Games worth discovering
An addictive city-building game with a Martian twist - Farlanders Quick Review
15K View2023-01-18
PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?
Definitely play it. I’ve always enjoyed spending way too much time grinding civilization-building games, and Farlanders isn’t helping that addiction. Though the setting of Mars provides a unique angle, the gameplay is classic city sim with just enough difficulty to be both fun and challenging.
TIME PLAYED
I played Farlanders for four hours. I’ve completed six chapters so far, with each lasting between twenty minutes and an hour
WHAT’S AWESOME
• Gameplay. Farlanders has everything I love about civilization-building games, including resource farming and city structuring. But it also tweaks the tried-and-true formula with additions like terraforming and underground digging.
• Progression. Farlanders required that I pay close attention to every detail of the civilization I was putting together. My patience was rewarded, though, as I watched the pieces fall into place to form the perfect Martian city.
• Campaign. Farlanders’s campaign helped me tremendously by thoroughly showing me the ropes of the game’s mechanics. Each chapter that I needed to complete came with missions that added a little challenge and a whole bucketload of fun to the game.
• Difficulty. I always love a good challenge, but sometimes civilization-building games can be a little too difficult for me. Farlanders felt challenging, but only where it needed to be. The game balances the difficulty expertly throughout its campaign.
• Visuals. Despite Farlanders having a pixel art style, I had no trouble distinguishing buildings from one another. The same goes for mountains, ores, and rocky paths. The attention to detail in the visuals was pleasant to look at, but more importantly, it was helpful in navigating and building my city.
WHAT SUCKS
• Terraforming. Although Farlanders’s terraforming mechanic adds something unique to the game, the randomness associated with it tarnishes the experience. Every few turns, I chose between three terraforming tiles picked at random; I had no control over whether I was offered tiles that would fill a crater with much-needed water or tiles that would destroy an area. That meant that I couldn’t plan ahead. I found myself stuck waiting for certain tiles to appear, and in some cases, I lost precious resources and progress to this frustrating, time-consuming process.
💬 Will you play Farlanders or are you going to skip it? Tell us in the comments below!
Mentioned games
Farlanders, a Martian colony builder
The mystique of exploring a planet unknown to the human race has always been present in the dreams of the most adventurous. With the consecutive advances in technology, this dream is more present than ever. Farlanders explores the idea of building a colony on the surface of the red planet, addressing themes such as imperialism, capitalism, as well as job dissatisfaction.
It should be noted that there are different game modes in Farlanders, the Campaign, Freeplay, which as the name implies the player is completely free to do whatever he wants, and the Sandbox mode which is not yet available. The Campaign mode, on the other hand, follows a line divided into 7 missions, which increase in difficulty and which is by far the most interesting point of this title, following the story of Marco, the new architect in charge of building and expanding the colony. The whole story unfolds between small notes of image and text in the style of a visual novel. There are interactions between team members and consequently intrigue and distrust. The point is that Marco’s dream job along the way will become more and more complicated, stressful and with less perks than he would have expected. All these moments are recorded by Marco on his own Vlogs channel making things a little more interesting.
ExileCast8K2023-01-22
A city-building game that's the opposite of SimCity - Terra Nil quick review
PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?
Play it! City-building games have taken it for granted that growth is good for decades, and why wouldn’t they? That’s how we run cities and companies and everything else, after all—but there’s a price to pay for all that expansion. That’s what Terra Nil is interested in, and it’s the first game I’ve played that let me build something, watch it develop and bloom, and then pack up and leave, without a trace of my presence remaining afterward.
Ian Boudreau4K2023-03-27
Farlanders, how to terraform Mars
The mystique of exploring a planet unknown to the human race has always been present in the dreams of the most adventurous. With the consecutive advances in technology, this dream is more present than ever. Farlanders explores the idea of building a colony on the surface of the red planet, addressing themes such as imperialism, capitalism, as well as job dissatisfaction.
Farlanders presents an interesting narrative during its missions, but the lack of information regarding all the construction and mechanics necessary to advance with it makes the experience somewhat frustrating.
ExileCast5332023-01-23
View desktop siteTapTap looks better
on the app 
