Banished is a premium strategy game that puts the player into the shoes of a leader of a small group of exiles. A few tools and lots of helping hands have to be enoughto survive and lay the foundations of a thriving city. What makes thiscity-buildinggamedifferent fromsimilar titles such as theAnno series?Buildings can'tbe unlocked, people age and die, and in addition, the variousseasonsof the year have an adverse effect on theyoung settlement.
Firstly, the prudent city builder must erecta few houses and ensure there issufficient firewood and food. In time,simple economic cycles can be established: A hunter killsa wild animal, and theleather is processed by a furrier into clothes, which keeps the hard-working populationwarm. If the residents are looked after, then you begin to see a younger generation –children are born, go to school and eventually become valuable workers, replacing those who die.
A larger population needs public buildings such as churches or cemeteries, but it also creates new opportunities. A trading post introduces cattle breeding and agriculturalseeds into the city while the city hall has all sorts of useful information about production and life expectancy. In addition to the new tasks, maintaining abalance betweenthe basic raw materials and the growing populationremains a challenge: food, firewood, living rooms, clothing, and medicine are absolute necessities in the game.
Starting a new settlement in Banished can be a delicate balancing act, where location is key to success. Choosing a map that places you near bodies of water ensures that fishing is a realistic option for sustaining your population early on. Equally important is having access to flat land, which facilitates expansion as your settlement grows. A poor map selection can turn a promising start into a struggle for survival.
In the early stages of the game, securing a steady food supply is crucial. As you have 20 occupations available for your inhabitants, it's practical to focus on gatherers, hunters, and fishermen to provide resources year-round. Once your initial food supplies are stable and adequate, you can look toward the midgame where crop fields, orchards, and farms can be introduced to diversify and reinforce your food production.
Efficient resource management extends beyond food. Building a woodcutter and stockpiling firewood ahead of the first winter is essential to prevent your population from succumbing to the cold. Additionally, placing storage barns adjacent to food production buildings and storage sheds next to non-food production sites like the forester, woodcutter, and tailors can markedly reduce travel time and enhance productivity. This simplifies the logistics of resource collection and storage.
When it comes to looking after thepopulation,there areno game objectivesin Banished. The game doesn't tell a story and there areno computer opponents to play against, or multiplayer or campaign options. The only thing you can mold from the start is the map: whatthe dominant climate is in the world, whether the landscape shouldbe hilly or flat, and how many resources the player has at the start. In addition to the visual effects, theselection also determines thedifficulty level for the player.
In addition, the game breaks with some of the established building strategy rules: Seasons, for example,makethe economy asymmetric –fruit trees are harvested once a year. You can build all buildings right from the beginning, and your population ages and dies. In addition, Banished doesn't use money, which makes resources extra important.
In comparison to other building simulation games, Banished does indeed use simpler economic cycles, but it leaves many relationships unclear. Up until the construction of the city hall, the player only knows the quantity of his resources and has to look in vain foran overview of the production processes and the effectiveness of buildings. In addition, thetutorials don'texplain all of the correlations: Should warehouses becentralized or decentralized? Why do workers go around the mountain, when you can't actuallybuild a road there? And in what order do the workers carry out tasks?
In addition to some confusion overthe gameplay mechanics, the game doesn't hold players' hands. Making construction errorsor errors in deciding priorities, are punished mercilessly by Banished: Whoeverfails to get the harvest in ends up looking in vain forpeachesin the snow. If there's no fountain, thenthe entire city burns down as demolishing surrounding buildings takes too long. This is hard, but fun.
Other tools such as the path-tool are innovative and exciting: in order to improve the processes, then check the routes taken bythe workers. A shorter route increases the productivity of the working group. The acceleration function helps guard against boredom. In contrast, you do stumble upon bugs now and again. The good citizenArthurmangot lost chopping wood and cannot find his way back. After several winters without food, he dies.
Many players find itunusual thatBanished isn't just controlled with the mouse. The camera turns and pivots using the keyboard. For many functions there areshortcuts on offer, which will avoid you having toclick through several windows. Many a time you'll end up fighting withsmall buttons in lots ofwindows or can't easily findthe individual buildings in the forest, let alone tell them apart.
Banished is beautiful to look at. Busy workers run across the screen, wild game crosses the river, and fishermen cast theirrods. Added to that are the four seasons and your fields, where you can watch the rhythms of the countryside come and go. Compared to this beauty, the few small bugs aren't so important.
The soundscape, however, is only average, and after a few hours of playing Banished, you can easily do without the music.
Banishedis not a walkin the park. Without great help and lots ofresources, you'll end upfreezing to death in the very first winter. Gradually, however, relationships are betterunderstood, lovely details are discoveredand lots of chances to learn appear.
Banished's challenging start is likely to suit experienced players but could cause problems for beginners. The rough game mechanics suit the game objective of survival. However, if you're looking forfamiliar fare with multiplayer scenarios and established control, you won'tfind them in Banished.
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