Banished

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.

Oh. I would absolutely recommend this game.
Heck, I already did recommend it and they added it to their wishlist. lol.
This is a giant time suck and that's what makes it great. It's also one of the only games I'll go into the workshop and get mods for. They make it a lot more enjoyable, they just add little extra goodness to the game. I've got decoration mods, mods for my crops, and mods for other junk that just make it cuter and more fun.

Pretty sure my boyfriend is slightly annoyed anytime he gets home lately cause I've been so sucked into Banished. xD

It is a challenging city builder game without war

On deep sale it's extremely good value for money.

No spoiler advice: Learn the ropes in standard game. Work out the strategies of good town planning. Complete some achievements. Then mod the game to "The North" on the workshop and play it on hard mode.

Half the fun is working out wtf to do.

This is a fantastic civ builder. It has very detailed town construction and intricate chains of production. The trade system is very cool as well. The problem that I had with the game is that there really isn't any goal. If you want to just muck around with developing a town this can be fun but I really need something to do with that development. Even if it is just something like get x resources. The random events do add something of this to the game but it really does feel that there isn't much to the game after you master the way all the components operate. If that's enough for you I would highly recommend it.

(Updated Review, original was negative)

Fun game, but ONLY on sale!

Key things to keep in mind:

1. I played a game where 80% of my population was dedicated to food production, and yet, I got notifications that my citizens were dying of starvation (?). (OK?) (Check #4 for help on this)

2. Trading is a meh. The traders that show up are slow, 1 like every 1.5 years, and the 1 of 4 traders that will show up is random (only livestock, everything, common goods (waste), and all seeds). You always start out with 2 crops, 0 livestock, and 1 tree "food", and there are 19 in total. You can either wait 100 years to randomly get them all, or pay the jacked up price of "selecting" which ones you need to get them sooner (ish). Although, I did notice that, after a certain amount of years, traders start showing up with MORE goods and selections (year 30ish). You will need to give up a LOT of your goods to get the livestock and seeds, so don't bother building a trading center early, just stock up (firewood is the best for stocking up as it sells for 4 and it's the most expensive, early renewable resource) (do not trade away your iron or stone as it is limited, wood is not). The only other item is "winter wear", but it takes time to make and you need livestock to get the best one, which defeats the purpose.

3. The in-game help doesn't tell you this, but you will need 1 house per "family" (or 1 for each 2 adults). Then, you will start to notice population growth. 1 house with 2 adults (at a young age), can produce 3 children total (but not at once). But, DO NOT start building houses like crazy to "plan" for a higher population (empty houses will lead to only 1 adult living in them, and your population will die off due to no children.)

4. Build a few houses here and there that are close to your food buildings, or your food production will suffer. Workers need to "rest" and "keep warm", and will return to their houses every now and again. The more travel time they have, the less output you will get out of them. Some will starve if travel time is too much.

Other than that, this game is good for a few playthroughs, after that it's boring. (Buy on sale only as it's an older game).

Finally, if you want to get most of the achievements, start out on a large map. The smaller map prevents achievements, as most achievements are based on acquiring large numbers.

Maybe I haven't read enough about this game to understand how to play well, but I can never seem to get a town to function. Not in the "there are glitches" sense, just that I'm really bad.

Neat game, but it's not alluring enough to be worth spending the time to learn it.

Fun game, honestly got me into the Colony Sim genre, which now fills up a ton of my steam library

Replaying this game after 10 years and still enjoyable.
Pros
1. Lots of hours of playtime if you like city building.
2. Lots of mods making the game different every start of the game.

Cons
1. Can be a steep learning curve so be patient and try again if you failed.

It's Fun time waster. The best part it's finished game meaning the mods WORK this where it shines once you have few games with base game then you can add mods to give something to time waste on. IT's as simple as first sim city in some ways in other ways it has it's nuances.

It's not deep in game play keep your people Alive. but the nuances flush it out and you find you actually having fun. There is something kinda satisfying watching it all burn because heck you forgot to place a well at the right spot too.