Game recommendations

Farangu · January 2015

Hello all,

My wife really got into Banished recently, and that kind of city-building is her jam. She recently asked me if I knew of any games like that, but with a sense of time progression, as in your people went from huts to crude towns to modern age. She's not very big on combat, and she doesn't feel comfortable with needing to keep track of a lot of things going on at the same time so something too frantic is probably not a good fit for her.

This isn't really my style of game that I like and keep track of, so I figured I'd ask for some advice on a game to recommend for her. Thanks!

Siska · January 2015

Try The Guild - http://store.steampowered.com/app/39520/
It's an old game, semi-turn based with timed turns. It doesn't progress through history, as in you start in the stone age, but other then that it should fit what you are looking for. Basically the point of the game is to become a corporate magnate in medieval times. The character you start as will eventually die from old age and failing health, so make sure you get married and have plenty of children so you can continue playing when that happens. You start out as owning one business. Like a tailor, stone smith, metal smith, watchman, church, graveyard, apothecary, thief or whatnot. Then you branch out and expand.There are also politics for you to dabble in where you run for office and set laws and tax rates for the city.

It has very little combat with little interaction needed. Mostly when robbers try to steal your carts (you can hire guards to fend them off). If you choose to branch into the robbery business, you will of course see more of that. It also has the occasional rare duel. But again nothing complicated or fast paced. Just choose if you want to cheat, aim or shoot wildly.

Game does not have a true ending. At some point you just get bored with owning all the things and start over. I've probably replayed this game 100 times. If she likes that one, there is also The Guild 2. That one is not turn based at all. It also has a bit more, interactive, combat. Overall, less automated and a lot more direct interaction needed.

There is also Pharao - http://www.gog.com/game/pharaoh_cleopatra
Build towns and monuments in ancient egypt. Pretty slow paced and relaxing. It has some (very little) combat but it's mostly in the form of making sure your army is big enough and then things run themselves.

CelestialBadger · January 2015

Civilization. 2 or 3; later episodes are annoyingly complex.

wonderpug · January 2015

Definitely have her look at the Settlers games! Low on combat, high on building a sandbox and watching people doing their work like in Banished.

Farangu · January 2015

She is already quite familiar with the Civ games. Probably too familiar.

Foomy · January 2015

The Anno/Dawn of Discovery games are probably exactly what your looking for. It's very similar to Banished in the way you collect resources to build better resources to advance your people. It doesn't quite have advancing time ages, but your people do go from little wood huts to stone mansions as you fulfill more of they're demands.

You could also try out Tropico, not exactly the same sort of game but in the same city-building genre, and no time scale, but it is very very fun.

Enc · January 2015

Dawn of Discovery Venice was probably the longest hold on me of that genre. Haven't found anything aside from Banished to take it's place since.

Sir Carcass · January 2015

Doesn't fit your description, but check out Patrician IV and Port Royale 3, in addition to the other games mentioned. They're more of trading games set in a specific time period, but they tick a lot of the same boxes that a game like Banished does, and they're quite good.

Donovan Puppyfucker · January 2015

Age of Empires?

Inquisitor77 · January 2015

I was going to recommend a bunch of games, but then I realized that they are all at least 10 years old... The city-building genre really died out about a decade ago, unfortunately. The only successors to that kind of game play have been limited to 3DS games (such as the Harvest Moon series) and "freemium" games on platforms like Facebook and Android/iOS (Clash of Clans, Keflings, etc.).

What about CivCity: Rome? I heard mixed things about it, so I stayed away, but it might be worth a look. Apparently Banished is decent as well.

Man, this thread is really reminding me of how much time I wasted playing games like Caesar growing up. And now the only thing we have is...SimCity.

schuss · January 2015

CelestialBadger wrote: »

Civilization. 2 or 3; later episodes are annoyingly complex.

Eh, Civ 5 and beyond earth are friendlier, in my opinion, given that the UI's are so much better.

ANTVGM64 · January 2015

If you like the fun of seeing little people build little buildings and seeing all the ins and outs and ups and downs and REALLY feeling like you're essentially the hand of god watching over people that are ACTUALLY really building things, instead of building representations of things like in Civ, let me suggest The Settlers Two.

It's cute, fun, challenging, not uber-war focused, and hard! I think you can find it on Home Of The Underdogs.org if that's still around

Robes · January 2015

Tropico 5 is pretty consistent with your description. You are basically governor of an island, and get to watch your people build up your city.

Siska · January 2015

Kamiro wrote: »

Siska wrote: »

Try The Guild - http://store.steampowered.com/app/39520/
It's an old game, semi-turn based with timed turns. It doesn't progress through history, as in you start in the stone age, but other then that it should fit what you are looking for. Basically the point of the game is to become a corporate magnate in medieval times. The character you start as will eventually die from old age and failing health, so make sure you get married and have plenty of children so you can continue playing when that happens. You start out as owning one business. Like a tailor, stone smith, metal smith, watchman, church, graveyard, apothecary, thief or whatnot. Then you branch out and expand.There are also politics for you to dabble in where you run for office and set laws and tax rates for the city.

I just picked this one up on steam. Guild and Guild 2 + expansions were on sale for 75% off and it sounded interesting, so I went for it! I accidentally stayed up till 1:30 in the morning playing the Guild 2. Oops

The Guild 2 has some good fan-made patches that fixes some bugs and improves the AI and other things. BUT I think there was a recent official patch released and I am not sure these unofficial patches are compatible. If not, hopefully someone will get around to updating them.
Other things, the guild 2 has two expansions (Pirates and Renaissance) that are separate and not working together for some odd reason. Basically whichever shortcut you click, that is the expansion you play. Or if you click the base Guild 2 shortcut you play neither. Of the two expansions Renaissance is considered the best as far as content goes.

Librarian · January 2015

If she is already familiar with Civ she should most definitely check out Endless Legend, which I personally find much more enjoyable than all the latest Civs combined. The playable factions are all very very different and it is totally possible to play the game with very little combat.

Lepton · January 2015

Kamiro wrote: »

I'd like to second Caesar III

I'll give another recommendation for Caesar III. It's really fun, plus each assignment offers you a choice between a peaceful mission and a more dangerous mission, each with their own unique challenges.

Edit: There does exist a Caesar IV released in 2006. I have not played it.

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