Ragnorium
This game is a gem in the making. Standard EA gripes apply. Unfinished content, which gets added regularly, lack of colonist micromanagement, bugs (although not gamebreaking and most of them get addressed pretty quickly). The developer is very hands on and takes care of your problems quite fast if you take the time to send your save files or crash logs. For me, it scratches a few itches. It’s a colony builder/manager, with leveling up your colonists which you get every few days with new launches from the mother ship, where you choose which colonist clone to create and send to the planet. You can equip them, take care of their needs to make them happy, which in turn earns you points in the CUDS panel - basically a place to order resources for “likes” and “happy pills” for “dislikes” your colonists accrue. The game advancement comes in cycles called research, which is currently waiting for your colonists to accrue research xp passively and getting “influence” by doing quests which reward those points. There are 2 game modes, one with 3 daily randomized events in intervals of 12h, 17h, 20h - they can add good or bad stuff to the game, depending on whether you want to spend the influence you obtain to choose a better event. Getting influence also speeds up the separate research you do when launching a new flight to get colonists/resources, which can include unlocking the radar, getting more advanced clones, getting access to special ship parts like water tanks to bring water or gear modules to bring clothes and so on. Currently the game ends it’s research driven play after 5 or so research cycles and you’re left in freeplay mode, but it’s a nice amount of play to get there and it’s well worth the price. If you want to influence how the game develops by adding suggestions which the dev always takes into consideration and often implements quickly, get it early.
– Real player with 114.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Colony Sim Early Access Games.
This Rare Gem, has so much too offer.
With many survival elements, building your primitive colony base, hunting creatures of the wild, Fighting other enemy tribes, setting up work stations for each type of main resources, like clothing, weapons, medical and cooking. Setting out your colonist on quest / objectives to gain research point to unlock new items/objects/technologies. The list goes on and on.
Theirs a big learning curve, which might require you to restart the game a few times, and with each restart you learn from your previous mistakes/failures. But its totally worth it, knowing your sequences of steps/actions/quest taken, insured your colonist stayed alive another day.
– Real player with 108.2 hrs in game
Gord
Lead the people of the Tribe of the Dawn as they venture deep into forbidden lands. Complete quests that shape their personalities, impact their wellbeing, and decide the fate of their community. Ensure the survival of your populace in a grim fantasy world inspired by Slavic folklore.
Erect palisades, develop structures, and grow your gord from a humble settlement to a formidable fortress. However, expansion won’t be easy! Your population is constantly at risk from enemy tribes, gruesome monsters, and mysterious powers that lurk in the surrounding woods.
Venture outside the walls of your settlement with Gord’s AI-driven quest system, ensuring a huge variety of challenges to take on. The Scenario’s main objectives will guide your gameplay, while versatile side quests and random encounters will send you off into the wilderness to hunt down legendary creatures, uncover secrets about the Ancients, or vanquish a nasty scourge. Expect the unexpected.
Set the stage by choosing from a wide range of Scenario options, and try to emerge victorious. Take it easy or set an impossible challenge; almost anything can be adjusted! Choose from a variety of primary objectives, select the level size, the intensity of raids, the environment you’ll play in, the types of enemies you’ll face, starting resources, and even the severity of weather. Of course, don’t forget the Horrors.
A healthy populace is the key to survival in Gord. Every aspect of your settlers’ lives - from illness and hunger to the death of their kin - can impact each subject’s Sanity and Burden levels. Keep a close eye on them, as once they reach a critical point your subject will suffer from a breakdown or even flee your rule.
Please the Gods with your prayers and they may give you access to their spellcasting abilities. Incantations vary in nature - some are offensive while others are defensive - but they all help to tip the battlefield in your favor. Conceal areas from your enemies, gain control over threatening beasts, or turn an unholy rage against all who dare to oppose you.
The Chronicle explains the history of the Gord universe that blends real-world Slavic mythology with dark fantasy. Pages torn from The Chronicle will be scattered throughout the game’s landscapes, giving dedicated players an additional challenge of discovery. Collecting as many pages as possible will provide insight into the origins of the Gods, ancient factions, and the mystical Whisperers.
Read More: Best Colony Sim Resource Management Games.
Terraformers: First Steps on Mars
Interesting theme, the graphics are simple but cool, the music is nice, it does run on GNU/Linux, but after eight hours of repetitive play, I wouldn’t call this a civ strategy kind of game, but more like a deck building card game, with lots of randomness, which gets you nowhere. You just need to be lucky to get the right cards at the right time for the right random spots to get a better score. No matter how good your planning is, there is too much luck involved. Maybe the 30 days span of a gameplay is too short for seeing the bigger picture, this is just a demo after all, but that’s my take on the current game. I do wish the devs good luck and I hope the final game offers a better experience.
– Real player with 8.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Colony Sim Resource Management Games.
A pretty solid board game
Game is very reminiscent of the popular board game Terraforming Mars, with some slight changes.
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Your starting hand is always the same 2 cards
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Beyond Oxygen, H2O and Temperature, there’s a nebulous “atmosphere” terraform setting
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Ever 10 years you select a leader, who has special abilities and traits that can be used on your turn
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Pop happiness is measured and scored.
Overall its fun for a few play throughs, but with the same 6 leaders, same starting hand, and hard 30 turn limit, you’ll only have fun for a bit.
– Real player with 4.1 hrs in game
The Promised Land
One word review: 8/10 - Lovely! ^_^
Premise:
You are in charge of an adorable little colony: Grow its population, expand its economy, research new technologies to succeed in your search for a legendary treasure.
Gameplay::
You Drag and Drop villagers to assign them to tasks which allows them to specialize in areas like Farming. Starting out simple by gathering basic resources and and trade, you soon unlock many more different resources and buildings. Various special offers and challenges require you to adapt your strategy. In addition, a few minigames offer variation.
– Real player with 85.8 hrs in game
The Promised Land is a colony builder game sporting a huge resource management component. Players will frequently encounter an odd-ball assortment of arcade mini-games and puzzle challenges.
The sound is good. The game is fun to play and immersive. The graphics are particularly cute with plenty of humour lavished in some of the animations. There are many incidental references to stereotypes which are presented in an anecdote and comedy fashion.
The player recruits and trains villagers. Villagers specialise in various gathering and manufacturing professions. A few villagers need to be dedicated to research to unlock parts of the skill tree.
– Real player with 35.8 hrs in game
Architects of Shangri-La
Architects of Shangri-La takes you to a beautiful, mountainous land full of myths and untold stories. The state is led by thoughtful monks that constitute spiritual, political and economical power of the nation. Help them build their community, spread wisdom, make Shangri-La thrive and guard it against enemies!
Colonize uninhabited wild slopes. Search for the right spots so that your settlements are easy to reach by traders and porters, but also safe from natural disasters, animals and foes. Make sure that there is room for necessary infrastructure and future expansion. Try to make living in the mountains easier for your citizens.
Take care of physical and spiritual needs of your people. Give them shelter, provide with food by building farms and breeding cattle, ensure access to water, organize trade, construct places of worship and meditation to keep their morale high. Protect your citizens from wild animals, weather breakdowns as well as raiders wanting to disturb your peace.
Communication in the mountains is essential. Carve your way through rocks to connect your settlements with the net of roads and narrow, hazardous paths. Monitor their state and repair them to maintain supply chains, necessary for your people to survive.
Fulfill your spiritual duties. Schedule regular prayers, build chapels and temples to keep evil spirits away and be blessed in your deeds. Meditate to acquire wisdom and remain in balance with your body and mind, assuring happy and peaceful life.
Dracula’s Castle
Manage the castle by expanding it, then build and unlock new rooms granting new mechanics to explore. The Alchemist will allow you to equip Dracula with mystical tools, unlock the bat cave to improve Dracula’s Mist Form. The more you expand, the more your labour force can grow. You’ll need to grow your army of servants in order to accumulate enough soil to sail to England on the Demeter.
Travel Transylvania by night but watch out for Van Helsing. Stalk the towns of Transylvania, on the hunt for fresh blood, or attempt to overwhelm them to gain powerful bonuses. Feast, recruit laborers or “invite” a guest to the castle, the choice is yours. You’ll need to entrap Jonathan Harker to fulfill Dracula’s dark designs.
Grow Dracula’s power the way you want to. Dracula possesses different attributes such as Power, Cunning, Speed, Charm and Magick. Choose which ones to train and equip the right relics for your build. Build new monsters at the Alchemist’s Lab utilising recipes found in the Necronomicon! Craft or acquire new gear throughout your adventure.
Engage angry mobs, town militia and even dedicated vampire hunters in exciting tactical turn-based combat. Leverage Dracula’s powerful abilities and forms to outwit and overwhelm the enemy. The spoils of battle are yours! Hand over curios and materiel to the Castle Alchemist to craft new items and raise new monsters to join Dracula’s dark menagerie.
Follow the early plot of Bram Stoker’s masterpiece, the main goal centers around Jonathan Harker, Van Helsing and the trip to Carfax Abbey in England; but plenty needs doing in the dark corners of Transylvania. Engage in various side-quests given to you by Death and other denizens of the castle as you work on building up Dracula’s regional power.
Zombie Cure Lab
Mindless hordes of zombies roam the earth. Humanity has fled underground. Now after years of research brave scientists dare to leave everything behind to retake the world. Build a lab in the wilderness and do what it takes to achieve your designation: Find the cure. Save humanity!
Plan ahead, layout rooms and furnish them with objects and machinery to set up your lab. Expand it to match the needs of your growing population. Comfy beds, diverse food and all kinds of skill training are essential to keep up the morale within the apocalypse. Provide shelter, defense and treatment chambers to buy time for your scientists and set them up with everything they need to heal the zombies.
Gather basic resources to construct and grow. Process, refine, cook and manage your resources to sustain your lab and its inhabitants. Prioritize jobs within your lab to maximize efficiency, plan ahead to foresee upcoming trouble and create your zombie curing masterpiece!
Your scientists will come up with new technologies and research points. New upgrades will allow you to harvest high tier materials and allow you to build late game tech science equipment. Unlock new machines and perks in the techtree and progress through all four tech tiers in order to finalize the cure.
Zombie healing is what it is all about, but first you need to catch zombies with your fancy freezing guns. Escort your well preserved ice block zombies to the treatment chamber. Here zombie-human hybrids - the ’humbies’ - will emerge and become new friends willing to help you out. But beware the humbie, if he’s in a bad mood he might be hard to predict and start rampaging your lab. Keep them in shape at all times to scale up your workforce and UNDO the apocalypse!
Eco Park
DISCLAIMER: This is a first impressions review, and NOT a full review
Eco Park is a game developed by and published by LunaBrod
The game offers some nice graphics and environments, although some ugly glitches here and there, it is pleasant all the same and has a really great aesthetic
Eco Park overall, however, is a fun game to play, and it does get boring if being played for a long time, but is a good simulation strategy game and to play in short bursts
It’s a shame this game hasn’t received the love it deserves as for such a small indie game, it’s quite complex and fun once you get the hang of it, for such a dirt cheap price, you should definitely give Eco Park a go!
– Real player with 10.9 hrs in game
Interesting and challenging. Worth $1.
– Real player with 2.0 hrs in game
The Crust
Welcome to the Crust — the game where you can be the CEO of a gigantic moon colonizing company. It is a large-scale economic simulator with elements of survival along with a rich setting and dramatic script.
No fate is determined. The progress is driven by people. It’s time for you to decide whether you become the one who brings changes — or the one who adapts to them. Whether to be mediocre and insignificant anybody — or to be a pioneer in the space colonization industry, leading your corporation to dominance and bringing necessary effort to make humanity an interstellar species.
Building the world of the future will mark a place for you in the history books. Only the strongest can survive on a giant grim permafrost rock surrounded by vacuum, deep space darkness, and deadly silence.
To be the second in the space race means to be the first who loses. Are you ready to take this challenge? The conquest of the Moon has already begun.
_space_train
Welcome to _space_train!
In the not-so-far-distant future, humankind rolls through the stars atop the great, gleaming white tracks of a new age of trains. Trains, in space. _space_train is an online multiplayer social experience, as you work together with others and against antagonists to keep the engines of progress ticking over as they deliver you from station to station. Embark as a simple passenger or take a longer-term role as a member of staff in an asymmetric gaming experience like no other.