May have to check it out. But but I want is a new Anno game. And Anno Online does not count. 

It looks incredibly tranquil and relaxing, with great seasonal  moods! Only just ... a little bit run-of-the-medieval-mill. I played all the Caesar City building games, so got spoiled with Elephants in title number two! Nothing can top that, so my apologies for that bit of criticism. It is totally unfair, since the climate obviously is highly unsuitable for Elephants!

Oh yes! I really would like to see a new Anno version game. Maybe a settings in the distant future like GC3? Agree in the above post, their on-line Anno version actually doesn't appeal to me. Why use the setting of Anno 1404?

However this is the GC3 forum. I was extremely thrilled when I saw a forum post declaring the GC3 game WIP. I had given up Stardock's interest in this game. Therefore I am extremely grateful that you actually made an effort in trying to renew this game. I will without any doubts buy this game whenever it is finalized. Keep up the good work Stardock developers. Thanks!

I've been waiting for this game for long, since I saw it first time, yet Steam plays on my feelings - I can't buy it!

Gabe, why you don't want to take my money?

If Gabe doesn't want your money, then give it to GOG.com. They sell the game too.

In any case, Banished looks pretty good. Especially considering that it was made by only one guy.

May I ask why its called "banished?" Looks cool... kids too.

I've played almost all day (took the day off... ). It's absolutely amazing in every respect. It's quite hard; sometimes it fools you into a false sense of safety, makes you believe your food and firewood production is stable, then suddenly you get a year of poor harvests and half of your town dies . And then, as your population slowly rises up again, there's a fire somewhere, and those aren't the sissy fires from Simcity, if you don't stop it right away your town's a goner.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/02/18/banished-review/

any similar experiences?

No. This is an awful review. The UI isn't the best ever but is servicable, and the reviewer didn't understand what game he was playing. I mean:

This is a Mayflower/Plymouth (MA, not MI ) simulation. And guess what? Just before the industrial revolution, even in the most fertile parts of mainland Europe, 70% of the population was composed of peasants whose purpose was exactly that: growing food. And famines still existed. In medieval times or in less fertiles places, it was closer to 90%. Yes, almost everyone in a settlement of pioneers will be growing food, not building Cadillacs. The game makes it clear that this is what it wants to represent: a small colony or settlement of people at least some distance away from civilization (there's a few rare traders, but aside from that you're on your own), that needs to be almost entirely self-sufficient and faces mundane challenges that threaten its existence, such as the weather or fires. It makes sense that in this context, a central point of the game is food management and keeping your population from starving to death. In other words, this reviewer seriously need to go buy himself a brain. TotalBiscuit's presentation is much more informative as to what the game really is about.

As for the difficulty, yes, it's quite high. It's the main appeal of the game: each catastrophe (not necessarily Simcity-like disaster, it can simply be a bad year of harvests or poorly planned expansion) can seriously set you back if you're not careful, or even destroy your city. There is no point in the game when you're safe from that. It's quite different from an Anno or a Simcity in that the creativity aspects are much more constrained by the harsh realities.

Thanks for the point-out Island, added to my Steam wishlist.

Looks way better than that prison-building game..

hah..

-tid242

I read about this game a while back and thought it looked great. I did not realize that it had released though. I may have to check it out when my computer is back up and running again...

I've been reading many forum posts on this game, and just about everyone is liking this game.  I trust those much more than that review.

Definitely going to pick this up tomorrow.

If you buy it through the developer in the link in the post, then you get a Steam key and DRM-free download.

Semper fidelis! Gabe first, Gabe only!

Yeah, and when you see art games made by bigger studios, asking $80, you play them and just asking "WTF I just paid for?"

Because city is made of people who were banished?

Is it closer to Cities XL where you can't just create a "self-supporting prosperous block" and build them all over the map, and had to think before you do?

And deprive Gabe of his 30% share?! No way!

Seriosly though, I need to replenish funds on my debit card to pay somewhere outside Steam. Same problem with book of Eschalon 3, btw.

I found CitiesXL to very easy. Is this game a challenge?