Games worth discovering
A bite-sized sci-fi introduction to colony management games
8K View2023-03-21
I’m a sucker for anything based on Dwarf Fortress or Rimworld, and so Dream Land is right up my alley. It’s cutsier and simpler than its colony management forebears, but it makes some smart choices to streamline the experience to make it a good fit for mobile devices.
Dream Land put me in charge of a rag-tag group of either pioneers or bounty hunters, depending on which one of them you ask, who have crash-landed on an unknown planet in pursuit of someone named Liam. The English translation is a bit iffy, and so I was unclear on the relationship between the characters—burly, red-haired George constantly calls everyone else “children!” when addressing the group, but I took that as a strange character trait he picked up in space.
If you’ve played Rimworld or Prison Architect, Dream Land is going to make sense right away. My four colonists can cut down trees and forage for food right from the start, but I got straight to work directing them to build shelter and workshops. Everything can be upgraded, as long as I have the proper materials, and I’m always looking for ways to build better weapons and armor for my little cartoon gang.
Dream Land does an admirable job of making the building interface work on handheld screens—I can build an enclosed room by placing the first corner and confirming its placement, and then dragging the opposite corner out until I’m satisfied with the size and shape. Then I add a door, lighting, and whatever furniture goes inside. Finally, I’ll confirm my construction orders by tapping “build,” and the team will get to work on it. It works remarkably well, which was a nice surprise.
Once I got to more advanced materials and gear, the timers for production started getting longer. There’s premium currency you can spend to speed production up, but everything keeps ticking along if I decide to take a break and pocket my phone for an hour.
If you’ve never played Rimworld, Dream Land is a great introduction to the colony management genre.
Mentioned games
A mobile game with base building, farming, exploration, and combat | First Impressions - Dream Land
A spaceship has crash landed on an unknown planet. A group of survivors emerges from the wreckage. There is no way to repair the ship, leaving no choice but to salvage it for parts and set up a makeshift base.
Dream Land is a casual simulation game that deals with four major gameplay elements. Base building, Resource Farming, Exploration, and Combat. All of these four aspects are all done by your team of survivors who in turn have basic necessities that you need to manage like sleep, food, and hygiene, highly reminiscent of popular games like
lyndonguitar2K2023-03-22
This game is like RimWorld but for Mobile | Full Review - Dream Land
Dream Land is a free-to-play construction and management simulation that puts players in charge of a group of travelers stranded on an alien planet.
🟩Pros
+Fun base building mechanics
+Engaging exploration elements
+Clean 2D visuals
🟥Cons
-Minor UI and camera controls woes
-Sluggish performance
📝Notable points:
Live service online game, not playable offline
A spaceship has crash landed on an unknown planet. A group of survivors emerges from the wreckage. There is no way to repair the ship, leaving no choice but to salvage it for parts and set up a makeshift base.
lyndonguitar6K2023-03-23
Something new but gets boring easily
Pros
Our goal is to build more colonies and survive the attacks
You do have 'comrades' that can help you with the gathering of supplies or build
You can get more people by giving some items to the train
There is a campaign,co op and skirmish modes
You can place your colonists into different jobs like engineers, gunman and etc
Cons
Gets repeatedly easily
Bill Nature1362024-02-21
View desktop siteTapTap looks better
on the app 
