Banished (video game)

Banished

Developer(s) Shining Rock Software
Distributor(s) Steam
Designer(s) Luke Hodorowicz
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows[1]
Release date(s) 18 February 2014
Genre(s) City building, strategy
Mode(s) Single-player
Distribution Download

Banished is a city-building strategy game focused on careful resource management and survival as an isolated and growing society.[2]

Gameplay

Banished gameplay without the user interface.

The player guides citizens of a remote community of outcasts to grow and maintain a settlement through a command economy. The game focuses on the player's town as a whole: citizens of the town operate as resources like logs or stone and cannot be directed individually. As the designer states in a video, "the townspeople of Banished are your primary resource. They are born, grow older, work, have children of their own and eventually die. Keeping them healthy, happy and well-fed are essential to making your town grow as you have to deal with relentless weather conditions, fires, depression, starvation, an aging population and more."[3]

Development

Development of Banished began in August 2011[4] and has been developed solely by Luke Hodorowicz under the studio name Shining Rock Software. The game was coded in C++ and the game engine was custom built for a zombie shooter. The game was later recycled and the engine re-purposed for the development of Banished. The game has been released for both 32-bit and 64-bit computers, as well as supporting both DirectX 9 and 11. The developer has stated that the game will only be released on the Windows platform to begin with, but if the game is successful will look into modifying it for release on other platforms.[5]

Release

On 23 October 2013, the game was announced to be released late in 2013 and the developer stated he "should have a definite date to share soon". On January 9 the developer announced that Banished would be released on 18 February 2014.[6]

The game is being distributed via Steam,[7] GOG,[8] Humble Bundle[9] and as a digital download on the developer's website.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
AggregatorScore
GameRankings72.89%[10]
Metacritic73[11]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Eurogamer6/10[12]
Game Informer8/10[13]
IGN8.3/10[14]
The Escapist[15]

Banished received mostly positive reviews upon release. Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from critics, gave the game a score of 73 based on 31 reviews, with 16 positive, 14 mixed, and one negative. User score was an 8.2 with 97 positive reviews, 16 mixed, and 10 negative.[14]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/
  2. ↑ "SimSettlement: Banished Is About Survival And Life". Retrieved 2013-03-22.
  3. ↑ Luke Hodorowicz. "What is Banished?". Shining Rock Software.
  4. ↑ "Shining Rock Software". Shining Rock Software. 2013-08-04. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
  5. ↑ "Shining Rock Software". Shining Rock Software. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
  6. ↑ "Shining Rock Software".
  7. ↑ "Banished (Steam Game)". Retrieved 2013-12-28.
  8. ↑ "News - Release: Banished". GOG.com. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  9. ↑ "The Humble Store: Great games. Fantastic prices. Support charity". Humblebundle.com. 1995-06-07. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  10. ↑ "Banished GameRankings Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Banished Metacritic Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2013-07-02.
  12. ↑ Dean, Paul (2014-02-25). "Banished Review". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2013-07-02."
  13. ↑ Tack, Daniel (2014-02-17). "Winter Is Coming - Banished". Game Informer. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Kaiser, Rowan (2014-02-20). "Banished Review - 'TIS THE SEASON FOR CITY BUILDING.". IGN. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
  15. ↑ Tito, Greg (2014-02-18). "Banished Review - We Built This City". The Escapist. Retrieved 2014-07-02.

External links