That was kind of my thinking as well. And it sounds like since launch the developers have been very responsive with patches and free content to address launch issues found by the community and reviewers. And it seems like it could be really fun, so I bit while the biting was cheap.
Waiting on the thoughts from the pair of you! I’m tempted but I have enough backlog…
Update from those who took the leap?
I’ll have more time to play on the 1st, busy atm. :(
I picked this up based on this thread and Tom’s front page comments. I’m enjoying it a lot. Still on map 3 of the campaign. I lost the first map due to morale problems which took me a while to figure out. The interacting systems are nice. Mining, power, air, workers, food, morale, etc. Data is presented well in the interface. You don’t have to dig around to see how much iron vs. food you have for a trade deal, for example. The amounts are right there for quicker decision making. Resource storage is universal so its like the latest Anno in that respect. I love the easy speed controls. You can switch from pause to 1X, 2X, 4X at a press of the number keys. They Are Billions needs to add that feature
The building does get “samey” but the power curve is pretty steady. The campaign drip feeds missions if you need/want direction. Stuff like “build 3 lightning towers” or “grow to 50 colonists” for small rewards and some map direction. I’m curious what the later maps have in store. The change up from map 2 to 3 was a nice twist on the trading vs. farming approach.
If you want to play a solid city builder I recommend this one.
I must like this game… played until 3am last night. The first mission took me three hours. I was on the second mission and had to pull myself away from the computer to go to bed. I could have easily stayed up all night playing this game. If that’s the mark of a good city building game, then this is a good city building game. :)
@DeepT did you ever go back after either of the 2 content drops / patches. I wondered if they addressed any of your comments regarding late game and or the spore things.
I’ve kinda been in the mood for a city builder along the lines of Tropico but without the faction stuff. Aven Colony is more like Anno and less like Tropico, correct? I like the mechanics of little guys walking around to fulfill their needs, probably because transportation efficiency comes into play.
Aven is not a walker game fyi. It is more building focused a bit like Anno but with less visible people. Really Aven is about ploppable building optimizations, tile management and contructing your city so it sprawls effeciently onto resource points. I like it, its fun, but it is defintley not like Tropico.
And hey, Tropico 5 is a turd anyway!
Not as bad as Iron Fist, but still pretty bad.
Yeah, at least so far to me, Aven Colony is Banished in Space, if Banished was actually a difficult game and didn’t have guaranteed success paths. I’m really liking the challenges it presents.
Man, Banished. I don’t think I’ve ever fallen out of love with a game as precipitously as I did about two or three hours into Banished, when I realized how paper-thin the silly thing is.
I had a feeling it would be more like Anno. At least it probably doesn’t have the ‘where’s Waldo’ bits like some of the Anno missions. I like a good building placement builder if it is done well, which people seem to think this is.
I’ve tinkered a little with it. It seemed to stay mostly true to the formula set by 3 and 4. On default difficulty those were too easy. I was hoping 5 on hard would be a good challenge. But I don’t really like the faction stuff in Tropico. Why do you think it is ‘turd-like’?
A city builder without a challenge is a bit boring for me - like Cities: Skylines. I don’t get into making the city pretty, which is what Skylines seems to excel at - so it gets boring once you grow tired of trying to optimize traffic.
It definitely didn’t hold up well.
I played Banished just after it released, and I refunded it, Aven Colony is way more fun than Banished was, at least for me. :)
Well, yeah. Because again, Banished wants you to think your colonists are in danger…but you figure out pretty quickly that they aren’t, and few if any of your decisions will impact their long-term survival or ability to thrive.
In Aven Colony, if you forget to put down a couple of intake fans, two Sols down the line you’ve suddenly got a colony that’s in a spiral that will need everything you’ve got to pull out of.
My 150 hours of enjoyable play begs to differ. Interesting how some think that 2 hours was enough to know how Banished held up when the real challenge was at 200+ people.
But back on track with Aven. I tried Aven on release and it was quite meh and not worthy of anyone’s “surprises” list. There simply was not enough meat to the game. It was a bit too shallow and placement did not mean much. I returned it for a refund.
With some of the more recent recommendations and the sale on GMG I picked it up again. It has definitely improved. Decorations allows the player to beautify their colony. Hovercars helps with transportation difficulties. Other new buildings, AI changes and the like seem to have smoothed out some rough edges while providing needed depth. This time around it seems more engaging.
I didn’t get up that high, but I played for 10+ hours. I think my population was somewhere between 125 -175. It wasn’t that I thought the game was too easy, but it seemed too repetitive (even though city builders sometimes kinda are). It just felt that I had seen what the game offered by that point.
Consider Kingdoms and Castles on steam as well - very nice builder, with some great graphics and ideas.
Not that Aven isn’t great , it is, but this is pretty cool as well.
@Razgon From what I’ve read though is that there isn’t a lot of depth to the game, 3-4 hours and you have seen it all, no? :|
Can I ask how combat focused this is? Each time I have looked I have been a bit concerned combat seems pretty important which is not what I really enjoy about city builders. But if its avoidable then I am cool.