| Publisher | Shining Rock Software |
| Platform | Microsoft Windows |
| Genres | City-building game, Strategy game. |
| Releassed | Released |
Banished is a game I cannot escape from. It doesn’t matter what new games I’ve bought, I will always keep on coming back for more. The premise is very simple: you start with a small number of citizens and you must build and manage your village to grow it as big as you can. I’ve played a lot of games like this but Banished just does it so well. The way you harvest resources is intuitive and really satisfying. When you cut down an area of forest and you watch your people cut down each individual tree to clear the area it’s just very pleasing.
It takes a little bit of practice to get the hang of the most efficient use of each structure and your citizens, but once you do you can create huge sprawling towns covering much of the map. The world is randomly generated for each game and you can customize your starting conditions in a few ways like selecting how harsh the climate is and the difficulty of your start. If you want a challenge you can select hard mode which only gives you a small number of citizens, no seeds, and no pre-built structures. Easy mode gives you more people to work with, some livestock, a selection of seeds for farming, and the basic buildings.
If you’re after a relaxing experience I’d start in easy mode; it just takes the pressure off and allows you to enjoy designing your town in peace. Like most simulation and management games, there are random events including natural disasters, however, their chance of happening is low so you don’t need to worry too much. These include tornadoes, outbreaks of disease, and fires. I’d just recommend building a hospital once you have enough resources rather than waiting for a cholera outbreak to strike as you will lose a large percentage of your population.
I find this game so relaxing because it is a game of patience. You can power ahead, building loads of houses and letting your population explode, but if you don’t make sure your food production keeps pace then starvation becomes a real possibility. I’ve found the best strategy is to take it slow. My play style involves a lot of sitting back with a cup of tea waiting for my input to be required which is just how I like it.
What impresses me the most about Banished is that this is an indie game made by one guy. I really hope that a Banished 2 is in development with a larger team because there are a few issues with the game. Even though I’ve managed to clock up so many hours the gameplay is still limited. There aren’t that many different buildings to build or resources to use. I really wouldn’t care if the visuals stay the same (I mean Tropico managed to get away with that from Tropico 3 to 4) I just want more stuff to do! Some Steam Workshop downloads include milking the cows and fish farms, and the sort of thing Banished needs to be perfect.
Despite its limitations, I love playing this game and I really think I will never tire of it. It’s exactly the sort of game I need to relax, where I can get invested in the world but with minimal stress. I would highly recommend you to play this relaxing game to destress and comment below your experience after playing.
