Banished

One of the most surprising games of 2014, Banished is a game about building a village for a bunch of ...banished people. Every building is available from the start so you will have to figure out on your own what works and what wil end in inevitable chaos. And in the first few attempts it WILL end in chaos, death and starvation. There is no combat, but you will fight the elements. The game is challenging, the mechanics are extremely well polished and i've already had many dozens of hours of fun. It wasn't released out as an early access title like so many small developers do and is a real finished product in a time where even AAA titles aren't even close to being this kind of a complete experience, this alone should make even non-strategy fans pick it up and reward this kind of development. For fans of titles like the settlers, anno, simcity and tropico this is a must buy. The fact that this is all done by one programmer is just mindblowing.

There's always something. Like a constantly disappearing UI.

I love Banished. It's just the sort of game you need to own. The sort of cozy little game you'll return to every now and then and enjoy a few hours in...or obsess about for two weeks straight. It's great right out of the box. Tons of mods for variety. You won't regret buying it.

Has kept me playing for several years!