Recent reviews by Soma

I'm not going to do a full review. There's not enough here to keep my interest and playing it.

Idle game, not much progress offline. Not a bad game. Could use some improvements. Seems like the dev is doing some good work on it.

Lack of content, hopefully that will change soon.

Edit. More grasscutting. I didn't notice much new stuff.

General:

Rating: ?? Probably E or T
Price: $9.99 or $29.99 for a 4 pack
Genre: Open world Survival Craft
Time played: 161.4 Hours (steam), PS3 ( 100?200?)

One of the best in the genre. Starts so simple and becomes so very very complex. Plenty to do and build and craft. Even beating the game just unlocks more things. 10/10

Gameplay - 10

You start out simple enough, low end stuff and have to figure out how to survive the night. Then how to attract more NPC’s, how to summon and beat various bosses. Then you’re tring to figure out how to craft potions to help you survive underground. What about the next tier of weapons/equipment? Then you have to figure out … the list goes on and on. It’s a great game.

Story - ??
Don’t think there is one.

Graphics - 10

It’s a 2d game, so you would think that it’s lacking in the graphics dept but actually it pulls it off very well. It’s cartoonish but very well done and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Controls - 10 (mouse/keyboard),10 (controller)

I used this game to teach my son how to use WASD when he was 5 or 6, eventually he used that to move onto Minecraft. I had no problem using either the controller or the Mouse/keyboard. Though the Shift Left click was super helpful and i don’t think they had that for the controller.

Repeatability - 10

You can’t find everything in one world. (Although I hear now you can download maps that do have them) So you’ll have to play on several different worlds if you want to get everything. But that’s easy enough.


Music - 10

Calm and relaxing, unless there’s a reason not to be. Blood Moons, Orc, Pirate, Goblin raids then the music is …. Less calming.

Multiplayer -

Easy enough to join others, they’ve made so many improvements since i played 5 -10 years ago. You can join people, do pvp or join forces and fight the various bosses. Explore whatever you want to do.

Initial Thoughts:

Someone gave me this game as a bootleg forever ago, and said it was a ‘2d minecraft’ I wasn’t super impressed. I didn’t care for the sandbox games at all. However, my 6 year old son (this was about 10 years ago) was super thrilled by the game, so I bought legit copies for him and myself. However he didn’t understand a lot of the game or what to do to progress. That led to me having to learn the game and try to teach him what to do. Mostly, he would just show up and steal cool things I would find. I would do all the work of digging, searching for more information, the wiki is a godsend, and basically do what 6 year olds do.

I logged in recently and saw his personal area, of course full of traps in case people tried to steal his stuff, and thought I'm glad I got to experience this game with him.


Soma Says:


The game is full of nostalgia for me, working hour after hour to figure out the next thing. I spent Hours upon hours building a ‘safe’ space for my son to fight the Wall of Flesh. This was a (medium sized map) with an entire corridor with walls sealed in, heart lamps floating for HP regen, honey pits for more HP regen. All just so he can participate in the (what i thought) was the final boss. Sadly this was all before they implemented the steam cloud. My hard drive crashed and lost the entire world. Sad times.

I rebuilt things, not nearly as good as before, but was able to find an online game where I could recover some of my items so not a total loss. However, the new world is pretty bare bones compared to the first one. Shortly after that my son started wanting to play games with his friends, and I graciously bowed out to allow him to grow on his own. I don’t play this game anymore but sometimes i go back into the world I created just to look at what we did together.

It’ll remain a monument to what we achieved.

If you enjoyed the review check out my curator page : https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/curator/28849369/

General:

Rating: T
Price: $24.99
Genre: Action-Roguelike, Rogue-lite, RPG?
Time played: 74.4 Hours.

A great action roguish game. Battle your way out of the underworld, defy your father. Learn the truth about your existence. Pet the 3 headed dog.

Gameplay - 10

Quick, fast and brutal. There’s so much to do in the underworld. People to meet, people to kill. Barriers to break. As Zagreus, the son of Hades you’re trying to escape the underworld looking for your mother. Your father forbids it and so now you have to fight your way out. The gods of Olympus offer their help in various boons that can affect your dash, attack or magic powers. You will gain more and more experience each run, unlocking more things that will help you in your runs. There’s also a Hardcore mode that starts off with a contract you have to agree to so that you can power up your weapons. Oh did i mention you have 6 different weapons, eventually, that you can use in your escapes.

Story - 10

We all know the story about how Persphone was tricked into living in the Underworld half the year, You do know this part of roman/greek mythology right? Anyways this is the story of Zagreus the son of Persphone and Hades. He has always been stuck in the Underworld and now wants out, he’s looking for his mother and only knows that she is outside the underworld. You recruit various gods/goddesses to help you along your way making yourself more and more powerful until eventually you break free and discover….

Graphics - 10

Excellent, no complaints.

Controls - 10 (controller)

I always prefer the controller over mouse/keyboard so to me this game was wonderful with a controller, others might say the mouse/keyboard is better. Either way the controls were fantastic and I had no problems with them at all.

Repeatability -

Roguish games like idle games tend to have you doing the same thing over and over. So yea you’ll be repeating the game over and over.

Music - ??

Tense when it needed to be, cheerful and light when it needed. It was music and did well with the game.

Multiplayer - N/A

Initial Thoughts:

I haven’t played a good action roguelike in a while. Let’s see what’s going on here. 17 runs later. Okay. I need to sleep after this one it’s… crap looks like i’m calling off work.


Soma Says:

Fantastic. Every part of this game made me want to come back for more. The story is good and makes you feel a part of it, each accomplishment you earned and it’s great. As many people point out you can pet the doggo. So there’s that.

I feel like this game is a perfect example of what a roguish game can be, it also reminds me of how far the genre has come. Buy the game and you won’t regret it.


If you enjoyed the review check out my curator page : https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/curator/28849369/

General:

Rating: E
Price: Free
Genre: Idle
Time played: 46.7 Hours

Another interesting take on the genre. This one has you playing 3 different characters, not at the same time, which helps you progress each character by purchasing upgrades. Each rebirth the trio gets stronger and is able to get further and further.

Gameplay - 7

It was confusing at first what I was supposed to do, it’s mostly an auto-idle game. Your character goes around attacking the various creatures and you will win or lose based on how strong they are at the time. After each area you unlock more and more stuff so that you can progress further, some stays unlocked for each character and other things you have to do again.

Each area has different monsters to overcome and they drop different things, which you can use to craft potions, armour and weapons. I haven’t gotten as far in this game as a lot of other idle games but it does have great potential for me to play a couple 100 of hours.

Story - N/A

If there’s one I don't know what it is.

Graphics - 6

Not the most graphically pleasing game but it has the basics and it’s understandable. It won’t win awards but it fulfills it’s purpose.

Controls - 10 (mouse/keyboard)

Point and click. If you really want you can take control of your character and move them around. I’ve found that helpful on some missions.

Repeatability - 10

After your rebirth you start back at area 1-1. So you’ll be playing a lot of the same stuff but more powerful, hopefully. Each area has a set of missions you can try to attain, simple as kill __ number of monsters or gather __ number of materials. Others are slightly more difficult, Finish the area in __ seconds. Or spend _ hours in this area.


Music - ??

Playing at work without sounds, so I have no idea.

Multiplayer - N/A


Initial Thoughts:

I don’t know what I’m doing here, I’ll pick the warrior first they seem like a straight forward class. Yup stabbity stab things. Okay. So what now just keep playing the same level? Oh I can upgrade various things. Hmm. This requires more thought that initially thought.

Soma Says:

I’m enjoying this game so far, I’ve played as each character once at least, mage was not fun at first, and now i’m starting to get further than I was before. I’m able to identify goals and what I should be working towards so that’s always good. The only gripe is the offline, there’s not really any reason to be offline except the Nitro Mode. Which fills only when you’re offline. It takes about 2 hours to fill the bar completely, it makes it so you go faster, attacking/moving etc. I’m guessing it just doubles everything so it’s faster. But besides that you don’t get any progress so the game has to run. Since a lot of it is repeating the same level to gain exp and gold or a level to get drops, which have a very low drop rate, so what are you doing? Going to watch that or just let it play in the background? Exactly.

I feel like there’s still a lot more to unlock, I've only managed to clear the first area and gotten to the boss of 2nd level but can’t beat him/her/it yet. I’ll keep playing though because why not, it gives me something to do during my breaks.

If you’re not a fan of active-idle games then I’d steer clear but the game is pretty solid and there’s several layers to it, sure to keep people interested and playing.






If you enjoyed the review check out my curator page : https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/curator/28849369/

General:

Rating: E
Price: Free
Genre: Idle
Time played: 188.6 Hours

An idle game about leaves. Blowing them, collecting them, spending them. Using them to take over the world, okay not really. But maybe. Special leaves, normal leaves, gold leaves. You should play.

Gameplay - 7

Simple enough you start pushing leaves around with your bare hands. Once you have moved enough leaves you can unlock tools to move them faster/quicker. Then you can unlock new leaves. Which gives different things, you may need, you may not. Then more leaves, new areas, new tools. Then little roomba’s that do the leaves for you!

Story - ??

There is a Lore section but it wasn’t there when I first started, I looked over it but don’t really remember it. I’m sure the Dev put time into it so you should go read it at least.

Graphics - 8

I mean you’re blowing leaves around. It’s not the most graphically challenging game. It does what it needs to.

Controls - 10 Mouse/keyboard

Your guy follows your mouse. I can’t really say much more on it. The various menus are accessible by clicking on their icon or the letter/number related to it. They work. So.. umm. Good job?

Repeatability -??

Like most idle games you’re gonna be playing the same thing over and over for a while.

Music - N/A

I usually play these games in the background so music is muted. From what I remember it was decent though.

Multiplayer - N/A


Initial Thoughts:

Alright, another idle game. What’s the deal here? Oh I walk around and blow leaves. That’s dumb. Okay well there’s upgrades for blowing off these leaves? Oh. Wait, I can unlock gold leaves?

Well ♥♥♥♥ 6 hours have gone by.

Soma Says:

I started this one thinking oh this is a new game, had only come out a few days before, so it was very possible to achieve all the Achievements and so I set out to do that.

A few days later i’m almost to the point where i can get the final achievement. I realized this is one of those plateaus that you’ve got to grind in idle games to get. No big deal. Then the dev up and added more stuff to the game. Rat bastard. Now I have to play more. Sigh.

I’m kidding, obviously. The game is even better since he’s updated/added things. I’m still working on that plateau (almost 100 hours later) but I'm getting there. The only downside, to me, was that the active gameplay is so much better than the offline. But hey, that’s why it runs in the background while i’m at work. Of course I jump in when I have a chance and progress things but again still waiting for certain things to unlock. Soon the achievements will be mine!

This is a great idle game, it’s got a good amount of progression and many layers to go down.


If you enjoyed the review check out my curator page : https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/curator/28849369/

Edit* Still decent Idle game.

General:

Rating: E
Price: Free
Genre: Idle, Pinball
Time played: 381.1 Hours(Steam) , 1000+ (Mobile)

An interesting take on an idle game. Pinball that you gain points for playing then ‘restart’ to gain bonuses. Only bad part is the offline play isn’t so great.

Gameplay - 8

Mobile or Steam the game is pretty much the same. You’re looking at a pinball game and trying to keep the ball in the air earning more points so that you can buy upgrades, then later restart to make those upgrades permanent. Can take a while to get anywhere. They have a discord server you can join and talk with others as well.

Story - N/A

So the story is that the monsters are… i’m kidding there’s no story.

Graphics - ??

It’s there? The ball will respond to the flippers or hitting the stationary posts.

Controls -

Simple enough on mobile touch the screen for the flippers. I believe on a PC you can use a keyboard (arrow keys/WASD) to control the flippers.

Repeatability - ??

It’s an idle game that requires you playing over and over. So yeah there’s some repeatability.

Music - ??

Was there? I didn’t notice.

Multiplayer - N/A




Initial Thoughts:

Another Idle game, well at least it has moving parts since it’s pinball.


Soma Says:

A decent game, make sure you pay attention to the upgrades and plan what you’re going to buy and use first. I didn’t and it set me back because I was trying the wrong things at first. Once I got the idea down I did much better but that’s only the first layer. Then once you finish that you have to go to the next layer which resets all your progress on the first layer, so you advance on the second layer but start over. Then do it again. And again until you finish the second layer. Then you can work on the 3rd layer, which resets the first 2 and so on and so forth. I believe there’s like 6? Maybe 7 layers. Each unlocks more powerful upgrades and permanent features but they can take a while.

My biggest grievance is that you have to have it actively playing (and certain upgrades/auto stuff) to get anywhere. If you go offline it’s possible you’ll get some progress but not enough to make it worth it.

I had some good times with it but now that i’ve stopped playing i don’t have any desire to go back and play anymore. Still a good game and worth playing if you’re into idle games.



If you enjoyed the review check out my curator page : https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/curator/28849369/

General:

Rating: M
Price: Free (Core Fighters), $59.99 (Basic game, Not all the chars), $79.99 (Digital Deluxe Edition (1 extra char, 26 costumes, 3 BGM, still not all the chars)
Genre: 3D Fighting Game
Time played: 10.6 Hours

DOA 6 is here, new moves, new characters, same ‘bounciness’. 6th in the series some old faces, some new ones. Despite the crazy price it’s a good game.


Gameplay - 10

Fantastic game, love the fighting and everything about it.

Story - ??

Does anyone really know what’s going on in this game anymore? I know some of the story and how the various characters are related or interact, but does it really matter? I’m sure it’s important to some people but I don’t care. It’s a fighting game.

Graphics - 10

It looks good. It’s very playable. The women are…. well endowed if that’s your thing.

Controls - 10 (controller)

Never tried the game with mouse/keyboard. I’m pretty good with the controller, i usually have to modify the controls to what I want but that’s not a big problem.

Repeatability - 10?

It’s a fighting game, you’ve got at least 16 characters to learn. You’re going to be ‘replaying’ a lot.

Music - ??

It’s background music. I never really pay attention to it.

Multiplayer - ??

Seems like I run into decent matches here and there, but the wait for ranked can be quite long. I usually set up rooms to just play but then someone who’s S++ or whatever will join and stomp on everyone.



Initial Thoughts:

It’s finally on sale. I’ll pick up the full game so I can learn (counter) the new characters.

Soma Says:

. I’ve played a lot of fighting games growing up. I always hated that only certain characters have counters/dodges. So if you’re not playing one of them then you miss out on a tactical advantage.I’ve been playing Dead or Alive since DOA2 on the Dreamcast, when I found DOA I was overjoyed, everything can be countered or dodged. Every character has the same type of counter and basic moves. At first I only played a few characters, why bother with the others when they are slow or awkward. Gen fu was trash tier, slow ass old man. As I moved from DOA 2 to DOA 3 I realized I had a lot of trouble with characters I never played, I never knew what moves they were going to do making it impossible to counter. Instead I would be standing there with arms wide open asking for a punch to the face. I remedied this by playing all the characters. I’m not a master of everyone but I can hold my own. Finally I started really enjoying the game. Hours upon hours spent playing battles, survival mode. Hell I would even let COM vs COM play in the background if i was doing something around the house. I loved DOA.

By this time DOA 4 had come out and I was playing but they changed the counters slightly. Medium kicks have to be countered with forward and counter. No big deal right? Actually it throws everything off completely. I felt like I had to relearn the game, some new characters, also Gen Fu became my favorite, slow, super powerful and majestic. Sure the female characters were all ‘bouncy’ and whatever. But that’s not really important, the game is a triumph of Fighting games and I’m upset that more people don’t play it. So I learned the new system and eagerly waited for DOA 5.

DOA 5 I only played some, but was very upset that so many things were ‘DLC’ then I realized it’s all cosmetic stuff. Meh who cares, you can unlock plenty of outfits in the game. I didn’t care for the Core Characters thing, but hey it’s all the ninja’s I know how to play them so whatever. They added in several more characters from Virtual Fighter though, now though there’s more characters I don’t know, the full game was too expensive so I just stopped playing.

I saw DOA 6 come out and was disgusted by the amount of DLC again, even if it’s just cosmetic stuff seriously? What happened to Team Ninja? Oh and you can buy characters 1 at a time? Okay I guess, not what I would do but if you only like certain characters I suppose. I still refused to buy the game. Only recently when I saw it on the Fighting Games sale was I willing to buy the game, and even though I bought the ‘Digital Deluxe edition’ I’m still missing characters.

I’m not sure when they got rid of the tag battles but the rest of the game is fun, even the laggy multiplayer. Some new mechanics are called Break Blows and a Break Counter and that’s great and all, but I can’t stand that I paid so much to not even get all the characters AND not when there’s 460 DLC’s. Not when Season Passes are 60+ dollars and there’s 3 of them. To be fair, the game looks and feels fantastic, the way they price things has just got to stop. I’ll no longer be a part of it. So with a heavy heart I’ll say it. This is the last DOA game I’ll purchase, 20 years of enjoying a game series and because of the needless greed I can’t go on playing it. I paid for DOA 6 so I’ll keep playing but no more. Today is a sad day.

The end of an era.

Going to add on to this. The DOA6 Season 4 Pass is currently 89.99. It includes 1 new character and 50 to 60 new costumes. This costs more than the full game. What?

Obviously I can't recommend the game, despite how much I love the series. Wait for a sale. Or just stick to the core characters.


If you enjoyed the review check out my curator page : https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/curator/28849369/

General:

Rating: E
Price: $4.99
Genre: Automation
Time played: 17.7 Hours

Ever play Factorio? Here’s a minimalist version of the game, also there’s no enemies. Just crazy amounts of tracks, machines and shapes.

Gameplay - 10

The game starts off simple enough, you have to deliver a shape to the main HUB. Okay simple enough. Once you reach the required amount you unlock something else. Now you need to provide a different shape. Okay still not too hard, each shape builds upon the other ones, unlocking new machines to use in crafting/constructing newer shapes. Then they add in colors, then mixing colors, then stacking then then then.

How is such a simple game so good? I started it up and then 5 hours later was trying to determine the best way to rearrange my various ‘factories’ to make them more efficient and productive. At one point I had to have a certain shape with colors produced and making 8 of them per second. Simple enough. Just have to tweak this, and this and build a new production line. Well now that line isn’t producing enough, let's go back and replace some of it and now we’re up to 2 per second. Hmm. That’s not right.

Seriously how is this game so good? The premise is pretty simple but they way they introduce each thing and build upon your previous knowledge is done very well. Each new machine/improvement adds more and more to the game. I haven’t even finished everything and my ‘factories’ are ridiculously complex. Yet it’s all one simple thing piled upon another and another.

Story - N/A

No story, no bad guys, just infinite building.

Graphics - 10

Simple, elegant and perfect.

Controls -10(mouse/keyboard)

Point and click. Then use the keyboard commands as you get more and more involved and don’t have time to click way over there. Again, super simple yet so powerful.

Repeatability - ??

This is tricky. In games like this you’re constantly changing things over and over, or thinking of new ways to make your production better/faster. Or you just unlocked a new piece of equipment or an updated version of something you already have. Now you have to redo several pieces of your ‘factory’ to make them run smoother.

So yeah there’s a ton of repeatability. I even started over 2 times and now have 3 factories at various stages. Each one is built differently as you can see my thinking and trying to make things easier for later.


Music - 10

Background noise. Serene and soothing as you rack your brain trying to build this section perfectly.

Multiplayer - N/A

There’s not any and that’s a good thing, don’t want some moron messing up my exquisitely crafted factory.

Initial Thoughts:

Only 5 bucks huh? Well I’ll give it a shot.

Hmm. so just move squares over, that seems simple enough. Oh now I unlocked a new machine. So wait I can.


6 hours later.

Me muttering to myself about how the damn shapes don’t make any sense and how I need to color the bottom left color white, while the top left corner needs to be magenta and then both pressed onto a solid cyan square, then move that onto a blue star shaped. Which then needs to be delivered to my Hub at 4 per second.



Soma Says:

If you’re a fan of automation then this is a must play. I don’t often do videos, but I got into a streaming mindset and started my 3rd factory. Here’s a video of the first 2 hours of playing the 3rd factory. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/811974618

I’d like to say I’m a master of the game but I’m not, however it’s still fun to watch, you can see the progression and all that. Try not to be too critical of how I did things, I'm still learning.


If you enjoyed the review check out my curator page : https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/curator/28849369/

General:

Rating: E
Price: $4.99
Genre: RTS/Tower Defense
Time played: 4.7 Hours (steam) ??? Hours (Kongregate)

Humanity is being destroyed by an organic fluid that ‘creeps’ slowly filling every hole and eventually flooding any planet it comes across. You are the commander in charge, take humanity’s last bastion, a floating city named Odin and save everyone!

Gameplay - 10 (Old game but still holds up)

Quite fluid, heh, You control the last city, Odin. Capable of floating/flying the city is your base of operations. The city produces energy which it then sends out in ‘energy orbs’ to build resource collectors and weapons, then eventually to provide ammo to the aforementioned weapons. The problem is that it can only send out so many energy orbs at a time, and the more things you are building the longer it can take to build anything. As you progress through the story you’ll unlock new weapons and new utility nodes that can help you tremendously if you can get them built in time.

The enemy you’re facing is the creeper, an organic fluid that destroys everything. It flows and follows the terrain, which is a blessing. It comes from emitters and will slowly fill up the area around it before moving to the next area. Of course you spend this time building defenses (i would hope) and planning your path to victory.

You can’t defeat the creeper (or can you?) but you can hold it back with your weapons giving you time to reach certain objects which will help you move on to the next area. Most of the game is spent holding back the creeper as you build up enough resources to effectively beat back the creeper to get to your objectives.

The game is a mixture of RTS and Tower defense, terrain is a huge factor as is knowing what you can and can’t do. I suggest the story first so you get a feel for it, the game has a story then a conquest mode with several planets with 5 or more missions to complete.

Story - 10

The distant future, you are the leader of what’s left of humanity. The creeper has been systematically destroying all Humans, you are following the last instructions by a famous scientist who left coordinates for 5 previously unknown planets. Wanna know the rest? Play the damn game

Graphics - 10
The original game (still up on Kongregate) was done in flash, they’ve redone the graphics to play on steam and they look the way I remember. That’s not saying much since I often have trouble remembering things. The graphics look good and make it easy to play the game.

Controls - 10 Mouse/Keyboard

I doubt I could play this with a controller. Again I first found it on Kongregate many many moons ago and learned to play with mouse/keyboard.

Repeatability - 10

There’s the Story, then the Conquest mode then Special Ops, can only do these after finishing levels in Conquest Mode, then there’s Chronom, which allows you to pick a date and fight the creeper on a map for that day. Did you want the best score for your Birthday? Well go and get it!



Music - 7

A bit loud, and some of the sounds are dated. Usually I’ll just turn off the music and play. What I do remember is that it was pretty good music.

Multiplayer - N/A

There are scoreboards so you can compete… remotely.

Initial Thoughts:

Oh creeper world on steam. And it’s been remastered? Only 5 dollars? Shut up and take my money.

Soma Says:

I have good memories of Kongregate and that playing the various 100’s of games they had back then. I believe this game was what really got me into the Tower Defense type of games. The creeper was an insidious, unique type of foe. Often frustrating playing the games due to losses and not being able to complete some of the levels on the first try. Or 10th.

Now this game may be old but for 5 dollars you can get a lot of gameplay out of it. It really is a classic game and i’m glad it came to steam.


If you enjoyed the review check out my curator page : https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/curator/28849369/

General:

Rating: E?
Price: $19.99
Genre: City Builder/Management Sim
Time played: 53.2 Hours

A game that’s deceptively simple. A banished group moves to a new area to start a community. Depending on the difficulty, you start off with various things and a certain number of people. You just keep building until you can’t anymore.

Gameplay - 7

You start off in the wilderness, a few families and some food/supplies. Depending on your starting difficulty you might have some seeds to grow crops or some animals to put out to pasture. Regardless you only have a short time to get things started before your people start dying of starvation.

Banished is a resource management game and you have a ton to manage, your people, food, stone, iron, logs, firewood; the list goes on and on. At first you’ll struggle to play the game, you’ll lose some of your people, due to starvation or other things. The elements are not your friend. You don’t have to worry about being attacked but you do have to worry about food, clothing and shelter, and in the fall/winter you have to worry about keeping warm. The game isn’t easy by any means, but it is rewarding to get to a higher population and have your people thriving.

There’s a delicate balance, you want to make sure your people have everything they need, you want them to have extra food and so on, but now you’ve waited too long to expand and now they are all old and dying, there’s no children to continue the town of _____. And it fades into nothing, becoming a ghost town.

Or you expand too quickly, now there’s not enough food, or firewood for everyone. People get greedy and start hoarding to protect their family. Now you have people dying off due to starvation and freezing cold. Your food stockpile is at 0 and winter is just starting. More and more die off due to no food and now you have empty houses, and not enough people to do the jobs that need doing. No one is bringing in food and another ghost town.

Or you’re doing fine and expanding at a decent pace, your people are numerous and prosperous. Nomads arrive at your town hall and you agree to let them move into your city, bumping up the number of adults who can work which helps your city. Huzzah things are looking good. Oh no, those nomads had smallpox. Now they are spreading it throughout your city. That hospital you were going to build ‘eventually’ now looms in the darkness as one by one your people are killed off and there’s nothing you can do but watch.

Story - ??

The … story as it were is that you were banished and now you’re starting your own community/village away from the others. Religious persecution? Skn the wrong color? Hair color wrong? Eye? Who knows they don’t explain why you were banished, and honestly you have too much stuff to do to worry about silly things like that. Winter is coming.

Graphics - 7

Graphics aren’t the best and once you get enough people things start to tax your PC. The graphics are decent and they get the job done. They help convey the needed information.

Controls - 10(mouse/keyboard)

The mouse and keyboard is the way to go on this, I think using a controller would cause you more pain than it’s worth. I’m also too lazy to map my steam controller for this.

All in all the mouse keyboard combo was easy enough, once you know what you’re doing that is.

Repeatability - 10

You’re going to fail. A lot. The AI sometimes does stupid things, technically you told them to walk over and harvest that log, but you didn’t tell them to build a bridge to cross that river, so now they will walk all the way around the map to get to the thing YOU told them to do. I had people starve to death trying to get to some stone I had asked them to gather. Watching my population slowly die of starvation even though I had over 20k food is frustrating to say the least. Make sure you save pretty often.

This game is unforgiving, if you mess up one tiny detail it can throw your whole game off and send it into a downward spiral of death. And boom Ghost town.

Music - 10

Subtle and enchanting, it’s soothing in the background and easy to listen to

Multiplayer - NA

No multiplayer which is probably a good thing.

Initial Thoughts:

I played this game years ago when it first came out (2014) a friend got me to play it and I enjoyed it a great deal. However something else came out, my computer crashed? Something happened and I had to uninstall it and it got lost in the vast depths of my Steam library.

Recently another friend was playing the game and we compared notes and that lead me back into the world of Banished.

Soma Says:

So many ways to accidentally kill your people. Everything matters, your resources you have to watch carefully the slightest thing can upset the very very delicate balance going on in this game. Don’t get me wrong it is a difficult game, but that’s only because you’ve never played it before and lots of things are new and different.

I think between the last time i played this game back in 2014 I had come across Dwarf Fortress and spent years playing that. Maybe it was before this game I’m not sure. But this game reminds me of a much easier (though graphically pleasing) version of Dwarf Fortress. No Z levels or anything but still way more complex than it looks on the surface.

The game does a wonderful job of showing how everything is balanced on a razor’s edge. Love it love everything about it. You should play and be ready to fail, over and over again. Just when you think you have it you have to build a new building that changes things again.

Really well done can’t recommend enough.

Of course if that’s your type of game… not for everyone.


If you enjoyed the review check out my curator page : https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/curator/28849369/