Colony Survival is a (you guessed it) colony survival game with solid mechanics and an intriguing amount of potential.

Even in its incomplete state, the early game and mid game are a total blast. Since enemy numbers coincide with colonist count, the initial task of finding the right spot for your colony (defensible, scenic, and with easy access to resources) is actually a pleasant experience. Trying to build and populate your colony while keeping it safe can be beautifully tricky. It's surprisingly intense when you're digging a mine 50 meters underground, looking for iron to replenish your sentries' dwindling supply of arrows, and you start seeing your colonist numbers drop because zombies have overwhelmed your guards and are now flooding into the bunkhouses and killing your colonists in their sleep. There's a real sense of satisfaction to building a thriving town, alive with motion and industry, and finding a way to keep the zombie horde at bay that isn't "cheap" (i.e. digging a trench around your colony and making it traversible only by a zig-zagging bridge under a catwalk manned by a couple archers).

It's got its imperfections, of course. It runs into the same problem a lot of in-development sandbox games do: as soon as you've reached the outer boundaries of the finished content, there's that abrupt, disappointing plateau where the game isn't over exactly, but there's no motivation to keep playing. Although the block textures have beautiful sculpted depth you rarely see in cubic Minecraft-like games, the character and enemy designs (identical except in color) are particularly unappealing. Finally, the challenge feels rudimentary. The enemies are completely predictable, homogenous, and completely foiled by a two-block-high hedgerow. I'm going on faith that this is just an artifact of its early access status, and that more interesting enemies and a more sophisticated challenge will be forthcoming.

I'm eager to see where this game will go. Although it's never a good idea to speculate about early access games, it's hard to not imagine what Colony Survival could become. Varied enemies that can climb/fly over fortifications, break through walls, build stairs/bridges, or fire projectiles. Colonists that are born, cycle through unproductive childhood (perhaps apprenticed to other colonists to increase their skill at their future "career"), work for a few weeks as adults, then die. Sentries that need to sleep and become exhausted if no replacement relieves them from their shift. The need for water, requiring you to build near a lake or create a reservoir/aqueduct nearyour town (along with better water behavior). Travelers. Random events. Underground dangers. Exhaustable resources. Friendly and unfriendly neighbors. Sickness. Field blight. Diverse villager behavior. The need to set up multiple colonies and connect them by roads (for example, prairie colony A has arable land and can grow food, but only forest colony B is able to supply ample wood, and only mountainside colony C has access to a decent amount of ore). While it's unlikely that all of these will come to pass, the developer seems extremely engaged, motivated to create a robust, quality game, and receptive to community suggestions.

Colony Survival is a (you guessed it) colony survival game with solid mechanics and an intriguing amount of potential. Even in its incomplete state, the early game and mid game are a total blast. Since enemy numbers coincide with colonist count, the initial task of finding the right spot for your colony (defensible, scenic, and with easy access to resources) is actually a pleasant experience. Trying to build and populate your colony while keeping it safe can be beautifully tricky. It's surprisingly intense when you're digging a mine 50 meters underground, looking for iron to replenish your sentries' dwindling supply of arrows, and you start seeing your colonist numbers drop because zombies have overwhelmed your guards and are now flooding into the bunkhouses and killing your colonists in their sleep. There's a real sense of satisfaction to building a thriving town, alive with motion and industry, and finding a way to keep the zombie horde at bay that isn't "cheap" (i.e. digging a trench around your colony and making it traversible only by a zig-zagging bridge under a catwalk manned by a couple archers). It's got its imperfections, of course. It runs into the same problem a lot of in-development sandbox games do: as soon as you've reached the outer boundaries of the finished content, there's that abrupt, disappointing plateau where the game isn't [i]over[/i] exactly, but there's no motivation to keep playing. Although the block textures have beautiful sculpted depth you rarely see in cubic Minecraft-like games, the character and enemy designs (identical except in color) are particularly unappealing. Finally, the challenge feels rudimentary. The enemies are completely predictable, homogenous, and completely foiled by a two-block-high hedgerow. I'm going on faith that this is just an artifact of its early access status, and that more interesting enemies and a more sophisticated challenge will be forthcoming. I'm eager to see where this game will go. Although it's never a good idea to speculate about early access games, it's hard to not imagine what Colony Survival [i]could[/i] become. Varied enemies that can climb/fly over fortifications, break through walls, build stairs/bridges, or fire projectiles. Colonists that are born, cycle through unproductive childhood (perhaps apprenticed to other colonists to increase their skill at their future "career"), work for a few weeks as adults, then die. Sentries that need to sleep and become exhausted if no replacement relieves them from their shift. The need for water, requiring you to build near a lake or create a reservoir/aqueduct nearyour town (along with better water behavior). Travelers. Random events. Underground dangers. Exhaustable resources. Friendly and unfriendly neighbors. Sickness. Field blight. Diverse villager behavior. The need to set up multiple colonies and connect them by roads (for example, prairie colony A has arable land and can grow food, but only forest colony B is able to supply ample wood, and only mountainside colony C has access to a decent amount of ore). While it's unlikely that all of these will come to pass, the developer seems extremely engaged, motivated to create a robust, quality game, and receptive to community suggestions.