14 DAY TRIAL // 
Banished might be the best overpopulation simulation I have ever played because its core gameplay seems designed to show those who engage with the title how quickly a town can disappear because it lacks food, firewood or because of mass disease.
During one of my first games, I managed to get past the 1,000 mark for both food and firewood and I began thinking about expanding my population in order to add that all important herbalist building.
I built a couple of new houses while anxiously waiting to see how my resources would be affected.
In just two seasons, my food was down to 200, I had little firewood left, my herbalist was only half built and I was quickly thinking about returning to an earlier save in order to try out another strategy.
Banished is basically a simulation that does not aim for the grandeur of SimCity, but for the intimacy and the careful evolution of The Settlers, with Shining Rock Software adding a dose of extra difficulty in order to create a stiffer challenge for players.
The basic structure is pretty simple: a town in the middle of a randomly generated piece of land, with resources spread all around and a small stockpile of them to get the citizens started.
Banished is a game about carefully expanding when the situation is great, while also making sure one has the reserves required to get through a lean period without getting too many citizens killed.
The entire world is pretty dark and the backstory suggested by the name does not add any sort of joy to the entire experience.
And any player who thinks he is doing well needs to be prepared for the fact that, in the end, death is the only possible ending for any scenario in the title created by Shining Rock Software.
Food and firewood are the most important things to keep an eye on, but problems can appear because of a limited diet or a disease and there’s always a feeling that any safety is temporary and that disasters are just hiding around the corner.
It’s important to fail in Banished and see where problems arose and how they could have been tackled faster and with more efficiency.
But even after spending time with the game, it will be hard to escape the feeling that failure is impossible to avert in the long term, even for the player who has a solid strategy and luck on his side.
Another downside is that I never got to care about my citizens in any way, like I have often felt in SimCity or The Sims.
Banished is the kind of indie experience that manages to deliver solid, if not impressive, graphics that reflect its theme and offer a lot of important information to the player.
The title uses a customizable user interface that makes it easy to know how the town and its population is performing, although it’s important to turn on the log entries for citizens dying of old age, because missing them can create long-term problems.
The sound design is equally solid and theme appropriate, but there’s never a moment when it truly shines.
Banished is the kind of game that will clearly get a cult following of players who are determined to create bigger towns that can sustain themselves, impressing the community with their achievements, but for most mainstream city building lovers, the experience is much too hard.
The outlook of the Shining Rock Software created game is too bleak and, while it might inspire some thinking about the future of mankind as resources dwindle, it’s unlikely to keep gamers coming back to play.
