Banished

Banished has the foundation of a great game. On that foundation, it builds a ranch house - strong and functional, but limited and sometimes rather dull. Mechanically, Banished is very well designed. The labor system is one of the biggest highlights for me, with limitless flexibility to move people where they're needed. Looking to boost yields in the next harvest? Put those miners to work in the corn fields. Need a new priest? Fit a fisherman for some robes. Some jobs are seasonal, but their labor forces don't stay idle; if I put the order in to collect resources from the wild, idle professionals hop to work. Players also have tremendous control over the production of resources like firewood (which comes at the expense of timber, an essential building resource). It's easy to spend six or eight hours at a time working on sustaining and growing the population and finding housing and work for them all. Once you've done that, though, the game kind of peters out. Sure, I could fabricate my own culture with its customs and beliefs and respect (or lack thereof) for the ancient forests it has formed around, but there's nowhere in the game to document that. Once I got my agriculture up and running, everything became less about survival and more about growth, but with no real incentive to build more advanced buildings than them being available to build. There is no story to speak of beyond, "Hey, we're exiles, let's start a town together," and there is no research or development besides making everything out of stone and steel instead of wood and iron. That might be a fair way to depict most human life, but it doesn't make for the most enthralling game. Overall, this feels like a game begging for mods or expansion, but neither has materialized since the game launched. Despite my complaints, I still had plenty of fun with Banished in the time I spent with it. I'd just like a reason - any reason - to go back and play it some more.

While the game is entertaining, it is in sore need of an update before I'd consider giving it more stars. Some way to ensure the villages don't store all the food in their house (leading to all their neighbours starving to death) as well as a total of food in the settlement that includes the food in houses is sorely, sorely required. The same for firewood. Or a way to tell them not to use coal (which they will do even if you have loads of firewood...) to allow the bloody blacksmiths a chance to use it to forge better tools. Or, hey, how about some AI improvements like--oh, I don't know--how about not having Fishermen or Gatherers starve to death when they are actively collecting food? Or even have a Labourer pick up the stacks of wood/stone they just created instead of knocking down a tree or smashing a rock and then running to the other side of the map...

What you will get: - Town builder game with quite a bit of depth and a focus on surviving. The environment is quite hostile in terms of cold winters, food shortage, etc.This makes a new game quite a challenge, especially if you get hit by a disaster like a missed harvest. - No combat: actually quite refreshing. You don't have to worry about a military or invasions. There is nothing to damage your town except for fire, tornadoes and of course your own faults. ;-) - Detailed graphics. It all looks quite beautiful. - Pretty intelligent AI Weaker points: - I feel that once you know the basic tricks of surviving your first few years, the game does become a little bit too easy. - After a while the game turns into a matter of expand food production -> more houses -> expand food production -> more houses. A bit more 'end-game' variety would have made this game even better. Therefore a 4/5 star rating. The game is very good and if you like town building games like Anno/Settlers this is a purchase that can't go wrong. I omitted 1 star because of some weak points, but definitely a good product.

This game is an excellent city building game, reminiscent of games like SimCity, where just the management and expansion of the city were the core focus. The game has absolutely no notion of progression; you can build everything from the start, assuming you have the materials for it. You shouldn't, but you can. As for the issues I mentioned, i've found these to be the most pressing: first and foremost, this game sometimes will just murder your village, and there's nothing you can do about it. You'll have to just accept it and move on, or load a save, you dirty little cheater. Secondly, sometimes it's just really hard to understand what's wrong. Houses starving even when near a market and with a food surplus, food demands not matching the population numbers, bugs and glitches like these are bound to happen in games this complex, and Banished is no excpetion. In short, the game is not perfect, yet. It's really good for what it is, the design is solid and the game is pretty intuitive after you take your time learning the basics. It's a definite must buy if you like slow paced, deliberately brutal and actually really deep city builders but, be warned, sometimes it will be pretty frustrating even if you like that sort of thing.

Banished is what many city/village building games wish they could be when they grow up. No barbarians screaming at the gates, not a zombie in sight, just good solid building with intelligent villagers, clever mechanics, and thoughtful details. It's easy, it's relaxing, it's soothing. Until the realities of colony life bite you in the backside! Banished is an addictive, amazingly fun and intense game. Some people have described it as being "zen" to which I disagree to a point. It gives the illusion of being peaceful, until it stabs you in the back. The game is stressful, the game is hard, the game will make you laugh and it will make you cry. You will build up a large, bustling, seemingly succesfull town only for a small disaster to bring your whole population to it's knees. But when you do succeed, it is oh so satisfying. This is the city builder you've been waiting for.