Shining Rock Software has a new video up demonstrating its upcoming city-building strategy game Banished. The game focuses on building settlements, and has a more personal twist than the likes of SimCity; citizens are counted individually, and you're able to do things like track each child as it makes its way through school. And you'll want to send them to school, because getting an education means that as adults they'll be able to get more resources from a particular source, which in turn means you can have fewer production buildings taking up in space in your town but still keep your population numbers up.
Since this is a settlement full of people who've been exiled from their homes and have had to start their lives completely fresh, you'll have to focus on gathering resources like food and firewood. You'll want to put a hunting lodge in the wood for hunting deer, though they'll start to dwindle if you cut down too many trees. The video demonstrates a few of these nice touches, the thought that has gone into the consequences of your decisions. For instance, if you get your tailor to make some clothes for your townspeople they'll be able to spend more time outside in the winter, and venture further from the settlement in search of new land.
Given the multiple variables involved, Banished looks like it could be quite complex. In the video, we get to see a town hall get built – with its physical appearance reflecting its half-constructed state – and then all of the stats that the town hall lets the player access. You'll be able to check exactly what resources you have, and how many citizens in each profession, and look at graphs that monitor things like population growth over time.
Like the video? Check out the website for more info on the game.
Banished is due to launch for PC later this year. Will it be what you hoped SimCity would be?
