Category: Speltest

I don’t play a lot of games these days, but I have a veeeeeery long backlog and I like to write a few words once I’ve finished a game – whether I liked it or not. Typically I post these short blurbs as reviews on Steam, but if you’re like me and have limited time, perhaps you’re curious what kind of games I recommend. So, without further ado:

We Happy Few

A very compelling story, hugely atmospheric and packed with brilliant world-building. If you’re like me, this is probably what drew you to this game in the first place. However, this is sadly overshadowed a bit by some janky, drawn-out gameplay that can feel very sluggish at times. This game would have been massively improved by being shorter and having more time put into quality assurance, as there are still glitches, unlikely to ever be patched out. All this being said, if you can pick this game up with DLC at a steep discount – I believe I paid €5 for the works – and you’re willing to put up with an unpolished experience, then it’s certainly worth trying out.

Steam.

Hammerwatch II

A decent top-down dungeon crawler which offers varied and challenging combat in a well-designed world that is enjoyable to explore. I didn’t come across any major bugs, but the game still feels like it could have benefitted greatly from additional player testing and feedback, as some aspects of the design detract from the experience. For example, the game is in dire need of quest markers and a more comprehensive fast travel system. Perhaps this is a nod to old-school adventure games which often put more of an emphasis on slow exploration and discovery of quests rather than running straight for a point on the minimap.

I played on normal difficulty and didn’t have much of an issue, though there is a bonus post-finale boss at the end that I was unable to make a dent in even with a maxed-out character. This, too, feels less like an intentional choice and more like a lack of polish. Regardless, there’s enough to like about this game that I’ll recommend it, and I hope to see more from this developer in the future.

Steam.

Two Point Hospital

Are you looking for a modern version of Theme Hospital, that game you remember playing in potato-vision on your dad’s PC in the 90s? Look no further; this is literally that – and a very good incarnation of it, too. A cute, peculiar and funny take on the management simulator genre where you’re tasked with building and operating a series of hospitals under increasingly perilous conditions. Initially, you unlock technologies that allow you to treat novel diseases. Later, difficulties such as environmental disasters are introduced to spice things up.

I’ve played this game for about 40 hours and there are still plenty of scenarios to go, but eventually the game does run out of variety and it feels like you’re just repeating the same motions. Considering this game is often available at a deep discount I’d still consider it well worth the price, and there are DLCs galore for those who want to keep going past the base game. I thoroughly enjoyed Two Point Hospital and can certainly see myself coming back to play it again.

Steam.

Battlestar Galactica Deadlock

I’m aware this game has been delisted from Steam, but what the heck, I’ll review it anyway. I’ve never seen a single installment of the actual Battlestar Galactica franchise, but I love games that offer me massive space battles (like Homeworld, Fractured Space, Starpoint Gemini, …) and this offered more of that, so I picked it up a while back. While I would have appreciated a bit more ship variety, there’s no one-size-fits-all and so you end up using most of the ships available. The battles are gorgeous and I found myself watching the replays more often than not.

As for the downsides, I didn’t find myself engaging with the story (certainly knowing the lore might have helped) and the UI isn’t particularly good. I feel like it’s overly simplified and hiding a lot of useful information. For instance, there is no way to see firing arcs in 3D, which is critical for ship positioning. Outside of the space battles, there’s not that much to do, the larger gameplay loop is pretty much just moving stuff around. Once you’ve had your fill of large starships exploding, the game runs out of things to offer.

Would I still recommend it? Sure. But good luck buying a copy.

Steam (delisted).

Donut County

This is less than two hours of game, much of which is cutscenes, and the gameplay consists of making stuff fall down a hole that gets bigger as it swallows more stuff. The story is fixed and offers no replayability; once you complete it, that’s your lot. With all that in mind, it’s arguably quite overpriced at €12. Do I still recommend it? Hell yes. We need more sweet, silly games like this and I’ll take a short game that’s fun and doesn’t overstay its welcome over something that offers 200 hours of repetitive grinding, any day of the week. Get it while it’s on discount.

Steam.

Divinity: Original Sin 2

With this game having so many positive reviews, I thought I’d focus on the negatives. First things first: if you like RPGs, I absolutely recommend you play this. The story is engaging, the characters are interesting and deep, the game’s got great graphics and you have a lot of freedom to play the way you want. As far as RPGs in this style go, this is almost certainly the best I’ve played (I have not played BG3 yet).

My main issue with this game is that it takes the usual slightly unforgiving quality of branching story RPGs and dials it up to eleven. You want to miss out on entire questlines because you failed a skill check you didn’t know was coming? You like resorting to save-scumming because you’re constantly losing party members to RNG? You like needing to have the game wiki open on a second screen? In my mind, while this is part and parcel of the genre and familiar to old-school players, in a game that already takes 120 hours to finish ONE playthrough, it’s excessive.

On that note, even with guides, through your choices you will always lock yourself out of parts of the story, so if you want to see those bits you’ll be playing through the whole game multiple times – including all the quests that don’t change. As for me, I don’t have unlimited time for playing games, so I noped out after the first round, though I nonetheless enjoyed it very much.

Steam.

Jag fortsätter att använda den här bloggen – möjligtvis i brist på bättre innehåll – för att arkivera mina korta spelrecensioner på engelska som jag skriver på andra plattformar, huvudsakligen Steam. Håll till godo.

Battlezone: Combat Commander

I played a frankly unhealthy amount of the original Battlezone when it came out in ’98 but somehow missed the sequel when it came out only the next year. Now that a refresh has dropped, I’m finally able to enjoy it – however, do note that this is not a reimagining but a “warts and all” refresh that retains a lot of the somewhat dated and crappy mechanics of the original. There is a storyline, but it’s not well-written by today’s standards and much of what happens in it makes no sense in hindsight. There are bugs that can break missions. The AI is terrible on both sides, which leads to a lot of “accidental” difficulty, or sometimes lack thereof. That said, the level of challenge steadily ramps up and some of the later missions are quite hard.

In summary, if you loved Battlezone or have a thing for 90’s FPS+RTS hybrids, definitely give this one a go. I do wish they eventually revive this type of gameplay for a Battlezone III, even if only in spirit.

Steam.

Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale

Very cute shop management/dungeon crawler about working your way out of crippling debt – a story I believe many of us can empathize with. Actually “beating the game” by paying of Recette’s debt isn’t all that hard, and most people will probably manage it first or second try, since the mechanics are so simple. However, doing so is really only about half the game, as there is plenty of story past that point and – of course – many more dungeons to crawl if you’re into that.

Sadly the dungeons lost their fun for me after a while and the store management isn’t really necessary once you are out of debt and have enough money to buy anything you need, so I’m sure I missed out on some content. Still, not a bad way to spend a couple of hours.

Steam.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

It’s almost impossible to believe that this game is almost ten years old at this point – with the free graphics refresh, a few mods and a modern PC, this looks and plays just as well as most current AAA games, and the fully voice acted and immersive questlines are as great as ever. The DLCs are a must, as the game is arguably not complete without them – especially Blood and Wine, which serves as a mini-sequel and bookends Geralt’s story in a satisfying way.

My one item of criticism is that you really do need to jump through the hoops of downloading and installing mods for this, as many graphical and quality-of-life improvements are waiting for you there, some of which seem obvious in hindsight. That said, definitely grab this game.

Steam.

Black Mesa

Fan remake of the legendary classic Half-Life that takes enough liberties with the original to come out on top and deserve a playthrough, even for those of us who still remember the story in detail. Despite this being a rather short game, parts of it feel unnecessarily drawn out and tedious, a lot of reviewers call out Xen in particular and it’s hard not to agree that it could have been cut down by 50% with practically nothing of value lost. And even with all the polish and quality of life improvements (no crouch jumping!), some elements of late 90’s game design that haven’t really aged well are still there, and so you do need to have a bit of tolerance for such things to enjoy this to the fullest.

Steam.

VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action

Bartending isn’t actually the point of this game; it’s a visual novel that briefly interrupts the story for an extremely simple minigame, which is very hard to fail. A few clients have cryptic requests and some are practically impossible to deduce by logic, so you might as well pull up the wiki – again, the bartending minigame isn’t the point, anyway. I still strongly recommend this game for the excellent writing, great characters and music – it’s not too long, and my greatest complaint is that there isn’t (yet) a part two.

Steam.

Grand Theft Auto V

The fifth main entry in the GTA series is very much more of the same type of gameplay and story that we’re used to, now in a somewhat fresh setting. That said, my main complaint is that there isn’t more of it, as completing the main questline left me feeling I still had much to explore, but no incentive to actually do so. I suppose the idea is to play online but as someone with little patience for multiplayer outside my circle of friends, I would have liked more single player content, even if they were autogenerated missions. 60 hours is still a decent playtime though, especially for a game that goes on sale a lot, so pick this up if you haven’t already.

Steam.

Hades

Excellently written, beautifully animated and extremely satisfying. I was worried that Supergiant had lost their touch after trying Pyre, but this is a very strong return to form and a fresh take on rouge-lites where dying doesn’t reset the story to zero, but actually advances it and often unlocks new possibilities for the next run. Once you beat the game, there’s really a ton of story left to enjoy, with increasing difficulty if you want it. This gets nothing less than an unqualified thumbs up from me.

Steam.

Den återkommande traditionen att skriva små recensioner av alla spel jag spelat de senaste åren är här igen! Intresset för datorspel går i ganska kraftiga vågor för mig och min “backlog” är lång – vissa av spelen jag recenserar här kom ut för nästan ett decennium sedan. Men visst visar det på mediets hållbarhet att så många av dem fortfarande håller måttet idag?

Som vanligt skriver jag också för att kunna publicera på andra sajter, varför texterna är avsiktligt korta och på engelska.

Borderlands: The Pre-sequel

A sequel to Borderlands 2 that could have been an expansion, considering how few changes there are from the previous game. That said, the story campaign and six new playable classes make for a good chunk of playing time and if you liked the other Borderlands installments, you’ll like this one too. It also does a good job of fleshing out the lore, letting us experience parts of the story that are only referenced in earlier/later games. There’s enough here that I will recommend the Pre-sequel to fans of the series, but best to pick it up on sale.

Steam.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

A new chapter in the Deus Ex series which improves on some aspects of Human Revolution but is, generally speaking, an expansion which offers fans of the previous game about 50 hours more of the same. I do love the upgraded graphics which still look great eight years later, the environments are exciting to explore and there is little in the way of forced stealth gameplay – all significant improvements. The story does leave you on a cliffhanger (as of Nov 2022, there are rumours of a sequel in early production, so we can hope that the story is eventually continued) which the short DLC prison story does virtually nothing to address. That said, if you haven’t played it yet, I definitely recommend picking it up as it’s usually available at a good price.

Steam.

Pyre

I absolutely loved Supergiant’s first two games and am currently in the process of devouring their fourth, but things seem to have taken an odd turn with Pyre. The primary gameplay loop – essentially fantasy basketball – is unengaging and gets stale quickly, the story and characters aren’t very interesting, and although the art is beautiful, that alone wasn’t enough to keep me invested. I have the feeling the developers correctly predicted some people wouldn’t care much for the actual game part of the game, so there’s an option to turn the difficulty down to what is essentially a pure story mode – but then we’re left with a visual novel type of game where, again, the story didn’t really connect for me. Give it a shot if you must, but if your backlog of games is long enough as it is, better to give this one a miss.

Steam.

Fallout 4

I had spent a fair number of hours playing this game before I gave it up the first time and unhappily consigned it to the bin. It was just not engaging me, and the story wasn’t taking itself very seriously at all, focusing around a kidnapped baby which the main character appears to completely forget about 15 minutes in, leaving us to focus instead on endlessly repeating sidequests. The story only properly picks back up near the end of the game, where we’re left with the typical choice of destroying the big bad or joining them – slightly less of an obvious moral choice than I expected.

I had a better experience the second time I tried it, after installing a few quality-of-life mods (sadly, always a necessity with Bethesda games) and figuring out the very particular way the game expects to be played, utterly broken building system included. The story does pick up eventually, there is a lot of world building going on if you’re interested, and managing your settlements to make them grow and flourish can be very satisfying – your own little post-apocalyptic SimCity.

I eventually found enough to like about Fallout 4 that I spent a considerable time exploring the huge open world and DLCs, and apparently the series took a further downturn with the multiplayer-focused sequel, so I do recommend picking this up if you’re a fan of the series.

Steam.

Overload

As it was promising a return to retro-style action, I was excited to play this game, as I was raised on 90’s shooters. Sadly, this does not build on the foundations of the original to create something new and interesting the way Doom did, but rather, it’s a return to repetitive level design, samey enemies and simple gameplay that doesn’t engage the way it used to, now that there are so many better games to choose from. In addition, the game has an annoying habit of making you search through every nook and cranny for upgrades – or you’re irrevocably handicapped for the rest of the game. This kills the flow as you might find yourself alt-tabbing to a wiki rather than sniffing through the entire map after you’ve already cleared it. Between the unimproved gameplay, lack of any compelling story, the frustrating hunt for secrets and the repetitive design, there isn’t enough to earn a recommendation.

Steam.

Helltaker

A short, cute game that feels like it wants to be a dating sim but is somehow a puzzle instead, with only the faintest visual novel elements. At the fantastic prize of ABSOLUTELY FREE, it’s a perfect little time sink, and I strongly recommend it even if you’re just attracted by the art style. I’m looking forward to what comes next in the series.

Steam.

Vampire Survivors

Games offering this general style of gameplay have been around forever, but that doesn’t mean there’s no space for another one, especially when executed so competently. The mechanics are simple yet satisfying and there’s no online element to annoy you. However, the art style is somewhat unremarkable and you’ll get bored of playing the same maps over and over pretty quickly, but not before unlocking all the characters and trying out some of the incredibly trippy weapon combinations on offer. Even at full price, this game is a bargain and I strongly recommend it.

Steam.

Titanfall 2

Exceptionally well executed mecha-FPS with a story campaign that left me hoping for more, even as the game makes it very clear it really wants you to play it online (and unfortunately, the prequel and sequel are multiplayer-only). There is a decent story, plenty of gameplay additions beyond the standard FPS formula to keep things interesting, great weapon variety and a lot of freedom in terms of how to approach each challenge. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a true sequel in the works, but I’d strongly recommend picking this up anyway, as it doesn’t end on a cliffhanger and truly is a great game to enjoy, even if it can be played through in a weekend.

Steam.

Mass Effect: Andromeda

Somewhat underappreciated side story in the Mass Effect universe which focuses on the exploration and colonization of the Andromeda galaxy. I feel the developers combined some of my favorite elements from Mass Effect 1 and 2 here, resulting in an even stronger game, but the somewhat loose connection to the story of the first two games might leave some feeling that this doesn’t have the same emotional impact. The game also suffers from a bit of “Fallout syndrome” where endless and somewhat repetitive side questing is necessary to level up your character and unlock story elements that get you to your desired ending, even as those side quests do not appear to be related to the story at all (why Ryder, main hope of survival for the human race, is asked to run trivial fetch quests is beyond my comprehension).

That said, I found more than enough to like here to give MEA my recommendation, and I find it unfortunate that the poor reception this game has gotten most likely dashes any chances of a proper sequel. Hopefully, a future Mass Effect installment will find a way to let us continue the story in Andromeda, even if the focus returns to the Milky Way.

Steam.

Covid-tider betyder mer tid hemma och mer tid att spela spel, så här kommer som brukligt några korta recensioner av vad jag har roat mig med det senaste halvåret. Som vanligt på engelska, eftersom jag också lägger upp dessa på Steam.

Cooking Simulator

Having seen this played by quite a few streamers I knew what I was getting myself into, but I was still surprised at just how shoddy this game is. This really is just a broken physics sandbox in the shape of a kitchen, not something which should be calling itself a simulator. Because of the terrible controls, something simple like pouring a jug of water into a mixing bowl becomes an exercise in frustration. Cutting a lemon into presentable pieces is a Herculean task. Even when doing things to the game’s expectations, I twice ended up in failure states including one where it would not recognize what I was doing and simply sat there waiting for a long since completed task, while telling me I was running out of time to complete it.

One of very few games that I’ve found broken to the point of asking for a refund (which I promptly received, thank you Steam). Not recommended.

1/10. Se även Steam.

Wizard of Legend

Pixelly rougelike dungeon crawler which rewards quick reflexes and… that’s really all there is to it. There is no story to speak of. There’s no depth to the combat and the levels are auto-generated. When you die you get to start over. It’s repetitive and bland with nearly zero dungeon or enemy variety. Perhaps there are people who only want this much from a game and appreciate the minimalism but I was bored and disappointed within minutes. Can’t recommend.

2/10. Se även Steam.

Starpoint Gemini Warlords

Having had a great time with Starpoint Gemini 2, I expected this to be more of the same good stuff. While the graphically impressive and satisfying ship-to-ship combat remains, the story is lackluster at best and you eventually end up in a perpetual grind for more territories, which quickly becomes routine and boring. At some point the sense of progression and challenge was lost, and that’s when I stopped playing, as there was no story left to sustain my interest. There is a lot of unrealized potential here and I might still give one of the later games in the series a try to see if the developer learned anything from this failure, but there’s no way I can recommend this.

4/10. Se även Steam.

Divinity: Original Sin (Enhanced Edition)

Beautifully detailed CRPG following in the proud tradition of games like Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights. There is an interesting story, sadly obscured somewhat by an abundance of complex dialogue trees where characters with goofy-sounding voices will ramble exposition endlessly.

The quests are a welcome mix of puzzles and combat where you can usually decide whether to resolve a conflict peacefully or by force. Unfortunately the option involving combat nearly always offers more experience points and many of the puzzles are obscure to the point where I recommend having the wiki open on a second monitor; there are just too many cases where you will otherwise be left stuck and frustrated.

Inventory management, crafting and trading are manual and very tedious, but necessary to succeed at the game. On the positive side, combat is tactical and fun. A welcome change from similar games, this one doesn’t make high-tier magic overpowered to the point where your fighters might as well be watching from the sidelines. Overall I feel there is enough here to recommend this game to CRPG fans, but perhaps not enough to convince newcomers to the genre.

6/10. Se även Steam.

Just Cause 3

This is the kind of sequel that’s just more of the previous game, with a few superficial features tacked on. That being said, Just Cause 2 was awesome and this game delivers more of the same; as long as enough time has passed since your last dip into the Just Cause series this should be right up your alley. The story is bland and paper-thin; every mission whether part of the story or not is just to go somewhere, destroy everything, get out. Motorbikes and the wingsuit control extremely poorly. Military airplanes are almost useless and have game-breaking bugs. Enemies respawn infinitely, so running is always a better option than fighting unless you’re trying to complete a mission.

Finally, the online features introduce glitches and loading delays to the point where I just blocked the game at the firewall and resorted to always playing offline. Great bit of fun still, but the devs should have focused on polishing the core gameplay instead of adding more DLC.

6/10. Se även Steam.

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

Dark alt-history series Wolfenstein gets another installment which continues the story where the last game left off; having won the battle but lost the war and gotten your body properly wrecked in the process, the first part of this game is spent killing nazis while sat in a wheelchair. It gets crazier after that. The story is completely linear but the atmosphere and world-building is very solid and I felt quite immersed in it by the end. As usual for an id engine game the combat is very satisfying.

However, for a game which pretends to reward stealth, trying to be sneaky is almost pointless and I feel this element could have been done away with completely. It has the common issue where if anyone spots you for half a second, you might as well give it up or reload a save because every enemy on the map knows your exact location from that point onwards. Better not to waste your time; going in guns blazing from the start is often the more expedient approach. Overall, I still found this a rewarding experience.

7/10. Se även Steam.

Tales of Berseria

Story-rich, open-world JRPG with some great writing, amazing cast and satisfying combat which sets it apart from other games in the genre. Having finished this game I genuinely miss it and would have loved to play a sequel with the same set of protagonists. Sadly, the culmination of the story was not what I had hoped for and I feel like an opportunity was lost in the devs not allowing for a different outcome and a bit less linearity. As a consequence the game has almost zero replayability. And while the combat feels satisfying, you can get by easily just button-mashing most of the time (I played on Moderate difficulty) and as a result it quickly started feeling like a grind. In the late game I resorted to just running past most enemies as I wanted to get to the final story parts.

For a PS3 era console port the graphics quality on a modern PC isn’t horrible, but the UI is an awful mess. From monster drops you end up with large quantities of nearly worthless items with no option to quickly sell them off at vendors or convert them into something useful. So, a lot of time is spent just navigating the clunky UI. That having been said the story alone warrants this game a strong recommendation from me and I’d encourage any JRPG fan to give it a try.

8/10. Se även Steam.

Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak

Ground-based RTS take on the Homeworld series which retains many of the same things that made the original games so good. The single player campaign isn’t overly long and the story is solid. The difficulty ramps up appropriately and there was a point during the final battle where I felt that all the careful planning I had done up to that point finally paid off, even as I was desperately fighting for survival. Such solid design of the core gameplay loops makes minor issues easier to overlook.

The game rewards thinking ahead and employing proper tactics to counter what’s thrown at you. There are a few areas where more polish would have been welcome, such as the enemy AI and the air units but I found those pretty easy to overlook given the strong overall experience. I’m happy to give this game my recommendation and I’d love to play the sequel if there ever is one.

9/10. Se även Steam.

Det var nästan två år sedan jag skrev några spelrecensioner och det har blivit en hel del spel sedan dess, så här kommer en ny laddning. Som vanligt på engelska och jag försöker hålla det kortfattat. En hel del av spelen är uppföljare till sånt jag spelat tidigare och det märks att många utvecklare har valt att hålla sig till det beprövade – på gott och ont.

Interplanetary: Enhanced Edition

The ludicrous premise of this game – that tech has advanced to the point where interplanetary space battles are a thing, yet artillery and missiles need to be aimed manually – aside, it’s an elegantly executed turn-based strategy game which doesn’t overcomplicate itself. The graphics and sounds are impactful and lend a sense of epicness to the battles. However, the AI is poorly balanced and the number of viable strategies are very limited so you end up having to play essentially the same way every time, which hurts replayability. Games tend to drag on frustratingly long and sometimes end in stalemates. Worth picking up if it’s on a deep discount but falls short of a recommendation from me.

4/10. Se även Steam eller hemsidan.

Disgeaea PC

Enjoyed the anime, so I thought I’d give the game a try. Untainted by nostalgia as I never played this when it came out, I can’t say that it seems to have aged well. The story is a lot of fun but there’s just too much grinding between chapters and so I ran out of patience after a while. The graphics look terrible on a modern PC with blurry, low resolution sprites and primitive effects on a much higher definition background. Certainly, the PC version could have used a little more remastering. I spent about 25 hours in this game so there’s clearly something to it, but not enough to earn a recommendation for now. Might give it another shot in the future.

5/10. Se även Steam.

Overlord 2

I liked the original Overlord and I like this, because it’s basically more of the same – story-wise, it’s a direct sequel, and there are no groundbreaking differences but also nothing that breaks the successful formula of the first game. As the titular Overlord, you command batches of multicolored minions with different abilities to defeat your enemies, raze their structures and solve some puzzles along the way. It’s a casual take on the fantasy hack’n’slash with light strategic and puzzle elements. The main negative point for me was the Netherworld Tower, your home base which you’re supposed to spend some time managing and improving. This quickly began to feel like a chore, the Tower boils down to a glorified menu system that you have to navigate on foot. The mistresses are a bit of (family friendly) fun, though.

6/10. Se även Steam.

Serious Sam 3: BFE

Occasionally frustrating but very enjoyable FPS which starts out weak and uninspiring but builds up steam, challenge and excitement as the story (what little there is of it) goes on, culminating in what would be a very depressing ending if we didn’t already know we’re playing a prequel. Speaking of the original games, if you enjoyed those then you will enjoy this, as most of the game adheres closely to the original formula, for better or worse. Late game, the main challenge is not so much surviving as finding enough ammo to kill the ludicrously large hordes that are thrown at you. Some enemy types are incredibly frustrating and time-consuming to deal with, breaking the pace and the fun until you’ve managed to subdue them. All in all, a welcome shower of nostalgia that nicely ties together the story and offers a couple hours of good, clean, brainless fun.

6/10. Se även Steam.

Dungeons 3

Delightful RTS which follows the “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” philosophy of game sequels; this is essentially an expansion to Dungeons 2 with a small number of new improvements, an even smaller number of new annoyances, a longer campaign and DLC which turns the difficulty way up for those of us who like a meatier challenge. The story reads like it was written by a bunch of drunken bums rounded up in a Munich parking lot – it’s zany, chaotic and doesn’t take itself too seriously. The narration and characters are hilarious, although their exchanges are slightly too drawn out at times, something they themselves call attention to – if you’re allergic to fourth wall breaking, this might not be the game for you.

On a gameplay note, I feel like the game gives you a lot of room in deciding your own strategy, rather than railroading you into any particular style. A few missions annoyed me by introducing challenges with tight time constraints, which is jarring when the game is otherwise usually perfectly happy to let you play at your own pace. Thankfully, these are the exception and not the rule (but read the reviews for DLC before buying!)

Dungeons 3 gets a solid recommendation from me but I hope that the developers will change up the gameplay a bit for the next edition – this concept has served them well for two whole games, but I’m not sure it can sustain a third without becoming repetitive.

8/10. Se även Steam eller hemsidan.

Darwinia

Unexpected indie gem that I would have loved to keep playing for longer, but the campaign is only good for about 6 hours and highly linear, so there’s sadly not much value in replaying it. Simple yet effective graphics that fit the theme perfectly, the same can be said for the soundtrack, and at the low price at which this is typically found on Steam it can only be seen as a bargain. It’s a simple yet elegant RTS with only a few units and no buildable structures except a cannon tower, which is weak and easily overrun, so effectively deploying and commanding a small number of key troops is essential to victory.

Adding to that are the Darwinians themselves, who are essentially civilians that can only take on weak enemies after several research upgrades, but needed to allow buildings to work, which is often the objective of the mission. I quickly started feeling a sense of attachment to them and loved watching them thrive and expand. Every map in the game is persistent and you can switch between them at will, without bothering with savegames. I guess this is intended to let you go back and finish optional objectives later, but for me, I felt it added to the immersion more than serve any practical purpose.

Darwinia is one game I wish I’d have found sooner and I hope it will eventually have a worthy sequel (Multiwinia is sadly multiplayer only).

9/10. Se även Steam eller hemsidan.

Som uppvuxen i ett hushåll där datorn var en självklar ingrediens även långt före Internets dagar har jag alltid älskat datorspel. På den tiden var datorspelen något nytt och okänt, numera är det en miljardindustri som drar in mer pengar än musik och film tillsammans. För de som växer upp idag kan det inte framstå som annat än historisk kuriosa att interaktiv underhållning inte alltid varit normen. Att sitta och passivt glo på film i två timmar blir ju aldrig lika engagerande eller fängslande som en upplevelse där du själv styr handlingen!

En vän till mig tog via Facebook upp det goda initativet att så här det nya året till början posta en lista på sina favoritspel genom tiderna. Här är min. Jag har valt ut 20 spel i kronologisk ordning men egentligen är det en på tok för kort lista för att göra 30 år av spelhistoria rättvisa, så många av spelen får stå som representanter för en större kategori.

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Trade Wars 2002 får representera den kategori av textbaserade multiplayer-spel som kallas MUDar och var omåttligt populära på den tiden innan Internet då BBSer regerade. De finns kvar än idag, men bristen på tillgänglighet och grafisk finess gör dem till mer av en nisch för nostalgiker.

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Dune II är spelet som definierade hela RTS-genren för många, mig inkluderad, och lade grunden för mer polerade och namnkunniga efterföljare som Command & Conquer (1995), Warcraft (1994) med flera. Faktum är att det med minimal ansträngning kan fås att snurra på en modern PC och håller måttet än idag, om man kan ursäkta det lite ålderdomliga gränssnittet.

Som kuriosa ska nämnas att Dune II är nästan helt orelaterat till spelet Dune (1992) från samma utgivare. Det senare är baserat på novellen Dune av Frank Herbert, men Dune II innehåller bara grundidéerna och ingenting av storyn.

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Doom var varken först eller mest sofistikerat men får stå som representant för den tidiga FPS-genren, utvecklat av de numera legendariska id Software. Snart 30 år senare är de fortfarande sina rötter trogna och Doom (2016) har allt det som gjorde originalet bra – uppdaterat till modern standard. Konceptet “skjut allt som rör sig” går trots allt alltid hem.

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The Settlers II var för mig pionjär för en kategori av RTS som fokuserade på produktion och resurshantering snarare än krig (även om man kom till krigandet så småningom också). Därmed låg tonvikten mer på logiskt tänkande och långsiktig planering än snabba reflexer och taktik. Utvecklarna Blue Byte har aldrig vikit från sitt koncept och ett åttonde spel i serien sägs vara under utveckling i skrivande stund.

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Civilization II står med på listan som representant för den legendariska Civilization-serien, ursprungligen utvecklad av Sid Meier. Det första Civilization kom 1992 men det var tvåan som fångade mitt intresse och som får stå med i listan, även om Civilization V (2010) förmodligen är min egentliga favorit i serien.

Även Colonization (1994) förtjänar ett hedervärt omnämnande. Till ytan mycket likt Civilization men samtidigt ett mer fokuserat och storydrivet spel i vilket jag spenderade många timmar.

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Quake kan på sätt och vis klumpas ihop med Doom (1993) – det har samma utvecklare, det har ytligt sett samma spelmekanik och ingen hade nog blivit jätteförvånad om det hade hetat Doom 3. (Det verkliga Doom 3 kom först 2004.) Men Quake bröt ny mark på två för mig avgörande sätt: det var lämpat för multiplayer och klarade det utmärkt även över sämre uppkopplingar tack vare QuakeWorld.

Det var dessutom ett av de första spel som drog ordentlig nytta av 3d-grafikkort och en starkt bidragande faktor till att den tonåriga jag tjatade mina föräldrar leda om att få ett Orchid Righteous 3D i julklapp.

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Theme Hospital får dela sin plats på listan med Theme Park (1994), två oerhört sympatiska och fridfulla spel från Bullfrog, med den smått legendariske Peter Molyneux vid rodret. Med en rejäl dos humor och lite mindre av den kliniska realism som kännetecknade andra samtida “simulatorer” – till exempel Sim City 2000 (1993) – vann “Theme”-spelen en välförtjänt plats i många gamerhjärtan. Theme Hospital står sig faktiskt väl än idag och det är lätt att få tag i en version som funkar på en modern PC.

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Total Annihilation var spelet som tog 3D till RTS-genren med enorma kartor, simulering av gravitation, vind, höjdkurvor, skogsbränder med mera. Dessutom med möjligheten att skicka arméer av aldrig tidigare skådad storlek mot motståndaren. Enastående kul i multiplayer, särskilt kombinerat med moddar och möjligheten att lätt skapa egna kartor.

Total Annihilation står sig väl än idag men fick också lyckade uppföljare i form av Supreme Commander (2007) och Supreme Commander 2 (2010).

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The Curse of Monkey Island är kanske det spel i den här listan som får stå som representant för flest andra – från Sierras klassiska “Quest”-spel (King’s Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest) till LucasArts många spel i Monkey Island-serien, Full Throttle (1995), Broken Sword (1996), Grim Fandango (1998), Tales from the Borderlands (2014) med flera, med flera. Äventyrsgenren tar en bra bok eller långfilm och gör den interaktiv, ett enkelt och tidlöst koncept.

Förutom The Curse of Monkey Island (det tredje i Monkey Island-serien) är King’s Quest VII: The Princeless Bride (1994) och The Neverhood (1996) spel i genren som ligger mig varmt om hjärtat.

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Battlezone tog RTS-genren och flyttade den till första person. Istället för en allsmäktig general som betraktade slagfältet i miniatyr och skickade hundratals soldater mot en säker död med ett musklick, blev du plötsligt en befälhavare på marken, där varje liv räknades. Jag har inte hittat något spel som gjorde detta innan Battlezone – åtminstone inte på PC – och resultatet står sig väl än idag. Konstigt nog förblir första persons strategispel en relativt nischad genre.

Battlezone fick en originalet trogen uppdatering i form av Battlezone 98 Redux (2016) och jag rekommenderar den verkligen.

Som brukligt kommer här ett gäng korta paragrafer om spel jag har spelat nyligen. Texterna är på engelska eftersom jag även lägger upp recensionerna på Steam. För omväxlings skull har jag lagt dem i ordningen sämst till bäst. Håll till godo!

Anno 2070

Visually impressive city builder/resource management game with RTS elements and a decent attempt at a story. There are three factions but rather unusually, the single player campaign lets you play as all of them at the same time. The soundtrack is great. What brings this down for me are the bugs, which are numerous (I also had issues with the DRM which seems to be the reason for 95% of the negative reviews on Steam) and the laughably easy campaign. I get the feeling that there’s a lot of complexity and depth to this game that you end up never getting to explore. Maybe it’s just there for multiplayer?

Mitt betyg: 4/10. Läs mer på Steam eller hemsidan.

Mad Max

It’s Australia after the apocalypse, and you’re a mass murderer with a heart of gold. Travel the wastes, kill bandits, help some common folk just trying to make a living (usually by killing bandits), race through the remains of civilization, improve your car (so you can kill bandits faster), repeat. This is the tried and true open-world combat-focused adventure game formula (see also: Shadow of Mordor, Assassins Creed, Rage) all over again, but with a Mad Max flair – and it works really well, for the most part. Environments can be a bit samey and driving through them feels like a chore at times, but hey, it’s a desert – what do you expect?

Unfortunately, the game is brought down by the frankly absurd amount of padding and busy-work required to “clear” an area, and the story, which ends in the most disappointing way possible. A game that has so far let you make the choices for Max ends by railroading you into doing something incredibly stupid, breaking any investment into the character that you might have had at that point. Idiotic move by the writers. I guess they had to make the ending terrible to be consistent with the movies.

Mitt betyg: 5/10. Läs mer på Steam eller hemsidan.

Duskers

Rouge-like space puzzler where you use remote-controlled drones to explore derelict ships and stations that usually contain loot that you need to survive, as well as nasty monsters. Drones are controlled by console commands, an interface which manages to be innovative and old-school at the same time. While the game comes off as having very simple graphics, they actually fit perfectly with the theme and add to the tension, as does the soundtrack.

Despite all this, I got bored after a few hours. There’s almost no story, no sense of progression and the limited save system means you can get stuck with no choice but to start over from scratch (bonus points for the difficulty settings, though). All in all the game has enormous potential but the last 10% to get me hooked just aren’t there. Good effort though, give it a try.

Mitt betyg: 6/10. Läs mer på Steam eller hemsidan.

The Witcher

The game that kicked off the very successful Witcher franchise is not the best in the series, but manages to get things off to a good start. It’s a classical action-adventure RPG with a compelling story and considerable complexity, let down somewhat by the clunky interface. Different swords for dudes or monsters, different fighting styles, potions and oils, spells and runes, oh my! The graphics have aged quite well, but the gameplay hasn’t; I mainly enjoyed this for the extremely strong story and atmosphere, which tie in with the sequels. Oh, and the romance cards.

Mitt betyg: 7/10. Läs mer på Steam eller hemsidan.

Dungeons 2

Clever, addictive and hilariously narrated take on Dungeon Keeper with a hearty helping of Warcraft III thrown in. At only 15 hours for the single player campaign I suggest picking this up at a discount, then the length feels just right, and the game does not end up overstaying its welcome. Possibly a bit too easy, the enemy rarely attacks your dungeon outright and so much of the challenge is timing your attacks on the overworld so you don’t end up having to take your horde back in a hurry. Even so, I love the dungeon builder/RTS combo, quirky style and many surprises that this game has to offer. Strongly recommend.

Mitt betyg: 8/10. Läs mer på Steam eller hemsidan.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

I was never a huge fan of Japanese-style RPGs since they tend to be grindfests, with terrible interfaces and stories told through walls of text. Thankfully, Trails in the Sky has all that but also an immensely captivating story with amazing characters in a very Ghibliesque world to keep me interested and forgive the flaws that come with the genre.

Good thing that, because this is not a short game – I’d say it’s a bit too long – and since the story is broken up by long segments of repeatedly fighting a few types of monsters, it’s certainly not for the impatient. Gameplay is very standard as JRPGs go, which is to say functional and easy to learn, difficult to master – and you will need to master it, because this game can be quite gruelling at times, especially if you go for all the optional quests (I didn’t).

In summary, this is probably a must-play for JRPG fans and anybody else who is fond of story-rich games and has a lot of time on their hands.

Mitt betyg: 8/10. Läs mer på Steam eller hemsidan.

Det var allt för den här gången! När jag läser texterna så inser jag att det ibland är lite svårt att förstå varför jag satt ett visst betyg. Jag lovar att det är noga genomtänkt och inte bara slumptal jag tagit ur… ahem… men om du vill diskutera saken finns jag på ett socialt medium nära dig!

Jag brukar skriva små korta recensioner av spelen jag spelar men nu var det ett bra tag sedan, så jag gjorde ett ryck och rev av inte mindre än åtta lir i klasser mellan “okej” och “helt enastående”. Som vanligt är texterna på engelska eftersom jag också lägger upp dem på Steam. Håll till godo!

Children of the Nile

This mid-2000s city builder set in ancient Egypt has aged incredibly well and still stands among the greatest games in its genre for me. The game’s mechanics are fairly complex but once you figure them out getting a well-run city up and running feels like a true accomplishment. My main issue with this game is that it can be fairly slow – each map took me on average 6-7 hours to complete – and a lot of this time is spent waiting for some delivery to arrive or for some monument to be completed. Some people have also reported crashes and while I did have a few, the game auto-saves and load times are blissfully short on modern hardware so I never lost much. If you have fond memories of games like Pharaoh, Caesar or Sim City and have somehow missed this gem then give it a shot.

Mitt betyg: 8,5/10

Trivia: Jag testade det här spelet redan 2005 när det kom ut, då jag jobbade som redaktör på FZ.se.

• Steam
• Hemsida

 

The Final Station

A short, fun, engaging and atmospheric indie platformer-shooter. The story grips you enough that you want to understand what happened to the world, but you don’t really have time to figure that out before the game ends. On the other hand, the short length means that the gameplay doesn’t have time to get too repetitive. It’s not a very hard game, though, and the mini-games you have to do to get the train between terminals quickly feel like chores. I’d recommend picking it up on a sale – at about €10 including DLC it’s well worth it.

Mitt betyg: 6/10

• Steam
• Hemsida

 

Grey Goo

A refreshingly conventional RTS with good graphics, great balance and three unique sides that require very different gameplay styles, all of which you get to master during the single player campaign. This game can occasionally be picked up for a pittance and – for some reason – doesn’t have great reviews, which almost puts it into “hidden gem” territory. If you like StarCraft, you’re probably going to like this, unless you’re only in it for multiplayer where finding games can apparently be a bit hard. However, if you’re after a solid single player experience then this is the game for you.

My only problem with it is that the cutscene voice acting isn’t great, the story isn’t very engaging, and I would have liked a longer campaign. 18 hours total including DLC is on the low end. That said, considering how cheaply this game can be picked up you’re getting great bang for your buck.

Mitt betyg: 8/10

• Steam
• Hemsida

 

Tales from the Borderlands

This is a fresh take on the Borderlands universe which forgoes shooty action and grinding for loot in favor of a point-and-click adventure with a rich narrative, great characters and a story that is at least somewhat affected by the player’s choices. Voice acting and animation is excellent throughout. It’s short at only 10 hours, but arguably that’s as long as it needs to be as the ending (which I won’t spoil) makes it pretty clear there’ll be a sequel at some point.

One nit – if you feel like the story’s taken a wrong turn due to your actions, you typically have to start the episode over as there’s no easy way to skip forward to a certain point and no quicksave. Thankfully there’re wikis and YouTube playthroughs to show you the bits you may have missed. Hint: don’t hold on to your money.

Mitt betyg: 9/10

• Steam
• Hemsida

 

The Testament of Sherlock Holmes

An atmospheric and dark adventure/puzzle game with decent voice acting (if you ignore the kids) and graphics that is at least passable by 2017 standards. Keep the wiki handy as some of the puzzles are frustratingly hard but not interesting enough to bash your head against for more than a couple of minutes. The strong side of this game is the way you conduct investigations, gathering and putting clues together to reach conclusions and unveil the mystery is inituitive and fun. The story is mostly well-written, the but there are some glaring plotholes near the end that ruined it somewhat for me. Still, if you’re a fan of point-and-click adventures and criminal investigations then pick this up when it’s on sale.

Mitt betyg: 5/10

• Steam
• Hemsida

 

Pillars of Eternity

Writing “if you liked X then you’re going to like this” feels a bit stale as reviews go, but in fact – if you liked games such as Neverwinter Nights then you’re going to like this. It’s a rehash of the classic isometric RPG with gorgeous graphics, a compelling story and a large number of ways to shape your own adventure. Multiple classes, multiple races, multiple backgrounds that actually affect the story and your interactions with NPCs – it’s all there as you would expect and well implemented.

On the downside, the voice acting feels random at times – some lines are voiced, others aren’t, and dialogues tend to be very (very!) long and wordy. A shame, as other games have shown that you can have a deep story without walls of text. I actually gave up on my first attempt through this because I got bored, and after finishing the main campaign I felt no inclination to get started on the DLC right away. All in all however, I’m going to recommend this as it’s a solid game with everything you could expect from a modern iso-RPG.

Mitt betyg: 7/10

• Steam
• Hemsida

 

Pony Island

Short, spooky, highly innovative puzzler with a clever story and gameplay that strongly appeals to the geek in me. I’m not sure why the pony looks like a triceratops though.

Mitt betyg: 10/10

• Steam
• Hemsida

 

Sniper Elite 3

If you played any of the previous Sniper Elite games then you know what to expect – this is just more of the same. You sneak through visually impressive settings, shoot truckloads of nazis, blow up their sh*t, and giggle with glee at the thought of Herr A. Hitler making one of those spitting angry rants about how worthless his troops are. You get about 20 hours of this in total and that’s well worth it if you can get it on sale, and don’t mind the completely forgettable story and characters.

The game is not very hard for experienced “realistic FPS” players but the game tends to teleport enemies in, meaning you can die instantly to an enemy who randomly appeared behind you, or a sniper on a far away cliff. Yet the same thing might not happen when you reload because the enemy behavior is semi-random. On a positive note, this makes replaying the same map slightly different each time, reducing frustration if you’re having trouble getting through a particularly tricky part.

Mitt betyg: 7/10

• Steam
• Hemsida

 

Det var allt för den här gången. Om du har spelat något av de här spelen och tycker att jag är helt ute och cyklar, skrik till vetja!

En god vän gav mig Undertale i julklapp. Inte sedan Portal har jag hört talas om ett så kritikerrosat spel – Yahtzee Croshaw, en spelkritiker som gjort sig känd genom att besinningslöst slakta även spel han tycker om, gjorde sin recension i fem ord: “Undertale is a good game.” Självklart var jag tvungen att spela det. Ganska lätt avklarat förvisso, det här är inget hundratimmars-epos som tar över ens liv, hela spelet går att plöja igenom på en eftermiddag eller två. Istället är det berättelsen och de många okonventionella inslagen som får det att stå ut från mängden. Jag har gjort mitt bästa för att inte avslöja något kritiskt, men du som är spoilerkänslig bör läsa försiktigt, eller inte alls – Undertale blir faktiskt bättre ju mindre man vet om det i förväg.

Undertale is an interesting game. Not because it offers particularly good gameplay, graphics, or because it’s challenging – but the simple exterior hides a surprisingly engaging and complex story, told in a way that defies convention and makes Undertale stand out from the endless brown goo of mediocrity that the Steam store occasionally resembles. It styles itself like a JRPG but it really isn’t one, taking every opportunity to subvert existing tropes and play with the format.

Unfortunately, the brilliant writing makes the lacklustre gameplay stand out all the more, because it quickly becomes a chore that you must plow through in order to get to the next parcel of story. And then again, because the game withholds some (story-critical) content unless you go through it at least twice, or manage to hit all the critical flags on the first run – probably impossible without a walkthrough.

Undertale prides itself on being a game where nobody has to die – which is represented in each battle by the option to “spare” the monster. This option only becomes available after certain actions are taken, and so is a mini-puzzle in itself, but the solutions are often obvious and so most battles can be resolved in seconds, especially if the same monster has been encountered before. When attacked, you are faced with a short “bullet hell” minigame, where you must dodge incoming projectiles of various sizes and shapes. There are enough variations on the formula that this doesn’t immediately become tedious, and some of the later battles can be quite challenging.

The graphics, as I’ve mentioned, vary from simply bad to acceptable; the game is presented in faux 8-bit – that is, blocky graphics in variously low resolutions, but with high resolution effects. There are a number of art shifts throughout, which are used sparingly but effectively, typically in expectation of a major event. The excellent soundtrack also contributes greatly to the ambience and helps set the tone of each encounter.

Apart from the story, what I think makes Undertale stand out is how it plays with itself as a medium. Actions such as saving, loading and even exiting to the desktop are woven into the story in a way that few games have ever even tried. Restoring a save file to try something different, you may find that NPCs still remember your actions from before, although this mostly affects dialogue.

While I still don’t feel that Undertale quite lives up to the hype, I’ve come to overlook its faults and appreciate it much more after seeing the whole story through to the end. It delivers a unique experience and a story that manages to be emotionally engaging while still delivering a lot of laughs. And you’ll be filled with determination.

Mitt betyg: 8/10.

• Spelet på Steam
• Utvecklarens hemsida

Det är speldags igen så här i mellandagarna och förutom att shoppa loss i den årliga vinter-rean på Steam har jag ägnat min tid åt att spela igenom en riktig pärla – Valkyria Chronicles, ett strategispel i anime-utförande som jag rescencerar här nedan. Passar även på att skriva några rader om ett spel som kanske inte sticker ut lika mycket, men som med sina indie-vibbar och lugna tempo kan ge många timmars skön speltid för den som gillar att bygga städer och hantera resurser: Banished.

Valkyria Chronicles

Valkyria Chronicles är en skildring av en omfattande konflikt i en fiktiv värld som i mångt och mycket liknar Europa under andra världskriget. Vi följer en hemvärnspluton i landet Gallia, som trots sin neutrala hållning i konflikten mellan stormakterna dras in i kriget och tvingas kämpa för sin överlevnad. Till spelstilen är Valkyria Chronicles väldigt likt X-Com: Enemy Unknown men med ett mycket starkare fokus på story. Valkyria Chronicles är inget nytt spel – det kom redan 2008 på Playstation 3, men sedan ett drygt år tillbaka finns det på Steam, med uppfräschad grafik och allt tidigare släppt extrainnehåll med på köpet.

I put off playing this game for quite some time despite it being recommended to me over and over. Something about it being a console port and ‘Yet another game set during WW2’ put me off. I was deeply mistaken. This is one of the best strategy games I’ve played, as far as the style of play goes it is very similar to X-Com: EU but the story and characters resonated deeply with me and I played it more for the story than for the battles themselves (which are nonetheless great). Only a few minor things give away that this was originally a game for the PS3, the port is very well done although I know some people dislike the controls. The graphics have aged well; the watercolor style which permeates the game is beautiful and the higher resolutions that modern PCs are capable of do it great justice. The game also runs without stutter on my weaker non-gaming laptop.

Interestingly, while I would normally never consider watching anime in anything but its original language I found the English script of this game to be superior to the Japanese, the latter is quite dry at times and I feel the English voice actors are actually a better fit for their respective characters. And the story and characters are really what make this game stand out. Games that go out of their way to elicit strong emotional responses never make an impression on me, but this one did. As we follow the story along, the characters are occasionally thrust into situations where they must do battle for one reason or another, this using a delightful combination of strategic top-down and tactical first-person gameplay that few other games have tried. While not especially realistic, it works well and you feel very in control of your soldiers’ actions.

In the broader perspective however, Valkyria Chronicles’ depiction of a large 1900s military conflict from a squad’s point of view is very realistic and includes a number of scenarios that ring familiar to anyone used to games set during WW2 – the dramatic beach landing, an assault on an unassailable fortress, a liberation of a small town, a sneak through the forest to avoid detection, and so forth. The considerable variation in battles keeps the game interesting and it never felt like a grind to me. Eventually, supernatural elements (the titular Valkyria) are introduced and the story kicks it up a notch into epic territory. Few games these days become so noticeably better the more you play them.

As for negatives, I don’t think the game is very enjoyable if you focus on getting the highest possible ranking from every encounter, as this rewards speed over all else. A few battles are nearly impossible to win on the first try without prior knowledge about what challenges await you once the mission starts, meaning you may find yourself having to start over with a different strategy. The game lets you save both between and during battles, however, so this can usually be alleviated by simply backing up a few turns. There are fairly few achievements and they range from trivial to almost impossible; a few more in the middle range wouldn’t have hurt. I also dislike the fact that you have to play through the game twice to access some content.

Summing it up, this game is fantastic. It combines all the elements of a good anime and a good turn-based strategy game, with enough of its own flavor to be unique and spectacularly enjoyable. My main problem with it is that it only took me about 45 hours to complete and I fear the next game I play won’t be nearly as good.

Mitt betyg: 10/10

• Spelet på Steam
• Utvecklarens hemsida (japanska)

Banished

Banished är ett strategiskt stadsbyggarspel där du styr en grupp människor som blivit exilerade från sin by, någon gång under järnåldern. För att överleva måste de samla svampar, fiska, hugga ved och bruka jorden på sin nya boplats, vilket kan vara lättare sagt än gjort när man inte fått varken frön eller varma kläder med sig hemifrån och vintern nalkas med stormsteg. När de grundläggande behoven väl är tillfredsställda gäller det att bygga skolor åt barnen, gravplatser till de som lämnat jordelivet bakom sig och gruvor för att få upp malm ur jorden – allt för att skapa ett nytt samhälle. Spelet är stundvis utmanande men samtidigt avkopplande i sina vackra, skogklädda miljöer som förändras över säsongerna.

Banished is a city builder for the thinking gamer with a lot of time on his or her hands. Starting out with essentially nothing, you scramble to scavenge logs, stones and food from the forests and streams around your wagon, desperately trying to keep your families fed and warm during the coming winter (always coming, that winter is). Because most critical resources are finite until you find a way to replenish them (e.g., replanting forests), you must provide for your population’s critical needs while ensuring there is enough set aside for future investments. Depending on your starting conditions, this can be a formidable and very enjoyable challenge.

Once you get past this stage, however, the game’s pace slows considerably as you move from trying to stay alive to simply growing your settlement and securing the means to support that growth from renewable sources. Watching your increasing population go about its business, slowly but intently, is strangely addictive and everything you see matters. It is unfortunate that after spending some time in the growth phase, the game pretty much runs out of content and all you’re left with is a perpetual but not very challenging game of resource management.

It’s an iron-age Sim City, to put it simply.  There’s no combat, no conflict at all, just growing your town while managing your workforce. If that’s your thing then you will find Banished enjoyable for hours upon hours, as I have. Considering it is available for less than €5 whenever there’s a Steam sale I see very little reason not to pick it up if you enjoy city builders. Somewhat compensating for the scarcity of late-game content is the huge amount of fan-made mods that have been created. For an indie title, the excellent sountrack and graphics deserve special mention.

Mitt betyg: 7,5/10

• Spelet på Steam
• Utvecklarens hemsida