Exile

Preamble: So on a whim, I checked out Exile because I saw it in a Discovery Queue. On the store page, I read a review and then I saw that the developer had responded. Right away that tells you that the Dev cares about players and the game. So, I commented - as someone who didn't even own the game - and the Dev responded yet again. So I bought the game. Initial Reactions: There are a few things that stand out right away: - It is very reminiscent of Banished. If you played and like Banished - you'll like this. - It's a nice looking game and it runs smooth. - The village builder genre and town management sim is a huge win with me. Pros: - As mentioned - pretty. - Runs smooth - I really like the menu bar. The whole thing is set up to look like a village from start to finish. Rocks, trees, tractor for gathering, farming, etc. I like it. Unique. - A lot of mechanics are well implemented (example, farmers become general labourers in the winter). - Settlers don't become automatically homeless when they reach a certain age like in Banished. - Clicking on certain NPCs repeatedly yields different reactions - nice little Easter Egg. - Seeds for various crop types are already available without trading for them. - Animals also readily available without having to trade for them. Cons: - Early on, I clicked on a farm and the game crashed. Only happened once so far, seems ok. - Some mechanics aren't entirely too intuitive. Example: Stairs/bridges won't show up as options if you're dragging a long road. They only show up if you start and end right where it needs to be. - Only a few key resources are trackable (food, wood, iron, stone, firewood). I would like to be able to track more (tools, coats, etc) Maybe this exists as a feature at later stages in the game? Overall: Very enjoyable game. I'm definitely enjoying it as someone who spent a considerable amount of time in Banished. Would recommend to those who enjoy the genre. Hopes: - Map editor (or ability to tweak the random gen settings) - Mod Support / Workshop - Text Changes - sometimes the colour combo and text size can be a bit difficult to read. Not a deal breaker for me though. So maybe a font size option or a variety of colour themes to choose from? Edit: May 30th: Post Developer Comment: - After that initial crash mentioned in my review, I have not encountered another issue since. So definitely work has been done to focus on stability of the game. - At the time of writing the review, I had not yet built a Town Hall. In fact, this is indeed confirmed, and a great deal of things can be governed and managed via the Town Hall. - Can confirm placement tool for roads etc has been implemented. New Overall: As I mentioned in my review. Developer is very much interested and invested in the game, and the feedback provided to him by the players. With so many abandoned money grabs on Steam, this is a true breath of fresh air. Developer has even made an effort to view and comment on screenshots, as well as guides written for the game. I am excited to see where Zerio takes the game, and what he has planned next.

If you are looking for better Banished, you are not alone. But you've come to the wrong place. I just can't get past the UI. The game ran smooth though.

There is no tutorial or anything. You should be able to figure somethings out pretty easy if you've played other games in the genre. All these games have a lot of the same features, but little differences that set them apart from one another. With this game, it's up to you whether of not your going to figure it out or see it. It doesn't do anything to set you on the right track other then start giving you messages about low resources. There doesn't seem to be a lot of information to display either. I have no idea if I'm producing enough of a resource or if I'm over producing. It might be some hidden gem, but it might not. Don't want to commit 100 hrs to figure it out.

Edited review: I am changing the review to positive. While I still feel the game has quite a ways to go, after speaking with the dev the bones are there, and I look forward to updates! Many of my initial impressions were hasty and I overlooked some things, so if you like games like Banaished, give this a try and support this dev! I took a chance, seeing no real advertisement for this game, and no one playing to review it. Unfortunately I had to almost immediately refund it. The game is not tagged with early access, however it should be. I felt the best way to describe it would be an early alpha build for a game. The colony sim/city builder genre has common controls typically to pause the game (usually with space bar) but I could find no way to pause. I tried looking for speed up and slow down controls but could find none, and when I hit space bar,, it would just jump me to another part of the screen. Another common feature of colony sims is camera rotation. Again I could find no way to rotate the camera, using the typical mouse controls to do so. One of the things noted on the store page is the music would speed up ro slow down as you changed the game speed. Even though I could not find a way to change the speed, the music would randomly slow down on its own. Lastly, I looked for a way in settings to view or change the keybinds, hoping to find some way to do it, or the keys I needed to use for some of these features, and again could not find a way to do it.

While this title is has just released it is very stable and playable. Pace is slow. Some tweeks in production levels need love . i see a bright future for this title and i see myself putting hours into it...Enjoy

I appreciate that the game is trying something new with the UI but I just cannot get behind it. UI just doesn't feel cozy at all. Feels poky. But my biggest beef is that I can't pause/unpause the game with the space bar. No way to reconfigure hotkeys at all. My low playtime is because I just don't do city builders without space = pause/unpause.

Has a lot of potential. It plays a lot like banished and similar games. It can be a bit hard for new players because there's not tutorial or guidance and some UI stuff is counter intuitive (right click on a building to see details). Overall, I can see this it has a lot to offer and is fairly complete.

Had a quick game, it has good base ideas, needs work; Has the feel of Banished, but needs better menu's; The graphics of the menu's can be confusing to some, as they blend in together, however, the graphics of them are pretty in-itself. I didn't find it too difficult to use. There needs options to view all products rather than the staple 4 only, we need to be able to address shortages appropriately by shuffling workers about. Guessing isn't optimal. I have no idea how many coats I had which has resulted in deaths of people, which could have been avoided, had I had access to what I owned in regards to wool/hemp > coats. I like little menus with that information. I like to see my people in lists, so i can move them about without having to go-to every building and removing/adding. Lemme open a pin-able screen :) Mining injuries are basically constant on balanced, couldn't imagine heavy load..Maybe fix that and or add a way to upgrade for safety reasons? Maybe that's the schooling, which i hadn't yet built in my time playing. The seasons moves quickly, so winter isn't too bad. But I do play on x8. No tutorial; For those new to these type games, they will struggle. I knew how to start so I was fine, but def add an optional tutorial. Pause function is letter P, which i am fine with, but have no idea speed up and down. I am used to 1,2,3, but could have been + or -, didn't check those. Overall, I can see the game being quite good, just needs some informative menus that we can access as we play. As an aside; Game ran my laptop hot. Will recommend, hoping it gets some decent love. Thanks!

fun to play, similar enough to banished to pick it up quickly

Really enjoy the game... but I've been having problems with it crashing.... which pretty much makes it unplayable. Also, it's really odd to start the game in the year 2025. I'd also like to see something like scientific research offered... so you can continue to upgrade. Otherwise, once you hit a certain point, it's kind of like... eh, why continue. It's repetitive. Good for a few hours of play, but then you definitely hit a wall. It also needs some work regarding the constant crashing. For these reasons, I can't recommend this game at the moment.