Other versions of Ronin have been updated to fix several potentially game-ruining bugs which are still present on GOG's version of the game. Devs haven't addressed this problem in spite of being asked to do so. Don't recommend supporting a dev who won't support their storefronts.
In its current state, it's on the lower end of a 4 star rating, but it IS good enough - especially while playing solo - to deserve better than that. Once the rough edges are cleaned up (assuming patches come soon and work well), I can potentially see myself giving it 5 stars. There are some additional problems with co-op right now, but when it's working, online play is a great experience. Customisation is a bit of a mixed bag of options here. You have 4 gear pieces, and one of those is your sword, so only 3 parts to your clothing. Each dye is named for its primary colour, but has a fixed secondary colour you can't change. On first glance there seemed to be "enough" colour options, but with 4 different "red and black" sets and many popular combinations being notable by their absence, it quickly turned into "this could be better" for me. The more gameplay-oriented customisation is great at least. Earning XP for character levels will give you skill points, and these let you buy skills. Active abilities cost more, but give a strong cooldown-based ability, while passives are slightly cheaper but still give useful - and permanent - buffs. Each skill has an upgraded version as well, with some just being "the same as before but better" and others gaining additional properties or more options for how to use them. While it's a stealth game at its core, the combat is surprisingly involved and fun. Too many enemies at once can be trouble, but if you use the combat system well, you can brute-force your way out of bad situations. Being detected comes with a score penalty, so many players will prefer not to do this, but it's fun if you're willing to go with it. Later enemies ramp up the difficulty in good ways too - some being better at countering stealth, others being good at fighting, and a few having stealth skills of their own to be cautious about.
Most city builders feel like high-detail simulations to me. They often go, for my tastes, too far to maintain the fun factor. I feel like I'm having to micro-manage too much about the game world and I always want something that's a bit more casual. But I don't want to go all the way into idle game or clicker territory in saying that, and that middle ground seems to be hard to find. Kingdoms and Castles is a great game to chill out while playing, and you can have several minutes to leave the game running in the background while things build up (if you set them up right) before coming back to check when the alarm warns you of an incoming dragon or viking raid. The gameplay is hands-on enough that it doesn't feel like you can just walk away for an hour and it'll do everything for you, but it doesn't feel like you have to pause every second to issues orders to a dozen groups of people in different parts of the city to make sure everyone's doing the exact right thing in the moment. It isn't so simple that it loses all depth, but it introduces each new layer of game mechanics with a gentle progression curve that feels very easy to just add one more thing to the pile. By the endgame you're juggling a dozen methods of managing military power, a magical neighbour, food production, hygeine and health, and a few other factors, but the way you get there is smooth enough that it never feels like you're worrying about more than one or two simple tasks at a time.
