As time goes on, practical skills will become more valuable in terms of survival and maintenance. See the culmination of such skills in Settlement Survival by X.D. Network. It's a 3D management sim where it's all about building up a settlement to expand and provide for all of your citizens. From an overhead view, you'll be able to see all of your buildings, facilities, and citizens wandering around. You can use the UI to plan your city and assign jobs to all of your idle citizens. Make sure they're always doing something while at the same time proving everything they need to survive.
What's necessary for Settlement Survival?
It's been so long since all of humanity has had to deal with such difficult living and working conditions in the harsh wilderness. However, Settlement Survival reminds you just how hard it used to be when humans were first starting to think big. In a medieval-like era, you and your settlers spawn in a vast natural region. After starting off with a central building and a group of mature settlers, it's up to you to start growing the settlement. Of course, you won't be able to do this without healthy happy settlers willing to hunt, gather, and build. The bigger things get, the more you'll need to provide.
Settlement Survival teachings
Although there isn't much use for settlement-building skills in the modern world, it's good to have an understanding of them so that you can improve and appreciate your own. In Settlement Survival, there's a lot to learn. The most valuable lesson that comes through in the gameplay comes from the depiction of harsh conditions. You can start off in a lush environment with good weather, but this can only get you so far. It falls on you to make the most of it by harvesting efficiently and managing time carefully. You'll gain an appreciation for every one of your settlers and you'll want to make sure that they have the best care whenever they're not working. The game teaches you to really value everything that you have.
Then there's the sheer size of the experience. Whenever you decide to start a new settlement, the world can be generated in a variety of new and interesting ways. This, of course, feeds into the challenge of never knowing where you're going to start and what moves you'll need to make first. Even the smallest maps look and feel bigger with plenty of room to expand your settlement and experiment with different layouts. You'll want to make use of every bit of land to your advantage so that you're not wasting anything.
The pain of Settlement Survival
Surviving is not usually seen as an easy or fun task, but that's why games about it should try to make it more enjoyable. Though Settlement Survival does so in a way, in other ways, it doesn't. For example, the animation is very rigid. The low-polygonal style can work, but this game makes it way too stiff and flat. It's most noticeable in the settlers. Almost all of them are constantly sliding around the map in a T-pose, making it look like you're caring for a very ambitious group of mannequins that haven't figured out how to move somewhat naturally.
Then there are the overwhelming menus. Icons for all the different elements of the settlement are plastered along the borders of the screen. Aside from being bland and opaque, each menu is always overlapping with something else. Even just opening one causes a mess, and in a game where management is necessary to do almost everything, you'll be combing through a grey mess for much of the time.
Undertaking Settlement Survival
Settlement Survival is a 3D management sim about building a functioning settlement in freshly seeded wilderness regions. It stands to teach you a lot about resource and time management while gaining an appreciation for everything that you have. However, you'll be sifting through so many menus that you won't be able to amuse yourself with all the stiff animations.
Settlement Survival review - "Rebuild within wilderness"
Learn some survival and maintenance basics while trying to establish a thriving society in the wilderness for low-poly mannequin people.
Will Quick
Will Quick is a travelling writer currently dedicating his time to writing about the games he spends his free time playing. He's always on the lookout for the smaller and stranger of the bunch so he can shine a light on them.