Banished

This game is a really solid settlement-building game with zero battle mechanics. I got about 200 hours out of it before I started to feel as though things got too repetitive for more replays, which is more than fair for a $20 game. That was mostly without mods, but once I got the hang of getting a settlement started efficiently, every game started to feel focused on supplying and managing trading posts with only a little building. Mods can increase the replay value somewhat by adding more professions, buildings, and resources, but they aren't able to change a lot of inherent AI behavior.

I have never restarted a game so many times in the my life. Each time I think I have managed to figure out the best way to start up my little community and each time, by the time winter hits I have shortages all over the place. All this and still I go back for more! The graphics are fantastic and the game play is wonderful. Like other reviewers have indicated, if you are looking for a fast paced game then skip this one, but if you want a challenge than man this is the game for you!

This is the SECOND GOG purchase I truly regret. I SO wanted to like this game. I've spent all day every day since I bought it trying hard to like it. But ultimately, not only do I not like this game - I HATE it. It sounded so perfect. A city-building game where there was no annoying combat to deal with. No zombies. No werewolves, vampires, or hideous mutants. Just you and your people, building up your town and civilization. HA! Death stalks you at ever turn. Heck, there's a review over at Rock Paper Scissors that says everything about that particular part of the game that needs to be said. But ultimately it wasn't the arbitrary things that were constantly leading to death that was the problem. There are tons of mods to get around the worst of those imbalances. What finally broke the camel's back for me was discovering just how tetchy the game is about object placement - say, roads, for instance. I got sick and tired of trying to lay down road across what looked even close up like dead level terrain, only to have the road tool tell me it won't put a road on a 3 square long section. Or trying to place building on anything even faintly resembling some sort of rational plan only to have the AI refuse to place a building in line with all the rest of the street because of some minuscule undetectable by the human eye difference in the level of just one square in the footprint of the building. Or even worse, not being able to lay down an entire field because of said invisible terrain level difference. (There's a mod for that last one, but nothing to be done about the rest) Seriously. These guys can allegedly mine iron ore out of deep mines - but they can't handle one bump in a 20 acre field? Annoying. That's what this game is. Just freakin' annoying.

It is a beautiful throwback game where micro management is a must to ensure survival. I went through about 20 hours of game play and a dozen villages before getting the balance down for my settlers to flourish. The initial difficulty in establishing a community that won't die off is what makes this game so intriguing but once you nail it, there is little left to keep your interest. You should binge on it until you figure out the gameplay but it has a limited ceiling. Well worth the buy though.

Easy enough to jump right in and play but it still took me many tries to master. My kids keep asking, "who do you attack or compete against?" "What do you mean no one?" "How can that be fun?". I come from a highly competitive family where everyone from 12 to 60 is constantly competing against each other in sports, board games, and video games. Where my 52 year old brother and I will basically get into a fight over whether a goal crossed the line in pick-up floor hockey. So trust me when I say this isn't my typical game. But I love builder games so I gave it a shot. The answer to the questions above really turned out to be yourself, and the game itself. I made several mistakes with my first few settlements. When I finally thought I got it right with the perfect map, and more food and resources than I knew what to do with... my people stopped reproducing and they all got old and died. Diversity of food types, plenty of housing, and knowing when to build what are key to this game. The plotting and planning where to build next is almost addictive. I will typically play for an hour or two a couple of nights a week before going to bed. The problem is I then often end up lying there thinking about where I am going to build next and how to solve a particular problem. Still, it's easy to pause and save at any point and easy to pick back up later. A great game to always have in your back pocket so to speak. A go-to when you are board of something else, are restless, or need to kill some time.