Scorchlands

[h1][b] TLDR: Some neat concepts with resources that fans of Factorio might appreciate. The puzzle elements and character traversal were a big turn-off for me. [/b] [/h1] [h1]PROS: [/h1] ➕Terraforming is cool ➕Ability to experiment with building setups - no movement penalty [h1]NEUTRALS: [/h1] 🔹Resource management is quite different - must constantly expand colonies for greater amount of global resources 🔹Less of a city builder, and more of a puzzle resource management game (Chill Factorio) [h1]CONS: [/h1] ➖Character traversal is wasted time/effort ➖Quite confusing, even after the tutorial ➖Laser transfer via hex grid is annoying ➖Can quickly get overwhelming [h1] [b] Content (Game world/Narrative) – [5/10] [/b] [/h1] Hex spaces and terraforming are neat. Narrative is barebones and tacked on. [h1][b] Gameplay (Mechanics/Difficulty) – [6/10] [/b] [/h1] Major points for creative usage resources - How this works is you set up nodes to gain resources, and these resources are always maxed, meaning you gather nothing over time. The goal then is to move resources around between your settlements in order to craft the next tier of resources. I found this game to be difficult, even playing on the easiest setting. Right when you hit tier 2 and need to deal with 5x more resources than T1, I immediately became overwhelmed. The lack of a better tutorial didn’t help. [h1] [b] Graphics (Quality/Performance) – [5/10] [/b] [/h1] Average, nothing special i9-13900KF | RTX 4090 | 64GB RAM | 1440p @ 240hz | Windows 11 installed on SSD [h1] [b] Audio – [2/10] [/b] [/h1] Forgettable music, no voice acting [h1] [b] Replay Factor (Longevity) – [NA/10] [/b] [/h1] Unable to provide a substantive rating here since I did not finish the game. [h1] [b] Final Verdict – [5/10] [/b] [/h1] So, to start off with, I’ll immediately say that I think Scorchlands (SL) is a well-made game, but it’s not for me and I do not recommend it. The reason why I’ll explore below. Negatives first. By far the biggest detractor for me is that this is less of a city management/resource game, like Civilization, and more of a puzzle game where the resources are part of the puzzle. Think something like Factorio, but with a much more chill vibe and the same immense learning curve. Imagine in Factorio if you had max resources at all times dependent on your production output, but the major issue is moving those resources from point A to point B so they can be used to make newer, more advanced resources. This wouldn’t be so bad if the moving system wasn’t so convoluted. Oh no, there’s no conveyor belts here. In SL you have to constantly build new settlements, get the resources, and then transfer them via a hex-aiming laser system. To do so, you must align the lasers, account for bends or impediments like trees, and maybe even use a mirror system to deal with angles. This becomes a giant puzzle that SL likes to create problems and ask you to solve them. Not sure why my bird people population can’t just walk the resources to where they need to go. Or build conveyor belts. Admittedly, I’m not the biggest fan of puzzle games, so right off the bat I was disappointed with the puzzle mechanics. But aside from the numerous puzzles, what else is an issue? I hated how instead of moving a camera around, you actually control a bird as your character. This makes it sooo annoying to move from one end of the map to another. The reason they did this is because your character is used in combat, but how it should have worked is a normal camera, then to bring your character out for the combat. Instead, it takes constant minutes running back and forth across the level to your different settlements. Imagine in Civilization or Cities: Skylines if you played as a person in 3rd person view and had to walk all over the map to actually do anything. Awful waste of time. My biggest positive is the terraforming and freedom of moving the elements of your settlements. To start with the terraforming aspect, the entire game revolves around building up enough resources to unlock the next biome, in which you utilize by blasting a part of the world that changes it into a different area. I thought it was neat that you can customize the level by adding different resource grids where you wanted them. “Oh, yeah I can’t make much use of this boring area, shame.” becomes “BOOM, IT'S NOW A DESERT!”. Secondly, I love how SL allows a player to alter their settlement or builds at any time. As a player you are invited to experiment with different setups and locations of buildings. At any time you can change the position of buildings, settlements, and even biomes, all without penalty. Overall, while I became quickly overwhelmed with the bevvy of resources, and frustrated by the puzzle elements, I would actually recommend Scorchlands to big fans of Factorio that want to try something a bit different. Unfortunately for me, I wouldn’t have bought this game if I knew how much of a focus the gameplay was on juggling resource transportation with laser-beam puzzles. There’s a good game in here, just not for me. [h1] [b] Recommend? [Y/N] [/b] [/h1] [h1]No[/h1] You can find my curator page here: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Synik_GR

[quote]A review copy was provided by the developer.[/quote] [quote]Follow my Curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41363546-Fruit-N-Doggie-Reviews/]Fruit N Doggie Reviews,[/url] so you can be updated whenever I post a new review.[/quote] [h1]Overall Rating - Painfully Bad ★☆☆☆☆[/h1] [h1]First Impressions[/h1] Strategy games aren't my usual forte, but taking the occasional dip seems like a good idea to keep my mind sharp. There wasn't a lot of information available about Scorchlands (SL) before I accepted a review key for it. Combat didn't seem to be a prominent feature, as it was focused more on players creating a colony. City builders can touch on the fringe of strategy, without the pressure of needing to make optimal moves and deal with aggressive AI, so I was hopeful it'd suit my interests. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] Technically there is combat, but it plays a small part in the game. Instead of having to protect your colony or resources, as you explore the area, you'll encounter stationary enemies that might be around a crucial item. By advancing units into the vicinity, they'll automatically overpower the enemy, meaning that the combat is rather passive and low stakes. Moving them forward sometimes doesn't work right, as a unit you try to move forward will merely swap places with another unit instead. What can be confusing is knowing all the conditions for establishing the next tier of buildings. For example, in order to set-up three distinct buildings just to process stones, you have to do so in a specific way. Considering how quickly things get messy from one of the first things you establish, I can only imagine how bad it gets the further you progress. This sort of system builds on itself, and with a limited radius to each colony you establish, you have to direct resources using an odd system of catapults, mirrors, and lasers. That's the literal system you have to use. Without knowing it, the area you started at might not be located properly with regards to everything you'll eventually need. Even if you can fix it, needing to adjust around issues you hadn't prepared for makes you wish you'd known about all of this stuff earlier. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3697344518 [h1]Controls[/h1] According to the store page, this title is supposed to be compatible with a controller. However, as I went through the tutorial, I tried following the directions, but reached a point where none of my inputs worked. Nothing I pushed activated the move or ability I was being told how to use, so I had no choice but to use the mouse and keyboard instead. What's annoying is that for whatever reason, you have an avatar that you have to move around the map, when most games would simply let you zip around freely. It's an unnecessary feature that doesn't benefit the gameplay any. [h1]Story[/h1] Aside from a broad reference to a race of avians settling new territory, there isn't any in-game story or plot. I can somewhat understand this, but such things tend to make a solid framework for a Campaign Mode alongside its tutorial. You learn about the needs, abilities, and interests of the people you're overseeing, with tasks and objectives that open up the way for future conflict and triumph. The tutorial laid the foundation for this, but the brief time I spent in the Campaign didn't have any story, which seemed odd to me. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3697345277 [h1]Visuals[/h1] Your perspective in this game is an angled overhead shot, which can be rotated and zoomed in or out as needed. Generally speaking, I think this is a good viewpoint for being able to look around the area and set up buildings or tools to excavate resources. However, by contrast all the buttons you use for selecting buildings or other options, are really small. I can understand not wanting to crowd the game's visuals with things like a HUD, but in this case they're minuscule, making it hard to navigate your choices. Also, with how you use resources in this game, I didn't find it easy to know the totals I had or needed to advance. [h1]Sound Design[/h1] The environment only seems to be made up of grasslands or barren, rocky terrain, with nothing else to change up the locale aside from lava and water. From what I can tell, the music doesn't change according to what your surroundings are, but automatically works through a play-list. Considering you're supposed to be in a unique location and an entirely different kind of ecosystem, you'd expect more distinct and unusual music than the fairly basic piano pieces I heard. With the default settings it's rather faint, even though there aren't any sound effects from your workers or buildings operating. On that note, it seems ironic to give the player an avatar, but never display all the workers you're creating. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3697345055 [h1]Pros[/h1] 🌟 It's free to set up and destroy buildings. Colonies can also be relocated without much hassle. 🌟 You don't have to be concerned about enemies disrupting your build. [h1]Cons[/h1] ❌ The tutorial shows the basics of how to set up the starting buildings, but didn't explain the rationale for why you'd place them one way compared to another. I really have no idea what the right approach is to setting up a colony. ❌ Having an avatar wasn't necessarily a terrible idea, but having to move it around the map and into specific places to interact with your colonies properly was ill-conceived. ❌ Changing the first few steps you have to take in Campaign Mode compared to the tutorial is confusing at best. [h1]Tips[/h1] 🔍 After establishing two colonies near stone, I think you're expected to diversify your resources, needing to build near other areas. 🔍 Don't destroy too many forests. [h1]Final Thoughts[/h1] Once I was outside of the tutorial, I found myself confused and unclear about how to make the game function. The prologue touches upon the highlights of how the mechanics work, but without making certain aspects clear, such as good ways to arrange things, and which new resources will sync up with the appropriate buildings. Also, there was suddenly a skill tree where I had to unlock elements that were automatically available during the tutorial. Discrepancies like this made the experience frustrating and perplexing, and indicated there's no point in going back to double-check something, because they weren't operating by the same rules. This feels too restrictive to be a fun city-builder, and information is poorly conveyed to players, making for a poor strategy experience. Having to control an avatar with a clunky set-up only made matters worse, so I don't recommend SL. [table] [tr] [th]PC Specs[/th] [th]Performance[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]Ryzen 2700 RTX 2070 16GB RAM ADATA SSD 1920x1080 [/td] [td]The game ran without incident on default settings. 💖 - SL is healthy [/td] [/tr] [/table]

What a fantastic game! Very chill unlimited resources 'factory' builder with a mix of planet modifications. Build new biomes with new resources for the next stage of development. Use some light puzzly fighting to open up the map by knocking out enemies that stand in your way. Definitely worth it and super happy with this one. Will report back when I beat the game! EDIT: AAAND IT'S BEAT! I'll double down on my initial thoughts. VERY fun and a great level of challenge. Wasn't mind breaking hard and just the right amount of complexity for me to keep me going. Give this one a shot.

I liked Scorchlands, but I feel I shouldn't recommend it. It's a very good game, but it's also weird, unintuitive, and opaque, which means it's quite likely *you* won't enjoy it. It's largely a simplified factory game. You place machines that gather resources, and other machines to process them to make more complex products. It also has a lot of mechanics that I had trouble grasping at first. It has a halfway decent tutorial, but the tutorial glosses over a lot of stuff. I think I was 10 hours in before I really understood everything. Well, almost everything. The major goal of the game is producing research items for the tech tree, unlocking more machines, combat equipment, and village size improvements. Every machine as a production rate, and that production rate usually depends on adjacency bonuses. There are a LOT of adjacency bonuses, which means that optimal layout is often not clear. For example, a stone mine gets +1 stone for each adjacent mountain, but it also gets +50% for each adjacent mine (of any kind), and each adjacent house. A stone cutter gets a base production of 4, +1 for each adjacent mine, and +1 for each adjacent house. The tutorial tells you to place stone cutters next to mines, but doesn't really explain what's going on. The information is there. If you click on any machine, it shows a list of possible bonuses that machine can receive, but you do *not* see this until you've placed a machine so you can click on it. There are some visual hints when you're placing buildings, but you *really* need to become familiar with the bonuses for each building, since they vary so much. It gets crazy. For example, normally you get 1 sand for every sand tile, but I discovered a complex layout can produce over 1000 sand from just 100 sand tiles. Another thing I think the game doesn't make clear is that production's also limited by conversion ratios. A stone cutter turns 1 stone into 2 stone slabs, and it doesn't matter how much production the stone cutter has from bonuses if there aren't enough stones to cut. The next complication is that you're building little villages to take these machines. Resources in each village are shared across the entire village, but you need logistics to move items between villages. For most of the game, this is lasers. Yeah, you're sending rocks via laser. Everything gets magically transported via laser. Point a laser at a laser in a nearby village, and it can send up to 100 of any resource. Transport is important, because each biome has unique resources, and villages need to transfer goods back and forth to fill the more complex production chains. Late game chains are often 4-5 layers deep. Later, you get pipelines that have no limit and can follow any route, and by the end of the game you've got 50+ villages in a convoluted net sending various resources to each other. To get land to expand, you have to go out and defeat monsters. The game doesn't spell that out, it tells you about combat, but it doesn't tell you that you can get more land by defeating enemy nests. Combat is *very* abstract, and not at all clear. Monsters are fixed in place, and you beat them by surrounding them with strong enough soldiers. Monsters gain strength by being adjacent to other monsters, but it's not clear how the math works. More, monsters exert a zone of control. You can't get close to a monster unless you have enough nearby strength. Which is a *different* calculation than damage. There's a unit that has a 4 ZOC strength and a 1 attack strength, which means it's bad at combat but vital to allow other soldiers to advance. I ended up doing trial and error to resolve most combats, shuffling units around until I found a combination that beat the monsters. Cleared land starts as generic plains with some trees, but you can make magic "essences" which allow you to create new biomes. You need these biomes for their unique resources. Desert has sand and metals, bog has nodes that convert coal into gold (!), mushroom pits have mushrooms, snow has magic fish and special ore, jungle has special seeds that need sand, toxic water, or fish to grow. It's funky, since you can place the biomes anywhere, and you can move them after they're placed, though that destroys any placed machines. I had to re-position one mushroom pit because it had no toxic pond, so I had to move it around until it had a good sized pool of toxic water. It's a factory game, not a puzzle game. The only real "puzzle" aspect is that with 6 biomes to re-arrange, you have to think a bit about which ones you'd like adjacent to which to simplify logistics. You can theoretically have any number of alternate biomes if you produce enough essence - I had 3 deserts and 3 mushroom pits at the end of the game. The root appeal is much the same as Factorio or Satisfactory. It has long, complex production chains, and often there are different products competing for the same resources. It doesn't have conveyor belts, but the lasers (and later pipes) give rise to convoluted spaghetti factories by the game's end.

So… [b]Scorchlands[/b]… It is really hard to define under which category this game should be assigned. On the one hand - You got very satisfying strategy game with heavy emphasis on economy, macro-management and complex dependencies between each and every colony that You erect. On the other hand - each and every colony is complex puzzle, that is just another puzzle piece of "global-scale" puzzle, with each puzzle piece adding more and more complexity that requires to constantly revisit previous colony to tinker with it and to make it more efficient. Best thing? If You are enjoying this type of constant tinkering to make all resources flow more "freely" and efficient, and another layer of complexity is "[i]just another obstacle to conquer[/i]" for You, then this is ideal game for You for a veeery long sessions. Of course You can deliberately make this game easier/harder depending what is Your game style making this title more accessible and for both casual and hardcore players. You simply need to pick Your poison at the beginning of Your journey in [b]Scorchlands[/b].

Poor UI choices, pointless character movement and annoying mechanics.

A really fun logistics game! By the third biome the amount of optimizing and updating old bases pushed it a little out of the "cozy" category that I was looking for, but I had a great time with the game all the same.

Honestly, this games deserves a wider audiance, there's so many little things poured into this that it's like- factorio meets RTS, with it's own unique elements added into the mix, I would love for there to be an endless sandbox expansion, just to see how far you can really push it, this game is a gem. Although a bit buggy and janky

За старание - лайк

В общем доволен.