Banished vs Slime Rancher
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.
Slime Rancher
Slime Rancher is a pretty unique ranch simulation that's played in a first person view. In this game, you play the role of a futuristic pioneer who has just settled down on a planet filled with slime. Your job, like the gold miners of old, is to collect and ranch these slimes, make sure they are fed with their respective favorite food types, collect the valuable plorts that they spit out, and turn it into some profits!However, not all types of slimes are friendly. In fact, slimes that are friendly can turn hostile -
these are called Tars - simply by combining with multiple plorts from other species of slimes. Tars will gobble up everything nearby be it slimes or food stuff alike. Aside from having a whole new, and alien, world to explore, there are many ways for you to upgrade your ranch as well just so you can unlock new zones and hence, new slime types for your collection.
Slime Rancher is likely the most recent "big thing" among indie games, and although it won't be the last, the game definitely deserves its shot to fame. The game is incredibly easy to get into and once you're in, you'll be completely hooked! If you're looking for a game that's somewhat casual for the weekends, Slime Rancher is the perfect game to play.