I can't really give an in depth review of Patron as the game almost instantly shuts itself off once I hit the play button. Only once did it not do this. I've been told it is due to an update by Overseer Games. If so it reflects poorly on the manufacturer.
I hate reviewing games as, even aside from quality, dollar-to-hour enjoyment is subjective, but someone mentioned that he hadn't purchased this game due to the horrible reviews. So:
I download the package, set it up while offline, it installed smoothly and ran perfectly fine.
I haven't had a single issue of any sort with it in the last four weeks-(ish) and have been playing it 4-5 times a week. [specs listed below]
As far as the game itself, I'm not an *avid player of survival builders like this, not like some people are, but I've put a solid amount of hours into Banished over the years, alongside similar games, from Settlers to Sim games, and I'm enjoying Patron quite a bit. I'm actually surprised it doesn't have a larger following.
It's true, you can't overlook the similarities to Banished, but the atmosphere of it is different enough that it doesn't feel carbon-copied, it just has the same elements that any good survival builder would have. I also like the very intuitive UI, which is always a point of concern in these type of games, though I did add a mod that makes the UI closer to transparent, making it feel more immersive. (Mods are easily installed, just like Banished, tho there's only a handful around.)
Additionally, the Mare Nostrum DLC is actually a solid addition to the game, with new professions, resources, maps, a biome, and... other stuff I can't remember; it isn't just some sort of hastily packaged crap like you see in some games.
And the soundtrack is surprisingly good, a nice fit to the game, in my less-than-humble opinion.
I got the game, DLC, OST, and later the Supporter Pack, all for ~$12 on sale, no regrets at all.
Highly Recommended.
(And since I've seen people asking—if you want to angle the camera vertically, hold down the scroll button and drag up or down instead of side to side. This doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere; I only found it by trial 'n error.)
Specs:
Win10Pro 22H2
i7-3930K @~4.2GHz
GTX 1070 (8GB)
32GB RAM; 8GB VRAM
I don't have much to evaluate here : the game instantly crashes the moment I try to play it.
It launches fine, then the moment you hit ANY button (even the settings) it instantly shuts down.
Got it refunded, I can't recommend a game that you can't even play.
Bought this game 4 months ago and still havent been able to launch it a seocnd time. When contacting support, they gave a convoluted process that only worked for one session, then never again. My PC is well within the required specs and dont have this issue with literally any other game that i own. Extremely frustrating