morninbru
1 review liked by morninbru
I played probably way too long through a campaign of this game, but I don't think it's my fault.
Surviving the Aftermath is a great game as a city-builder and colony management simulator that pulls a lot from Frostpunk and to a lesser extent, games in The Settlers series. However, there's a 4X layer that could potentially be a good and interesting dynamic, is boring and frustrating for the most part.
The towns you can build have decent logistics and offer multiple paths to production, which is always nice to see as opposed to linear ones. For example, clothing requires some kind of fibre, however those fibre sources can be animal or plant farmed from different sources. It allows for diversity of play style within a single campaign.
Scientific unlocks, especially for buildings, are a relief when achieved. They give the player an advantage in the push-and-pull struggle of building upon a toxic landscape.
There are some hidden mechanics of the colony sim that I didn't understand. For example: outside of narrated events that include disease outbreaks, the colonists would suffer from them. I didn't understand why, and the game's community didn't either, as they offered suggestions of "maybe don't put buildings so close together." This confusion is further exasperated when watching colonists develop their own pathing, sometimes through hazards, or sometimes far away from their work sites, home and entertainment.
Scrolling through the UI to get specific information is also a frustration. Some important information is hidden under layers and layers of menus, then disappearing when engaging in the map. Re-opening menus doesn't pick up where you left off and the job/home views are unclickable, leaving management tasks such as finding out where people are unhappy in the colony nearly impossible. Even games like Tropico have made the UI in these types of city-builders easily accessible and useful for micromanaging a population.
The different stories that pop up can be categorized into decisions that give resources or buffs. The ones that aren't part of the mainline story are often repeated, which is unfortunate - but it could have been how long I spent with the game.
That leads to my biggest complaint of this game: the 4X layer. There's a map you can send specialized colonists throughout, and there's a lot going on in there. It's how the colonies can consistently grow, the only way to gather certain resources, or participate in the actual story of the game. I didn't realize the latter, so I put off story missions until I was comfortable with my city being built.
Then that lead into the back-half of the game being a long drag until the game completed itself, which is a common complaint. If I had of known I would be waiting on automated resource-gathering outside of direct gameplay for the last 10-15 hours, I would have engaged with the 4X layer more frequently.
Those complaints aside, this is a fun city-builder that I may engage with again if the DLC add more interesting stories, mechanics, buildings and other aspects to an otherwise fine game.
Surviving the Aftermath is a great game as a city-builder and colony management simulator that pulls a lot from Frostpunk and to a lesser extent, games in The Settlers series. However, there's a 4X layer that could potentially be a good and interesting dynamic, is boring and frustrating for the most part.
The towns you can build have decent logistics and offer multiple paths to production, which is always nice to see as opposed to linear ones. For example, clothing requires some kind of fibre, however those fibre sources can be animal or plant farmed from different sources. It allows for diversity of play style within a single campaign.
Scientific unlocks, especially for buildings, are a relief when achieved. They give the player an advantage in the push-and-pull struggle of building upon a toxic landscape.
There are some hidden mechanics of the colony sim that I didn't understand. For example: outside of narrated events that include disease outbreaks, the colonists would suffer from them. I didn't understand why, and the game's community didn't either, as they offered suggestions of "maybe don't put buildings so close together." This confusion is further exasperated when watching colonists develop their own pathing, sometimes through hazards, or sometimes far away from their work sites, home and entertainment.
Scrolling through the UI to get specific information is also a frustration. Some important information is hidden under layers and layers of menus, then disappearing when engaging in the map. Re-opening menus doesn't pick up where you left off and the job/home views are unclickable, leaving management tasks such as finding out where people are unhappy in the colony nearly impossible. Even games like Tropico have made the UI in these types of city-builders easily accessible and useful for micromanaging a population.
The different stories that pop up can be categorized into decisions that give resources or buffs. The ones that aren't part of the mainline story are often repeated, which is unfortunate - but it could have been how long I spent with the game.
That leads to my biggest complaint of this game: the 4X layer. There's a map you can send specialized colonists throughout, and there's a lot going on in there. It's how the colonies can consistently grow, the only way to gather certain resources, or participate in the actual story of the game. I didn't realize the latter, so I put off story missions until I was comfortable with my city being built.
Then that lead into the back-half of the game being a long drag until the game completed itself, which is a common complaint. If I had of known I would be waiting on automated resource-gathering outside of direct gameplay for the last 10-15 hours, I would have engaged with the 4X layer more frequently.
Those complaints aside, this is a fun city-builder that I may engage with again if the DLC add more interesting stories, mechanics, buildings and other aspects to an otherwise fine game.