Posted on: October 13, 2023

Mevelios
Verified ownerGames: 97 Reviews: 19
A heavier Banished revamp
For whoever played Banished, you just can't shake that impression and it's sadly what prevents me from giving it 5 stars: "I've already played this". There's no avoiding comparing both games! Land of the Vikings plays the same way: it's a light city builder mixing in survival elements, and I can't help feeling it tries too hard at following in Banished's footsteps. LotV adds in however a military element (launching/defending against raids) and seemingly diplomatical relations, however I haven't yet had the opportunity to put it at work - some forgettable settlement events happen too. The tech tree's new too, for an impression of progress; it lets you unlock passive bonuses and new facilities as you keep acquiring points, or enable new actions during raids. Said points are acquired through fame, which is a double-edged sword: either you keep acquiring more in successful actions (raids, exploration...) either you keep failing and can't progress. The difficulty is on the easy side though so it's largely forgiving! Some decorations improve buildings' outputs, however it takes so many that either it clutters your screen, either you build the same 25 times on the same spot. The city's more lively, but it's a chore, honestly. The main improvement is the ability to choose which worker goes where, knowing their respective aptitudes (strength, thought, luck, speed) and distance from workplace influences their output. Where it sadly falls IMO is the fast population growth, which keeps me endlessly building new houses as homeless people keep accumulating. Catching up with them takes so much of my time (that, and replacing dead workers) that I end up choosing the fighting event during festivals for casualties, simply to cull my population (to hell with morals)! The game's good at what it does and will probably see updates, so let's be positive; still I can't feel as enthusiastic as I thought I'd be because it's too close to Banished - "I've already played this"!
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