Review: Aven Colony

Title:Â Aven Colony
Platform: PC (reviewed), Xbox One, PS4
Developer:Â Mothership Entertainment
Publisher:Â Team 17
Release date:Â 25th July
Tl;Dr:Â An innovativeÂ city builder set on a beautiful alien world.
Price: Â£24/$30
Family Focus: Click here for more information.

If you read my One Hour Tour of Aven ColonyÂ then you probably know how this review is going to go. I made no secret of my love for the out of this world city builder, and I can safely say, having finally got my hands on the full game, that my opinion has not changed one bit! This gorgeous city builder is just such a delight to play;I’ll be playing it for a long time to come.

Beautiful otherworldly vistas. Check. Strange plateau on top of a mountain. Check.

Aven Colony has a plethora of main missions to choose from, and also two very helpful tutorials. The tutorial missions are perfect for newcomers to the genre of city building games, but veterans can also get some new pointers, and just a little help getting to grips with the play style of Aven Colony. The main missions themselves are quite something; on each one, you are given a unique scenario, with the end goal (usually to make a certain building) given right off the bat.Â But to get there, you will need to grow your small colony into something great, all the while dealing with new missions given to you by the major people involved in the colonisation effort.

As you build the colony, the process of starting a new life begins relatively easily. You need to juggle electricity capacity with water intake and oxygen purity. These levels are conveniently placed at the bottom of the screen for quick viewing, but as the colony grows bigger, and more and more hopeful colonists flock to your burgeoning community; that’s when things ramp up a bit.

Creepin’ on your colonies.

Pictured above are a few of the problems you will face in Aven Colony. Those floating nasties are called Creepers, and they will latch onto your buildings and begin to destroy them. To get rid of those pests, you will need to build certain defence structuresÂ and also those nice turrets pictured above. These buildings will take up electricity; as a result, more generators will need to be built. Because of this and random events such as disease outbreaks, the difficulty level can rise if you were not prepared.

As you progress through the game, new threats will appear to challenge your colonisation efforts. After gaining the ability to go out on expeditions, rival splinter factions will arise to oppose your domination. Not only that, but the ancient robotic guardians of this planet have awakened and have come to defend their land from these newcomers.

You do not only need to battle the living (or robotic) things on the planet, however. One of the greatest battles you will have in Aven Colony is with the elements themselves. Along with a day/night cycle, there is also a cycle of weather. During the summer months, your solar generators will work at peak productivity as normal. But with less sun in winter comes less power. Players will need to make sure they can deal with the lower hauls of power and other weather dependent crops during these tougher times.

Quick defend the plateaus! They are being creeped!

All in all, Aven Colony is one hell of a city builder, it manages to bring the otherwise grounded in reality city building genre into the otherworldly realm of sci-fi. I have had such a fun time playing Aven Colony and I honestly can’t wait to see where Mothership Entertainment go from here.

The Good

Gorgeous visuals

Intuitive game design

Not too challenging to new players, but not too easy either.

The Bad

Creeper attacks can become too frequent.

Difficulty curve can skyrocket.

Turrets don’t necessarily mean you are protected

Family Focus – Aven Colony

Aven Colony is rated PEGI 12+/ESRB Rating 10+. I found the game rather tame and not at all violent aside from the odd Creeper attack, barely a gun is shot.