Generation Exile

Generation Exile is a unique and atmospheric game that is vaguely reminiscent of Arthur C. Clark's Rama series of novels (and other similar media) that suffers from unclear mission guidance and a strategy layer that often incentivizes frustrating min-max gameplay. The game is more of a narrative driven experience (at least in the campaign part) with a turn-based colony sim layer (vaguely similar to the excellent Terraformers). Generation Exile offers a lot of gorgeous artwork and visuals and I am personally intrigued by the narrative element as a sci-fi literature nerd. At a high level, the cross-biome turn-based colony management layer is conceptually intriguing and even though it is clearly flawed, it does give you a taste of a unique strategy experience. The biggest challenge with the game is the constant gameplay dissonance between the colourful visuals, solarpunk themes, narrative elements and the 4X basebuilding layer. The strategy layer seems to require a very a rigid approach with strict building placement and step by step accounting of resources. This flaw is further exacerbated by the often unclear guidance that can lead you to make seemingly subtle mistakes that later turn out to be a massive pain. On top of this, there is an RNG system to your tactical actions (done by in-game heroes, "stewards" in the game's terminology) that doesn't allow for risk-reward management gameplay (at least in the early chapters). More often than not, you have to take the actions without any ability to manage risk. I would argue the maps are too small; making everything x2 as big (map, coverage radius and even default storage depot sizes) would go a long way to allowing more flexibility and creativity. Right now, it feels like you are boxed in and you have no real option to develop an interesting colony design. Perhaps this is a minor thing, but I think the upgrade token system should be a lot more flexible (e.g. all storage depots should have the option to increase capacity) and shouldn't be restricted in an arbitrary manner. I like the hero action system, it does adds for some variety. That being said, not being able to manage the RNG action system means that sometimes you get negative traits that require returning to an earlier save. You'll eventually figure out the skills and symbiotic strategies, but it would be nice if the game was more clear on this (explicitly state what each skill should be used for) and had specific early game tasks to help discover this element of the game. It might be worth adding a "narrative" mode with higher base output figures, storage capacity and steward skills for those who are looking for a more creative basebuilding x narrative experience. That being said, I liked the game overall and I am looking forward to going through the narrative and achieving planetfall.

Apparently saving the Earth depends on eating crickets. Almost instant return.

I waited for the end of early access anticipating a completable experience. I as able to complete the story campaign with only minor issues but getting into the planetfall section things really ground to a halt with what seem like bugs that prevent moving forward. A selection of issues: - Inconsistent rules on inter biome exports. I produce more than enough food in one biome but and enable imports in the other two but only one of them receives food. - None of the planet fall penultimate level resources can be shared across biomes but the final factories seemingly require that (e.g. moving the radiological plating (I think this is what it is called) from fungal to plains to be made into batteries). - If you have multiple sources or sinks for resources you have no control over how they are distributed potentially locking you into non ideal flows or forcing a waste storage building to exist forever even if empty and there are other buildings that could work in it's place. I love the concept, but overall it seems like the game has not been play tested to completion enough to be out of early access.

Crash bugs seem fixed in the April 24th patch with a new start

Gotten pass the tutorial which I initially got stuck for an hour before realising it was too far to fix issues. A fresh save and hindsight, was able to progress to turn 160 in the ice biome. My gosh beetles were the bane of my life and they can render your builds unusable. I liked the interactions with the crew and seeing their whole family tree and who has more trauma and stress. Also noticed that the game can get stuck in tutorial when completing the adjectives as nitrates were stuck on 43/45 for a while. I resolved it by saving and reloading back the game. It did this for around 3-5 times throughout the gameplay. Given it very good go but it's let down by the technical side and no ability to look up the builds and see what needs to be connected with them. I had to solely rely on reading the small descriptions carefully as some words are very similar even as a native English speaker. Playing this game make me realise civ 6 is actually a lot easier by comparison.

I really like the combination of narrative choices, turn based AND city building. looking forward to seeing how the game develops

В целом интересная игра на логику и совмещение зон влияния. Чувствуется ранний доступ и несколько направлений хотелось бы отполировать: 1) низкая понятность интерфейса размещения построек - не ясно - будет ли негативное влияние на жилые кварталы 2) не ясно - здания работают со связями напрямую или добавляют ресурсы в общий пул. Графика понравилась, сюжет пока не разобрал. Впечатления положительные - очень напоминает before we leave и surviving mars отдельными механиками. Пока прошёл первые 2 биома и игра перезапустила геймплейный цикл. Перспективно - но пока очень коротко.

I've played through the first two chapters of the game, and if anybody likes board games, that's sort of what it feels like - A pretty fun but still unpolished, puzzley, building placement board game. What's it's got going for it: - The vibes (narrative + writing + themes) - Good gameplay (making production chains through buildings to accomplish your goals; not too hard, not too easy) - Interesting concepts (crises and beneficial events that could affect your crew members) - Everything mostly works despite it being EA (I only had one crash/bug that I noticed) What needs to be improved: - Better tutorializing for players; a bit too much friction w/ figuring out how some things work - Information clarity/presentation for the players through UIX - You can't load a save while in game? (I assume this QoL will be added eventually, but seems weird that I have to exit to Main Menu to load a save) - More events? I got a lot of repeated events during my playthrough. Not sure what the actual breadth of events are and what exactly causes specific ones to trigger. Overall, it has the foundation of a pretty enjoyable game. At the very end of the content available, I got access to some a new that change the way a previous mechanic worked, and that's always exciting. I could see how getting more buildings will affect how you can play and build. The maps aren't very big and so it's neat that you have to keep space and terrain features in mind. I think if that feeling of tension presented by limited space & limited resources is improved upon, whereby a player can feel really successful when they figure out the best way to accomplish map's objectives, then the game will feel really good to play.

Generation Exile, схоже, натхненна реальним експериментом "Біосфера-2" і пропонує збудувати штучну екосистему, тільки в значно більших масштабах. Загалом гра нагадує IXION, але тут все відбувається лише всередині космічного корабля. Особлива увага робиться на екологію, хоча часто стаються і події, пов'язані з екіпажем. Ідея непогана, проте виконана сирувато, попри 7 років розробки. Принципова відмінність від IXION – надто багато треба проклацувати особисто, замість автоматизувати. Різні дії слід запускати в будівлях і призначати на завдання конкретних спеціалістів. При цьому ланцюжки споживання-виробництва показуються обрізано. Мусово заходити в будівлі і дивитися чого не вистачає, а хотілося б побачити це одразу. Є три біоми, які мають свої унікальні споруди і повинні взаємодіяти. В кожному треба підтримувати природу і піклуватися про населення. Сюжетний режим підкидає ключову проблему для кожного біому, як-от забруднені ґрунти чи шкідники. У гри є сюжет з деякою свободою. Імена і вигляд персонажів випадкові, вони заробляють корисні і негативні риси. Але події з екіпажем часто повторюються. В межах однієї глави це стається по 3-4 рази з однаковим текстом. Деякі ситуації мають раптово трагічний фінал. Можна ненароком убити свою колегу чи втратити 70% капібар. Екіпаж має генеалогічні дерева, але вони є радше для атмосфери, ніж якось впливають на процес. Поки що гра не досить відшліфована і більше чіпляє сюжетом – там є таємниці з самого початку і подорожі в часі. Чекаємо оновлень.

it's early access, so incomplete, but what's here is good and the team is solid and responsive.