Story: You have just arrived on Aven Prime, a new world that could be a new home for your people, if you’re up to the task. You start with some basic resources and a lot of hope, but you face an alien landscape and an uphill climb. But you do have some connections, so you’ll have access to some powerful drones that can construct your needed buildings and other assorted infrastructure. That’s pretty much the story of Aven Colony, you have a new world to design and build, fill with citizens, manage their needs, and expand to support even more citizens. Can you tame the wilds of Aven Prime and forge a new home for your people or will you be overwhelmed by the local quirks and constant habitation concerns?

Entertainment Value: Aven Colony is a city builder at heart, putting you in charge of an alien planet and the future of your people. The genre is a popular one, but the transition to console can be a tough one. After all, this kind of game offers a lot of depth and menu options, which doesn’t always translate well to a controller. But Aven Colony handles that aspect quite well, giving us a full range of building tools and options, but never feeling like they’re crowded or overwhelming to deal with. The menus can be a little much at first, but you’ll quickly learn the basics and be managing even the more complex options with ease after a while. The game presents you with different locations to build within, each with their own unique challenges and benefits. So even if you conquer one of them, you can always switch to a new build site and test your skills there. You can also choose various difficulties, which can push you to make the most of each decision and choose wisely, or face extinction. The various locations and difficulties add a lot of replay value, but even beyond that, it is a lot of fun just to start over and min/max your settlement, until you’ve mastered your craft.

The game follows the blueprint of most city builders in a lot of ways, but you will notice that you don’t need to build roads. So you can build your city more freely, as you don’t have to base everything on the transportation routes. Now you will need to build some tunnels for your folks to travel in, but they’re not as demanding as roads and are never a pain or chore to work around. You’ll need to build housing, entertainment, and places to work for your citizens, as well as some narcotic based refreshments, in case you want to raise their happiness without all the hard work. The idea of using synthetic drugs to sedate your citizens is a little dark, but adds a fun twist. You also need to feed the folks and that means building various farms, which is where one of Aven Colony’s mechanics kicks in. The seasons shift and based on the type of farm, either all production stops or your yield is lowered. So plan for those long winters or you’ll run of out food, which is a certain way to tank your settlement. Other concerns involve power management, air quality, and natural disasters or threats, from keeping your mining operations up, building defenses, and mitigating environmental hazards. This seems like a lot and it can be at times, but keeping your colony happy and productive is always a lot of fun. So if you’re into city builders, Aven Colony is a great game and even for first timers, is a good place to jump into the genre.

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