Banished

Pretty simple city builder, but fairly punishing. I put 100 hours into 100%'ing it, and eventually making a town so expansive and dense that it tested the limits of what the engine itself could even handle. Once you get a good grasp of a solid strategy to keep your dorky citizens alive, the creative juices you can start unleashing become downright addicting.

I'm mixed on it. There's no graph of whether you're producing in the positives or negatives, and the game is wildly imbalanced, in a difficult way. I have a population of 100 villagers and maybe 50% of them dedicated to some food-producing role, and whenever I accept an influx of nomads, everyone starts starving to death. Literally, I will have villagers with food in their hands walking to the barn and they just fall over dead with the food in their hands, leaving it there for someone else to go pick up. Or certain years where your entire adult population keeps falling over dead due to old-age.

Then there's a lot of things that don't make the most sense. Markets are essentially super-barns, and people will go out of their way to store things there, which means even more inefficiency. Hunter Lodges, Foresters, Quarries and Mines don't produce nearly as fast as you think they would, and there's nothing besides better tools or educating them to make them more efficient. But watch out! If you make a school, it will randomly pick apart 10%~ of your population AT RANDOM to become students, who will no longer produce an output at their job site, leading to economy crashes the moment you start educating people. Instead of only educating children, who can't hold jobs.

The UI is a mess. Having everything being in normal windows is fine but it'd be nice to have some kind of dedicated resource monitors, population graphs, and the event log being embedded into the game instead of being a removable window.

Then there's the villager AI. By far the most egregious part of the game. Villagers will take the most un-optimal routes to do things, or they will go to a jobsite and do a minute's worth of work, then decide they want to go visit the herbalist on the other side of the map. Or if you decide to clear a swathe of land, and put a stockpile next to the cleared area, they will begin clearing and *SOME* will put resources there, but then others will carry it back to some other random resource pile in town. There's no rhyme or reason to it. And there's no way to delegate or say, "Hey, clear THIS area and put it into THIS temporary resource pile for speed. When you're done, move everything to THIS permanent resource pile."

But when the game works, it's pretty fun. It's beautiful seeing the small village grow into a huge, bustling town. It's also extremely low poly, which means the game can run just fine on most low-end machines. Unfortunately, it's no longer being worked on and the flaws are here to stay, permanently. The game could hugely benefit from tweaking some of the numbers for aging, starvation, and cold. Or even adding a way to adjust those in-game, as of right now there isn't aside from mods. It could also benefit from some kind of research or talent-tree system that offers permanent bonuses to your town, as the snowball effect from research in other games is always fun and welcome.

It's 2025, and I got this game around 2017~. The game is "finished". It's no longer being worked on. And I can't help but to think it's in an abandoned state. I'd give it a 4/10. Slightly below average. I want to like the game but there's too many flaws with it, personally. For $20 it's not bad at all, but it's important to know what you're getting into.

This game has the vibes. The vibes!

It's cute, and fun, and all the little guys have silly names and can switch jobs in a heartbeat. You don't just gather resources, you stockpile them. First into stacks and barns, then into markets, then from the markets to homes and trading posts. The forests are alive, and it's exciting to see your trusted herbalist move into a new house.

Everyone will freeze to death if they don't have enough firewood.

I loved this game years ago, and I am coming back to it. I really wish this was still in development...

Great fun, really addictive but rather hard!

This is one of the best city builders out there in my opinion. It's a solid challenge even without an actual enemy. It's all resource management which I, of course, enjoy quite a lot.

best city-building game ever developed. We want to see new games from shining rock studios

Hey, I recommend this game.

One of the best city/colony builders out there. Manage your resources and make sure your people have plenty of firewood and food and can outlast every winter that comes along. Make sure there's plenty of housing and make an efficient supply chain and public access to markets for your NPCs.

This game should be what other city/colony builders out there should strive for.

But if you don't know for certain if this game is for you, might I recommend watching "Let's Play...Banished" on Youtube.

Cheers.

Personally I give it 10/10. love this game althought hope it could be updated more. Mods add a bit too. Defo recommend

This is just an opinion, but this is the gold standard building sim. great base game & a healthy library of fun mods.

Super good dark horse game. Look up a little guide on youtube though because they don't tell yall nuthin.

But I liked the cozy game vibe.

I am seeing bad reviews for a game that came out over 10 years ago.

in its time this was an incredible game, although brutal at times this was one of those games that rewarded paying attention to seasonal conditions, i.e. if winter came early and you didn't get all your crops in on time, you will lose a lot of villagers.

While I cannot talk about this game nowadays, this is one for the history books.

a great city builder, easy to get addicted to, a good fun time!

One of my favorite games of all time. I love the simple premise but it has plenty of challenge, great music, lovely graphics and nice natural sound effects. The mods are brilliant and the viking one takes the game to new levels!

Banished has got to be one of the best games of it's kind. The add-ons from the community add a different element to the game, causing you to re-think your strategy as well. Will be spending many more hours on this game for years to come.

Banished is one of an OG for the village management genre. I my mind, this game defined the expectations of the genre as a whole. It's good. You should play it.

Just be warned, this game will cheat to defeat you. Tornadoes, disease, or fire, all of them are coming for you. Oh, and that's assuming your not-so-bright villagers don't off themselves like Lemmings. Good luck.

FYI: Achievements can only be unlocked by vanilla saves, no mods allowed.

Fantastic game, wish they would have added more content, expansions and such

There's something about this city builder that just works. Been waiting for something that just works in the same way and Foundation is the game that has come close recently. But still, there's something special about Banished.

This game has carried me through more of my life than my longest lasting relationships outside of family. It's pretty zen, only mildly infuriating, and I honestly am so happy to have spent more than 1000 hours playing. Cannot recommend enough.

Very cool game. Just gotta note that the game was made a long time ago and the graphics feel that way too. But still one of the best experiences in the genre, most titles that are "banished-likes" never really felt like the actual Banished.

A really good game to play. However I've looked through the options, but the text is always too small for me. This makes it a little harder to read.

It's challenging in every difficulty level. This game makes you think, plan, hope, pray, and focus.

A peaceful little medieval colony builder—until everyone freezes to death because you forgot to chop enough firewood. Beautifully cruel in its simplicity. If you’re into supply chains and slow-building satisfaction (with a side of human suffering), this one’s for you.

I am atrocious at this game but i love it SO much compared to some modern colony/builder games that just don't let you go as in depth!

After all this time, such a great, challenging game! After 100 hours playing, it might not be challenging anymore... Luckily there's a myriad of mods available to keep this fun and exciting!!!

Wonderful game, simple premise once you get your head round it. Build feed breed trade, seems like standard city builders, keep populace fat and happy

Folks leaving bad reviews in 2025 were not around a decade ago when this masterpiece dropped and changed everything. There's a million banished clones and nearly every city builder of the last decade was hugely inspired by this game.

If you don't remember staying up til 4am the night that this game dropped because you couldn't put it down, then you won't understand the significance of the game. At the time it dropped it was revolutionary, and it's a core memory for anybody who was around at the time.

If you think this game is rudimentary or basic it's because the game you've played that's more fleshed out was a passion project by a huge banished fan. Banished walked so they could run, etc.

It's still a great game, and especially if you're new the genre, this is a great place to start. It's also an important historical piece of art that needs to be understood in the context of it's time.

Love this game, tough at times and unforgiving. But gives a real sense of achievement.

Very satisfying Survival City Builder. Tons of mods for it, but I highly recommend just sticking to the base stuff first as the mods can get complicated quickly (adding a ton of different kinds of buildings for flavor purpose).

Not too hard as long as you remember to go slow at first. Snail's pace. Keep the game paused for 10-20 minutes at first as you assess the area and figure out what you have to work with. The first in-game year you just need to worry about Food, Firewood, Herbs(medicine) and Clothes in preparation for the upcoming winter. I'd definitely recommend watching some videos/tutorials on it because the game can sort of run away from you if you aren't paying attention. There are also windows in the UI that start up closed and you have to open them to assign jobs and keep an eye on resources. I tend to just move them to the top of my screen and to the corners. Your citizens can die from cold, hunger, injury or sickness. So keep the game paused as you set up the layout of your new town (starting small), making sure you have a plan for getting those essential resources into the storage so that your citizens can freely take them from storage and bring to their houses.

Unlike a lot of other City Builders that focus on trade almost immediately, you can put that off for awhile since trade is strictly a barter system(attached to the main river or one of them that leaves the map). So you don't have to worry about currency like in Tropico or Anno. Trading Post is the only way to get new seeds and livestock for more diverse farming.. but for strictly survival purposes at the beginning you mostly focus on what can be provided to you. Like fish, gatherables like mushrooms and roots, Deer can be hunted, etc.. So it really feels like you are settling a new area.

Overall the game does not have that many things to learn. Its easy to pick up. It definitely starts off harder and gets easier as you develop your town. If you can survive 3 winters you can probably survive as many as you want so long as you don't get too ahead of yourself or fall to far behind. Definitely worth the price.

A classic of a city builder that I unfortunately missed the boat on. My friends liked it, I trust their judgement.

As others have said, this is a good civ builder that just doesn't seem to go anywhere. I built a sustainable town, have all the buildings, and no where else to go. I could build it bigger, duplicating the buildings, but there is no story line, objectives, or otherwise enticing characteristics. If you want to build a civ and watch a population grow then this might be the game for you. If you want objectives, unlocks, progression, etc. then look somewhere else.

Released in 2014? how did i miss this one for 10 years ?? Great and challenging colony building game. Be efficient or starve is how to best describe the gameplay.

Would definitely recommend to any city builder and survival enthusiasts. Back more than a decade ago, I remember that my first few colony died. It was hard to master at first and really addicting. It is now listed at 21$ ans still well worth the price IMO.

This is not really a review of the game but more a message of thanks.

This is my dads account and he sadly passed away this week at the age of 79. He loved this game and would always be sat here with a cup of tea sucking on a mint humbug as I am doing now trying to write this.

This was never called Banished in his house it was just simply his game and every evening he could be found drinking his tea grumbling about how all his people were lazy and were starving and cold.

I will miss the notification popping up saying he was playing so much.

So yes I would recommend this game, His game it kept him very happy for 12,731 hours of his life and if they have computers up there no doubt he will be there playing his game with a cup of tea and a mint humbug.

Thank you

Great game if you like city builders. Simple but sucks you in and you loose track of time. Your citizens can get sick or there can be spontaneous fires and such, but you can turn that off and just relax. Very nice.

relaxing and theraputic game, excellent if left on standard speed in the background as a way to take a study break when you or your town need it.

Absolutely fantastic city builder, still unmatched by rival upstarts like Kingdoms Reborn.

Challenging learning curve, good city builder.
After a while, it loses its meaning. Some research tree or upgrades would be good to have

In total, good and challenging game

Addictive! It reminds me of older management games I used to play as a kid on the family computer. (Yes, older than 2015) Overall, a pleasant experience and a lovely way to unwind from a busy day.

game become boring and repetitive after about 10 hours.

Hard game, no money, work is to do it. Never lose the great Amish.

No idea but in 2025 this game still is fun and is very addicting. If you like Life Sim games and building your own little town and managing your resources so that you flourish, its a very fun game.

A really fun game for those whom like resource management, city building. Has a nice setting and charming whimsical string music that blends right in with the game play.

I tried it, I tried to like it, it's not bad but I would still rather play cities skylines

This is a great game and there is a lot of nuance in the simplicity of the game.

Require a lot of management but not too detail. Good game and low spec friendly

with the most recent megamod, this game is the most complex and relaxing simcity ever created.

its a great city builder but there is not a lot of vanilla progression. mods help with this. current sale price is 6.79$ which is worth it

Banished is a great City Builder/Colony Sim game. Atleast for its age lol

I have to call this one out. Its not broke but it could have been better. I cant categorize this one as what I call 'a real game'. Its fun for a day, but my complaint is that all you do is gather food, tools, and clothes. Citizens can go to a bar or church too. I could have thoughts of a thousand more things they could have added. It seems like one of those games they spent 2 months developing, then forgot about it. Its not the worst game and its playable, but I learned in life to be selective of games I play because getting into a game takes alot of time.