Deal | Steam deal: Unique medieval Sim City-style colony builder lets you build in harmony with nature or dominate it with free demo and 40% launch discount ↺
Of Life and Land takes the classic city- and colony-builder game simulation formula and puts a "choices matter" social twist on it. As is the case in genre classics, like Age of Empires and Sim CIty, players are tasked with building a civilisation from scratch, deciding the fate of the civilisation, and managing resources and adapting strategies to ensure development and welfare of the citizens of the new settlement and eventually expand to new lands.
Of Life and Land launched on Steam on May 16 after a long early access period, and as part of the version 1.0 introductory deal, the city builder is on sale for 40% off, bringing the price down to just $14.99, down from the regular price of $24.99. There's also a free demo available for download via the Steam Store.
Of Life and Land offers a twist on classic mechanics
Of Life and Land is, as the developer puts it, a "Unique deep simulation of the nature in a building strategy game with complex interdependence between humans and nature." While players are given the creative freedom typical of a city builder, the interactions between the settlements and the environment make it a more complicated and varied experience. This goes both ways, too. In Of Life and Land, everything is intertwined: Crops are affected by unpredictable forces, like the weather, wild animals, and location, but the player's choices have an impact on the natural world, too. For instance, mining or harvesting too much of a certain resource may drive an ecosystem out of balance, causing extinction of some species and population booms in other species.
Of course, players aren't forced into playing the game either way. You can choose to be a walking ecological disaster, or you can be respectful of the natural world and live in harmony with it. Whatever works goes.
Each individual citizen in your settlement also has their own habits, needs, and workplace, and they, too, are affected by local conditions, like climate and the seasons. Players can also trade with other civilisations to gain access to resources they don't have, and the same rules that apply to the player's settlements apply to the neighbouring communities.
Visuals and Steam reviews
The aesthetics in Of Life and Land lean very heavily into cosy game territory, with low-poly graphics and vibrant colours. The on-screen UI also seems minimally intrusive most of the time, and the building architecture seems heavily inspired by rural medieval style. The relatively simple graphics fortunately mean that the game should run well on gaming handhelds, like the Asus ROG Ally (curr. $649.99 on Amazon).
At the time of writing, the game sits at 87% positive reviews on Steam, with players praising the game for its surprisingly in-depth simulation and its unique gameplay mechanics.
Disclaimer: Notebookcheck is not responsible for price changes carried out by retailers. The discounted price or deal mentioned in this item was available at the time of writing and may be subject to time restrictions and/or limited unit availability.
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