$29.99The Guild 3 One Dynasty, Endless Schemes
Run a merchant family through medieval town life, from workshop profits to council politics, and see how far the next generation gets.
Is The Guild 3 worth it?
The Guild 3 is worth it if…
- you like slow, careful planning where a business empire builds itself once you set it up
- you enjoy games where progress is measured in generations, not hours
- you want to win by scheming as much as by selling
- you like long multiplayer sessions of trading and betraying friends
- you can live with some rough edges in exchange for a game nothing else quite matches
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A dynasty that outlives its founders
You start as one citizen in the year 1400 and end up guiding a family line across centuries. Marry, raise heirs, send children off to learn a craft or prepare them for politics, and when the head of the household dies of old age, the next generation takes over. The point is momentum: a business founded by your great-grandmother still pays your bills, a title your grandfather bought still opens doors. Rival dynasties are playing the same game, and every figure in the world makes their own decisions while the years roll by. It is the slow satisfaction of watching a name grow from nothing into something the whole city knows.
Workshops, trade and honest money
You acquire businesses, produce goods and sell them, and once you set up your supply chains and automation rules, your little medieval enterprise largely runs itself. There is a real skill tree, a dozen professions to build around, and unlockable actions and bonuses to chase. The early years are lean and fiddly, money is tight and your heir is still a child. Then the shops start printing coin, and the game turns into a very moreish loop of one more year.
Power, titles and dirty tricks
Honest craftsmanship is one path. Another is influence. Take seats in the town council, buy titles, join a guild, and use your position to shape laws in your family's favour. Or skip the paperwork: bribe officials, poison an enemy, throw a bomb. The game lets you choose how respectable your rise will be, and the nastier routes are half the fun. Day and night pass, seasons change and influence events, so timing matters. Politics is where the game is most itself: a family that owns the judges, the treasury and the guard answers to no one, and getting there is a long, satisfying scheme.
Medieval scheming with friends
Multiplayer turns the whole thing into a shared soap opera. You and your friends each run a dynasty on the same map, trading, politicking and undermining each other in real time, and the matches are famously stable. A group learning the systems together tends to produce feuds, alliances and dramatic betrayals that nobody planned in advance. It works best with a few simple house rules agreed before you start, so a first war does not end the evening in year two. If your group enjoys games where the competition is personal and the trash talk is historical, this is a strong pick.
What should you know before playing?
Can you play it solo?
Yes. The singleplayer mode pits your dynasty against AI-controlled families on 13 scenario maps based on real historical locations in Central and Northern Europe. Solo play is where the economy side shines: setting up automated supply chains and watching your businesses grow while you plan the next generation. Be aware that AI rivals offer limited resistance once you get going, so the challenge comes mostly from your own goals rather than desperate competition.
How does a playthrough actually start?
Modestly. Your first character has little money, one small business and years of waiting before an heir is old enough to help. The early game is about scraping together coin and choosing a profession, and the pace only picks up once your second generation inherits a going concern. If you expect to run the city in your first hour, temper that: the fun is in the climb, from a humble workshop to a noble estate next to the town hall.
Is every run the same?
No, and that is the point of the replayable design. Different maps, different professions, different rivals and a world where every non-player figure makes their own decisions mean each dynasty takes its own shape. One run can be a respectable merchant house, the next a family of poisoners with a judge on the payroll.
How rough is the game around the edges?
Somewhat rough. You will run into occasional pathfinding hiccups, odd AI behaviour and visual glitches, and the tutorial is not the best teacher, so a short guide video helps many people get started. None of it stops a playthrough, and the game runs stably, but go in expecting a scrappy sim rather than a polished one. If small quirks ruin a game for you, this one will test that.
