Banished

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.

Comically difficult city builder.

I'd say that besides a few UI problems like having to remember where did you set your plan for making a new building, one of the biggest issues is that your pop control has to be hand-held very carefully. Later games like Rimworld perfected role designation for example. In this game the guys that build buildings are different from the guys that get food which are different from the guys that mine which are different from the guys that cut trees which are different from the guys that move things to your storage. You cant possibly get a guy that is "ok" at more than 1 thing which would make the game immensely more easier to get into.

Oh, and there's no upgrades to the technology and the buildings. The limit of "getting better" is not having people die, building steel tools instead of iron, and using stone houses instead of wood. Advanced farming? making ports? horse stables? finding other sources of fuel? bigger buildings? unlocking other professions? nonexistant here. What you see is what you get.

Very addictive and replayable. Lots of cool mods!

Great game, especially for how old it is. Lots of great mods to choose from to give the game some more depth/utility. Shame a sequel was never made.

Banished is one of my all-time favorite video games, any genre or time period or platform. It's simple enough: resource management, town building, and a steep difficulty curve, but it was enough to spawn countless imitators and clones, all trying to emulate the tight game design, beautiful aesthetics, and "simple but complex" gameplay.

Banished really excels at allowing you as the player to tinker and experiment. Most players, even with guides, will not survive the first five years on their first several playthroughs. Earning the mid-tier achievements is a goal that lies beyond where a lot of people will give up. Real mastery of Banished takes intensive time and effort, and even then, success is not guaranteed--but you have to poke around and try things for a while to get there, and that kind of game is what keeps people like me coming back.

I was recommended this game many years ago now, and in that time, I always seem to return. If you enjoy strategic management of resources, town builders, sharp learning curves, or striking visuals--all simple but wildly challenging--this is a game worth trying.

Solid city builder. The endgame is a bit repetitive but the initial objective of getting to a population of 100 with full education, good health and no starvation is fun and challenging.

This game is amazingly thought-through. It has a lot of complexity, but it's not overloaded. Supports a lot of mods, and I definitely recommend checking out the mod community, as the base game is a bit limited.

The gameplay is wonderful, though! This game has served as an inspiration for dozens of games that came after. I've tried multiple, but I keep coming back to this one, because it's just so good (despite a few limitations, as the game is 10 years old already).

a simulation strategic builder game that doesn't send you to war or make you tap tap your way through the game. I enjoy setting a few changes and building a few more of something and then let time flow so I can see the changes improve or destroy the township.

This game is a great city sim. The perfect amount of challenge.

Absolutely love city builders, even though they could be sometimes quite frustrating depending on mechanics for particular representatives of genre. So as one of examples, there were some not perfectly implemented things in Banished too.

In almost every aspect game is exactly as every other city builder - making homes, infrastructure, resource gathering and production buildings, trading, etc. Indirect people control or rather human resources management is same as well. Which is one of frustrating issues here... when there is disease outbreak your pops will travel all around multiple villages you made, dodging all the hospitals you built to combat the disease and continue to carry it for undetermined length of time, making sure that plague still lives after most of it was eradicated, also it'd take just a little bit of chance to have it reappear again from that one traveling idiot devastating your population.

Graphics are far from marvel, but serviceable enough. Don't remember encountering any models glitching or stuff like that, but could easily have missed that, as there are lots of things to track.

Audio might be a bit of an oof, music gets very repetative in my opinion and annoying enough to turn it off completely, with sfx staying fine.

Can't really recall if there is any plot, maybe there were separate scenarios with it, but zilch in main "campaign".

a time filler and as challenging as you choose to make it. lots of great mods in the workshop as well.

The field is getting more crowded, but this is still GOAT to me. Mods are really a must.

Even with the game being a decade old, this is still the best city-building strategy game out there. Even better than Settlement Survival in my opinion, which has been abandoned in development.

Starting a new game might be challenging to most new players but once you've mastered the basics of survival, you'll have no problem. All you have to do is balance out your citizens needs and materials.

I recommend watching a YouTube tutorial for those who have trouble surviving the first couple years.

Overtime it can get repetitive, but there are many mods available to make this game re-playable.

Recommend: 10/10

Good to save, Good graphics, Can change difficulty easy to hard. Needs to improve how bartering works.

Banished is a city-building survival game that throws you into the harsh realities of managing a small group of exiles, forcing you to balance resources, weather, and an ever-growing population. Unlike traditional city builders, there's no money—only people and the goods they produce, making every decision feel meaningful.

The Good
✅ Deep, Rewarding Gameplay – Every choice matters. If you mismanage food, forget to stockpile firewood, or grow too fast, your town will collapse. It’s a true test of strategic planning.
✅ Relaxing Yet Tense – The game’s slow pace and beautiful, rustic aesthetic make for a chill experience—until winter comes and your food stocks run dry.
✅ No Hand-Holding – You learn by doing (or failing). There’s a great sense of accomplishment when you finally build a thriving, self-sufficient village.

The Bad
❌ Brutal Learning Curve – Early mistakes can doom you, and the game doesn’t explain much. Expect to lose a few towns before getting the hang of it.
❌ Lack of Late-Game Depth – Once you’ve stabilized, there’s little to do beyond optimizing production chains. No grand end goals beyond survival.
❌ UI & Micromanagement Issues – The UI is functional but clunky, and managing large populations can feel tedious.

If you love challenging survival city-builders with a focus on realism, Banished is a must-play. It’s punishing but rewarding, and there's nothing quite like watching your tiny village grow into a bustling town. Just be ready for a few heartbreaks along the way.

Banished - A City Builder for the Patient and Persistent ⭐⭐⭐⭐(4/5)

Worth it on a major sale otherwise its a very basic game that has been abandoned for a long time. Fun and basic but gets old fast with no sort of endgame whatsoever. For 5 dollars I would get it.

This game may not have the most up to date graphics but it is truly challenging, and for some. it is addictive. The trick is to build your original inhabitants into the size community that suits you. There is no warfare but lots of management and strategy. You can play vanilla or use the many mods. Have a go at reaching the various achievements in vanilla. Tougher than you thought, hey? I've played for nearly 1K hours and will definitely play for at least 1K more. Worth every cent. Highly recommended.

I liked the constant balancing of resources and structure. For myself, I prefer a game where I have a role play element (that is, I am playing a character in the game). In this one, the citizens of my town are faceless and completely interchangeable for the most part. I ended up playing until my town was past 300 citizens, and felt like that was enough for me.

Waste of money.. game is broken and AI is terrible. Could be good, but trips on being so difficult that it's agonizing to play more than an hour. Thrown on trash pile of wasted money.

Great city/village building game, and it gets much better with mods.

play the games with mods if you wanna have fun and relax, or don't the guides are amazing in the community hub

A true classic. This game spawned an entire genre of survival town builders, and none of them have quite hit the sweet spot of the original.

The game has you managing a town on the edge of starvation largely through choosing what to build and how to assign jobs. The townspeople control themselves, which can become an issue when food is running low and the little pricks start hoarding food in their own houses instead of utilizing the efficient supply chain you carefully worked out.

Banished is a both a great "just one more thing" game and an object lesson in microeconomics. Still the best in the genre a decade later.

Straight forward city builder, very relaxing music, all around good game to put a few hundred hours into.