Recent reviews by Bear

Just updating the review to recommended after being away from it for a while the Devs have continued to work on it which is great to see. Still needs some work but has alot of content and is becoming a beautiful game, my previous review should be below I think. (not sure how the reviews work as this is the only one I have reviewed so far)

---------------

I think this is my first review, I feel it is warranted to discuss some thoughts for those considering purchasing this game.
Firstly I love this genre of game, big fan of banished (450 hrs played) and feel this game will be the next step up from that

Overall I wish I could mark my recommendation as neutral with potential - Have marked as Not Recommended at the moment largely based on the pricing for this stage of an Alpha product however the Devs seem to be motivated in updating it regularly and does have alot of early game enjoyment and stability.

Positives:
- Gridless building is great, the freedom to place buildings almost anywhere gives it a natural look and feel.
- Natural sprawl, (not for everyone from the videos I have watched) I like that towns people build their houses in their own way (within your set zone) and create their own paths/roads making each gameplay unique
- Dev humor, if you look close you can see parts of the developers personalities come through with the kooky cartoony characters and little puns/jokes but not overdone to take the shine off the overall feel of the game
- Early Gameplay, has been fleshed out very well, the buildings and features work well to encourage further gameplay
- Art Style, to me this is an appealing artstyle, soft on the eye and allows enough color and creativity to make your city truly yours without ruining the settler/medievil style.
- The Devs are updating the game on a regular basis

Negatives:
- Expense, for an alpha with a long way to go I took a gamble on paying what I rarely pay for a fully produced game, the first couple of hours I was happy but once the mid/late game lack of content and bugs arose I would have refunded if I could. (keeping in mind I am a poor family man :P )
- Mid/late Gameplay - after the first couple of hours it is obvious that the game is not complete, there are buildings and resources with little or no purpose as yet and functionality of those buildings is lacking and leaves you void of progression in any way other than to continue to expand the existing services. For an Alpha I don't mind a lack of polish such as names of units being "male2538" and general bugs but when I hit a lack of progression speaks a bit about flow design and how it appears to be a bit rushed out at this stage. In saying that I can see where they are going with it and just hope it continues.
- You are a game tester paying a premium price
- No real tutorial, if you are not use to games like Banished then you could get lost quickly

In Summery:
This has SO much potential to be a brilliant city builder if the devs can follow through with what they have started. If you love the genre and happy to watch the game develop over time and hope that it reaches its true potential for it's premium price then this is a good purchase for you. I recommend holding off on your purchase until the development has progressed, though without funding it may not progress, Catch 22. If it were half the price or you have the extra cash to splurge (unlike me :( )I would say absolutely give it a go.

Happy Building :)

It is well done for what it is. Though I did not feel that is was a game but more of a story.
Nomatter what option you select it followed the same path, good for a once off story but not replayable at all.