Banished Thumbnail

Banished similar games & best alternatives

Banished

PC (Microsoft Windows) • 2014

Related articles

Quick resume

In this city-building strategy game, you control a group of exiled travelers who decide to restart their lives in a new land. They have only the clothes on their backs and a cart filled with supplies from their homeland. The townspeople of Banished are your primary resource.

Global score

90/100

Genres

Indie, Simulator, Strategy, Real Time Strategy (RTS)

Similar games

    Pros

    • Challenging and deep resource management
    • Immersive and relaxing atmosphere
    • Random map generation
    • Active modding community
    • Long play sessions and replayability

    Cons

    • Limited building variety
    • No multiplayer or social features
    • Lack of narrative or campaign
    • Performance issues at large population
    • Some repetitiveness after extended play

    Analysis

    Broadly representative of its motivational profile, with a few distinct shifts. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Fantasy, Violence, Story, Thrill. Here, the score leans higher than usual among comparable games on Survival, Leadership, Thrill.

    How to use the graph
    Similar games map

    Each dot is a game. They are arranged from the same motivation profile as in the “Motivations” section below. Closer dots usually mean more similar reasons to play (exploration, competition, relaxation, etc.)—not that one game is “better” than another.

    • Larger dot with a light outline: the game you are viewing.
    • Colour: groups of games with comparable motivation patterns (statistical clusters).
    • Hover a dot to see the game name; click to open its page.
    • Scroll or double-click the chart to zoom out and see more games.

    Why don’t the axes read like a score? This view uses t-SNE: it only keeps who is close to whom. The scales are not “good to bad” or hours played—they separate groups on the map. Read distance between dots, not the axis numbers.

    Motivations

    • Autonomy
      4

      "Players have full control over settlement development, resource management, and labor assignments, with freedom to build and expand in any order."

    • Competence
      4

      "The game is challenging with complex resource balancing and survival mechanics requiring skillful management and strategic planning."

    • Competition
      -4

      "Focuses on individual city building and survival without player-vs-player or ranked competition."

    • Continuation
      3

      "Many players report long sessions and habitual play, though some find the game repetitive after extended play."

    • Cooperation
      -5

      "Entirely single-player experience with no multiplayer or cooperative gameplay."

    • Creativity
      3

      "Players design and customize their settlement layout and resource strategies, though building types are limited."

    • Domination
      -5

      "No player dominance or power over others; interactions are with environment and resource management only."

    • Escapism
      4

      "Players use the game as a relaxing escape with immersive atmosphere and slow-paced survival gameplay."

    • Expectation
      -4

      "Players engage voluntarily out of interest and enjoyment, not due to obligation or external pressure."

    • Experimenting
      3

      "Players experiment with different strategies, resource allocations, and modded content to optimize settlements."

    • Exploration
      2

      "Random map generation offers some exploration and discovery of new terrain each playthrough."

    • Expression
      2

      "Limited avatar or character customization, but players express themselves through settlement design and layout."

    • Fantasy
      -3

      "Set in a realistic medieval-like survival scenario without fantasy or mythical elements."

    • Fellowship
      -5

      "No social or community features; strictly single-player experience."

    • Growth
      4

      "Players learn and improve resource management and survival skills over repeated playthroughs."

    • Health
      -5

      "Sedentary gameplay with no physical activity or health-related mechanics."

    • Idle
      -4

      "Requires constant attention to resource and population management; not suitable for idle play."

    • Intimacy
      -5

      "No social interaction or relationship building beyond managing villagers as resources."

    • Leadership
      3

      "Players lead and manage their settlement and assign roles to villagers, guiding development."

    • Progression
      3

      "Players progress by growing population, expanding settlement, and acquiring resources and buildings."

    • Relaxation
      3

      "Many players find the game relaxing and immersive despite its difficulty and challenge."

    • Sensation
      2

      "Pleasant visuals and audio create a soothing atmosphere but sensory stimulation is moderate."

    • Status
      -5

      "No social recognition or status systems; achievements are personal and offline."

    • Story
      -4

      "No narrative or campaign; sandbox gameplay focused on survival and city building."

    • Strategy
      5

      "Heavy emphasis on strategic resource management, planning, and problem solving."

    • Thrill
      2

      "Some suspense from disasters and survival challenges, but overall a controlled environment."

    • Value
      4

      "Players report high value for money due to long playtime and mod support."

    • Violence
      -5

      "No combat or destruction; focus on constructive building and survival."

    • Survival
      5

      "Core gameplay revolves around managing threats like starvation, cold, disease, and disasters."

    Where to buy

    Come talk about it on Discord!

    Last update: 29/04/2026