Foundation

Foundation (2019) is a city-building simulation game where you create networks of supply and consumption in a medieval village. You not only develop structures, gather resources and create your own unique settlement, but also manage the individual needs of each villager as the lord of the town. It blends the creative gameplay of games like Cities Skylines with the deep management of games like Stellaris to create a unique play experience.

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You start in a small clearing in the medieval countryside and must send the few people you have with you to complete tasks; cutting down trees, farming, and gathering other resources. While other city-building games tend to be grid-based, Foundation allows you to choose exactly where to place each building, its orientation, and even what it looks like. You use a tool similar to a paintbrush to tell your townsfolk where to cut down trees for timber, create paths, and more.

While initially the focus is more on this creative side of the game, as you progress, the size of your town necessitates strategy becoming a more prominent player in your decisions in the later game, as you need to keep your followers content, lest they rapidly abandon you, which, once started, can rapidly escalate in the blink of an eye. Additionally, you need to become more mindful of the space you have to use, and limited resources will have you making difficult decisions.

It's a unique game, not only because of its setting in the medieval period, but also because of its deep gameplay systems which combines strategy and keeping individual folk happy with the typical creativity these games always allow.

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Our examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked Foundation 2 years ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 10 months ago.