If you love the idea of building your own town then you will LOVE this game.
Banished is a city-building strategy game that is all about life and survival as you control a group of exiled travellers who decide to build their own city. The object of this game is to keep the population alive and to grow it into a powerful civilisation.
It has the feel of a modern Caesar 3 or Zeus: Master of Olympus but with much deeper gameplay. That’s because sustainable resource gathering must be considered if you want your settlement to survive in the long term.
This game has appeared out of nowhere but the initial youtube videos look brilliant. What’s more impressive is that it’s been developed by just 1 guy, Luke Hodorowicz .
Survival
One of the greatest challenges will be surviving the winter months.
Cutting down forests to build houses and burning firewood reduces the deer population you can hunt. Although your foresters can plant new trees, the cures for many diseases can only be found in forests that have existed for decades. So you’ll need to plan where your townspeople harvest trees.
Also over hunting could mean a vast supply of meat for your citizens to feast on but a few years later they have to turn vegetarian.
This is a game of smart resource management where money doesn’t exist. You’ll need to barter and trade for items and resources your city can’t produce. And, it’s this smart resource management where the gameplay of Banished excels.
Your citizens
You need to cherish the townspeople of Banished because they really are your primary resource. They live, work, love, have families, grow old and even die under your care. Without the townspeople you can’t harvest resources, without the townspeople your city dies. Now that might sound a little dramatic but without the townspeople you can’t play the game.
See for yourself
The truth is that I could spend ages writing about Banished the Video Game but really you need to see it for yourself. Luke Hodorowicz, the game developer behind Shining Rock Software, has produced some beautiful videos that welcome you into his game world. I’ve embedded them below so you only have to click play.
Banished Alpha Video
More Banished Gameplay
So what do you think to the game? Let us know in the comments.
