Banished vs Virtual Villagers: Origins
Banished
Banished is a medieval-themed city-building simulation that can be pretty difficult to get into at first mainly due to its many nuances and lack of a comprehensive tutorial. But once you get the general idea of how things work (we'd recommend starting with easy mode), you'll start to truly appreciate the game as the challenge that it is. In some way, this game is quite similar to SimCity in many ways with the obvious difference being the themes and the lack of piping, waste management or electricity. Different maps will pose a different challenge and of course, the bigger your village is, the more stuff you'll need to manage. Although it does have some strategy elements to it - mainly in the form of village management, the game is not a war game. There is no fighting involved but your villagers will die from natural causes or disasters like illnesses or famine.However, once you've gotten the hang of the game, Banished becomes less of a punishing game and a bit more boring due to the same-y looking buildings and the soundtrack. When it comes to replayability, we'd say that the game has maybe tens of hours in it before you'll get bored and move on to the next game... and this play duration may be drastically reduced if you happen to be a pro SimCity player.
So, in short, Banished will appear to be a somewhat frustrating game at first, but once you've gotten the hang of it, the game might gradually becomes boring mainly because there is nothing else to do except to expand, expand and expand! However, we can't say that we didn't enjoy playing the game, and even for the shorter play duration it has to offer, as opposed to triple A city-building titles, the game is worth the money it costs.
Virtual Villagers: Origins
Virtual Villagers: Origins is the village simulation game that is developed to answer the question of "what if The Sims is set in tribal times" and it did so perfectly. In this game, you'll need to help the fellow members of your tribe to survive in a mysterious new island by getting them to take up important roles, like farmers, builders and scientists. Grow your tribe and send them to explore the island they have now made their home on. There are also plenty of fun and challenging, random events that will spice up the day-to-day routine, allowing you to make use of your excellent problem-solving skills.In many ways, Virtual Villagers: Origins is very similar to other life simulation games like Virtual Families or, as mentioned, The Sims. For fans of such games, you'll find Virtual Villagers: Origins a suitable alternative.