: Heavy Lies The Crown was released on Jun 18, 2025.
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