Banished
7.9
Platforms
- PCFeb 18, 20147.9playscore7.318 Critics8.931.9K Players
18 critic reviews · 3 community reviews across all platforms
Critic Reviews
- Banished is not impressive solely because it was made by one man—it is impressive, period. The fact that this little gem stems from the brain of one lone developer only stands to make it all the more of an unequivocal triumph, and it thoroughly deserves your attention. If you’re a fan of God games and have found yourself disappointed by recent entries in the genre, such as the latest SimCity and the Early Access version of Peter Molyneux’s underwhelming Godus project, then you owe it to yourself to pick up this game.
Paul Tamburro · Mar 28, 2014 Reviewed on PCRead full review - Banished demands your attention. It's a game that shows instead of tells, and at times I wish it had told me more. I failed over and over again as I got my bearings. But the grand scale of those failures just made my improvements feel all the more genuine. Past the steep learning curve and trial-and-error gameplay of Banished lies a methodically crafted labor of love that is as precise as it is thrilling.
Charlie Hall · Mar 28, 2014 Reviewed on PCRead full review - Banished reinforces the human drama with its brutal difficulty and negative feedback loops. It's fertile soil for some of the most remarkable emergent storytelling around. With relatively few, well-designed mechanics, the game weaves a powerful tale of empathy and desperation and is a high-water mark for narrative elements that mutually reinforce mechanics. Even better, this is a very human story divorced from the Western tropes common in the loosely imperialistic messages of other, similar games.
Daniel Starkey · Feb 26, 2014 Reviewed on PCRead full review - A bland landscape is disappointing, but forgivable. Not so with a user interface: not in a game like this. Adding extra workers to a station – one of Banished‘s most common actions – requires an uncomfortable degree of precision with the tiny buttons. It looks as though it was designed by programmers, rather than designers. Considering the game’s humble price point I wouldn’t doubt it, but I can’t forgive it.
Steven Strom · Feb 25, 2014 Reviewed on PCRead full review - Banished hits the sweet spot between complexity and accessibility that makes a relative strategy game amateur feel competent. But my real sense of satisfaction came not from being a builder of cities, but as a leader of people—a game that played out as much in my head as on the screen. It kept me playing for hours, fretting over the fates of Silvestevan, Adon, and the rest of the Andytownies, but having exhausted myself on that binge and satisfied the urge to see my people prosper, I didn't feel any urge to do it again.
PC Gamer · Feb 22, 2014 Reviewed on PCRead full review - As a city-building game, Banished is dazzling. It combines simple charms with transparent, complex systemic interactions, and a tough-but-fair difficulty curve. My only real criticisms of it is that it left me wanting more, such as strong overarching long-term goals, like a campaign mode. That might have pushed Banished into the top tier of amazing strategy games, but instead, it'll have to settle for being great.
Rowan Kaiser · Feb 20, 2014 Reviewed on PCRead full review - While there is a certain beauty to the clean interface and appearance of your town, the lack of an art style just looks really boring after a while. The buildings aren't pretty - the architecture clearly choosing function over form. If you zoom in the view to peruse the individual people whisking about their daily routines there's some quirkiness - say, that lady has a red skirt! - but really Banished is very bland.
Greg Tito · Feb 19, 2014 Reviewed on PCRead full review - Banished is like the quiet kid in school: unassuming, down-to-earth but also filled with hidden depths. If you're looking for a no-nonsense city builder that demands you keep a handle on important things like food, warmth and how much beer your citizens have. Once you've figured out the basic mechanics, Banished's appeal can dip slightly but there remains something weirdly engrossing about watching the seasons pass.
Cassandra Khaw · Feb 19, 2014 Reviewed on PC - Banished is subtle in some of its ways that it can crush the player; even if you have a healthy stockpile of food and other critical supplies, time may simply win out as old age claims your populace if there isn’t a younger generation to take over. Banished is an alluring option for players looking for something in the same vein as Dwarf Fortress or Towns but want something a little more accessible and graphically inclined.
Daniel Tack · Feb 17, 2014 Reviewed on PC - All in all, if you’re into games like the aforementioned Keflings games or the Harvest Moon series, there’s no reason you can’t find hours upon hours to lose in Banished. If survival games aren’t your cup of tea, there is still a lot of fun to be had on a single playthrough. At $19.99, it’s slightly pricier than other indie games of the same ilk, but given how long the game takes to make you feel any sort of success, $20 doesn’t feel like a robbery.
VGChartz Staff · Mar 18, 2014 Reviewed on PCRead full review
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Community Reviews
- Reviewed on PC
- Reviewed on PC
- Reviewed on PC
About the game
Trailers & Screenshots:
In this city-building strategy game, you control a group of exiled travelers who decide to restart their lives in a new land. They have only the clothes on their backs and a cart filled with supplies from their homeland. The townspeople of Banished are your primary resource. They are born, grow older, work, have children of their own, and eventually die. Keeping them healthy, happy, and well-fed are essential to making your town grow. Building new homes is not enough—there must be enough people to move in and have families of their own. Banished has no skill trees. Any structure can be built at any time, provided that your people have collected the resources to do so.
Developer: Shining Rock Software