Banished

"Pure" is the best word I can use to describe this game. You'd be forgiven if you thought that a city building sim without rival city builders to dominate or enemies to slay, or indeed any kind of combat at all would be dull. In actual fact it feels truely special because behind it's seemingly simple premise you constantly walk a tightrope balancing your resource production against need and city expansion against population growth. Absolutely elegant in what it delivers as a gaming experience. Why 4 instead of 5 stars? There are some minor flaws which could simply be small bugs in the AI. Although it is easy to mismanage your city and incur mass starvation or an ageing population no longer able to reproduce, it is also the case that common sense solutions to hunger and hypothermia are ignored by your villagers sometimes. This can mar the experience somewhat when your thriving town can perish at the hands of the citizens sudden lack of self preservation instinct: running round in the cold instead of taking refuge in a warm building ( as the tutorial advises is the design) or passing several well stocked houses and storage barns en route to their home only to drop dead of starvation a short way from their front door. Despite this common issue, the game itself is extraordinary in its elegance, subtlety and general game balance. The game continues to be developed too with mod support due to be implemented, so hopefully any remaining bugs will get resolved too.

I actually never thought that this game would be as addictive and fun as it is. It sounded almost boring in the discription but I got it on sale on a certain other website first and once I tried it, I was baffled how appealing it was. It's exactly right for relaxing a bit after work or to spend a rainy afternoon with. So I rebought it here because of the DRM thing. Baiscally you build a city from scratch, taking care of accommodation, food and welfare of your bunch of banished people in the wilderness, also managing incoming natural disasters and disease outbreaks. All inhabitants can be used for any job at any time once thery're grown ups and all buildings are made from the same two to three resources. As an addition you can build trading posts and exchange goods you have an overproduction of for more scrace goods. That's all there is to it. And really, it's a lot of fun. Especially to watch the town grow and watch people doing their jobs (f.ex. seeing crops grow on the field). The game creats a great atmosphere and really lets you relax once you got into the gameplay but it stays interesting. I also enjoy games like Tropico or The Guild but Banished is very unique and a great change in tone.

Great game of balance and possibilities. Build, farm, hunt, survive winter.

This game is freaking great fun. I love it! The graphics are simple yet stunning and the gameplay is as moreish as it gets. Totally worth buying when it's on special. The problem, though, is that I've only ever had one world actually take off. After a winter or two, people just stop eating. The population expands quicker than food production can keep up if you're not careful (invest in fisheries and crops early!) but that's not terrible. My gripe is that, when this happens and the population starts to die off, it never plateaus out again. They just keep dying regardless of how much food might be coming into the village. They also refuse to go and pick food up from the storehouse. It's as though they are so depressed by being surrounded by the corpses of their loved ones that they give up on food; notwithstanding the consequential availability of a new, fresh food source (beggars can't be choosers...). My lesser complaint is the climate. With summers this cold, it's a wonder I can't herd penguins, polar bears and seals! I'm terribly curious as to just where this game is set. Notwithstanding all the above, when you get that one village that really takes off it is tremendously satisfying. You don't need the threat of some hostile alien force or senseless economics (anyone else remember the $5K nuclear plants in SimCity?) to create a challenge. Best survival game I've played in yeeeeeears.

I waited for a long time for the price of this to drop and grabbed it for less than $10. The game is beautifully designed and easy to navigate. I like the idea of it and the era it's based in. I've started a few villages as I'm figuring out the best methods but so far nothing is making me think "I want to play Banished some more". The game moves super slow, even at 10x speed. Villagers die of starvation even though there's plenty of food in the barn and homes, or they freeze. There's no real goal or end game. I'm sure I'll kill more time in it as SimCity was abandoned long ago with major bugs. But this would not be worth the regular $20, grab it for $5 like I did.