Aven Colony is a city-building and management sim that tells the story of humanity’s first settlement of an extrasolar world. Land on exotic Aven Prime, where you must construct and maintain the infrastructure and ensure the well-being of your citizens, all while dealing with the often harsh realities of an exotic alien world.
On top of this, you’ll face the greatest challenge of all — keeping your people happy. How will you feed your people? Will you be able to provide them with enough jobs, entertainment, retail outlets, and other services while protecting them from the planet’s many dangers? What social policies will you enact to influence your people? The future of the colony rests on your decisions.
Aven Colony is a unique take on the genre. It is also one that works surprisingly well on consoles. For those with the itch to build some cities and don't mind the alien landscape I definitely recommend it.
Despite the time I've spent harping on Aven's issues, it's not necessarily a bad game. Mothership Entertainment has put in a lot of effort to try and create a threatening world for humanity to conquer. It certainly did the former, but the game fluctuates wildly from barely eking out an existence to being devoid of challenge. Humanity can do better on...
Aven Colony has the trappings of a good city-building game but simply lacks the depth to make it so. While the game looks great and plays well, the setting of space is underused outside of its aesthetic and the lack of variety or challenge inevitably leaves the game feeling dull.
All in all, Aven Colony is a blast. Planning out the best places to put your facilities in order to keep most people happy is both fun and absorbing. Surprisingly simple to learn, the game makes it easy to quickly get in the groove of building and splashes of humor keep you smiling.
Aven Colony is a standard game in this genre. It does not bring anything new and has some issues, but its multiple choices make it a good title for the city-building genre fans.
