Aven Colony

Playing one of the later campaign games, hit a 300 building limit, and that was the final straw, that allowed the game to die with my previous computer. Constant crisis management became annoying, but the most annoying the frequently voices of the characters telling about problems that I was already aware of. (Would have been nice to have an option to shut them up, or at least filter them out.) Graphics were gorgous; one of the best, but not the best on GTX 1660 graphics card. And the developers did a great job with the tutorial; very helpful early on, but they slowly weaned the player off. Was concerned when it was released a few years ago, was concerned that it might not have enough content. Bought it heavily discounted on GOG, so easily got my money's worth, after playing it for 33 hours. Bottom Line: 20-20 hindsight, would have been worth it full price. But definitely worth it, if deeply discounted it. Closest game, game play wise, was the city builder, Cliff Empire.

Despite some reviews, I have been enjoying this title. It does not feel monotonous. Instead it is quite engaging. You just can't see it as your standard city sim build. This game definitely gives you the impression that you are founding a Colony, and not just building some city somewhere (as in SimCity style games). Your citizens want certain things, as they would, as if living in a colony style city being built on an alien planet. The environment is harsh and it's very difficult to stabilise your economy. This game has a pretty heavy learning curve. Let me correct that. It is easy to learn hard to master. Once you understand how to physically build, then it's time to learn how to run city layouts and get things right. Then there's being self-sufficient. All I can say is, build a LOT of immigration centers. Building a housing unit does not come with the citizens. They have to arrive. And once again, you are on an alien world. Your structures require workers, when you only have half the worker requirement, that building is only running at 50% efficiency. Which means half the things that building would produce is actually produced. This includes farms. So let me spoil it one more time for you, you need to import civillians. All the info you need is located in the Morale section of the colony inventory window. Overall, this game is worth the price. It's gorgeous to look at, plays like a city builder, but actually it's a colony builder, goes into aspects no other city builder does, and takes a LONG time to play a match, never mind learning the game! You will definitely get your money out of this one.

I had a lot of fun with this. It checked a lot of boxes I didn't know I had. And it has a better ending than Mass Effect ;-) Nice graphic, missions that teach you how to play the game, logic buildings and good overviews so you always know what to do.

This game pulls you in and doesn't let go. You'll be playing it for hours at a time without even realizing it. You can be as creative as you want in building your colony. The only restrictions are due to specific map layouts. Each map offers a unique setting, and on the harder difficulties, can be seriously challenging. You must balance the economy and still be wary of local events such as creep spores and pirates. There is a story which, while not super engaging, kept me curious throughout. The only requests I have that would make this game absolutely perfect would be to include procedurally generated maps, and co-op multi-player.

I'm not a big fan of building games but this game is very good. Not only it has good graphics but excellent replayability. Insane mode can be very challenging but worth the achievement when you complete your objectives. I just wished it had more maps and challenges otherwise overall great game.