Aven Colony Reviews
I spent the equivalent of a working week playing Aven Colony and it was hard labor. This is a game of relentless concentration and chore-work, with only the briefest flashes of magic and relief, offering almost nothing new to the city building, or resource management genres.
I don't think Aven Colony is terrible, despite these 1,500+ scathing words. The combination of survival and constructing a frontier colony is still an intriguing concept, and Mothership Entertainment have used the alien world conceit to create some novel, if ultimately irritating, obstacles. But the balance is all off, and its slog of a campaign and the attempts at streamlining make this a disappointing extraterrestrial outing.
Aven Colony is a gentle city builder where you will be tasked with growing colonies in different locations each with their own challenges. Where it lacks in depth it more than makes up for it in accessible gameplay, perfect for dipping into.
Aven Colony is a nice alternative to Cities: Skylines and a well made city builder. Even when it gets boring or repetitive it's still a nice game.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
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 its first settlement among the stars.
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.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
One of the best SimCity clones on consoles, whose streamlined gameplay is accessible if not necessarily very original.
On console, Aven Colony, with its simplicity and colorful graphics, could be a good introduction to the genre. On PC, a much stronger tradition of city builders highlights sono annoying flaws.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The first impressions of Aven Colony are great, as you build your first colony, finding your way on this alien world. It doesn't take too long before you start to see the limitations, whether by design or by mistake, leaving this as a city builder that's easy to pick up and play, but one that could do with a little more depth.
Ultimately, those performance issues are what will stop Aven Colony being a title that you'll put dozens of hours into. Though the campaign is unimaginative and some areas are not fleshed out as well as they could have been, the game is still addictive stuff. But, once you've run through the campaign you're only left with the sandbox mode, which grinds to a halt as soon as you start to do well.
Aven Colony is a capable sci-fi city-builder with great visuals and satisfying gameplay systems.
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 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.
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.
Aven Colony is a very addictive city-building game, and it's a pleasure to spend a few hours after work with it. Despite not the best interface and certain flaws in the mechanics, the project stands out for its theme and content. And it is definitely a must buy for the fans of the genre.
Review in Russian | Read full review
When Aven Colony is at its best, it's making a strong case for the viability of the real-time strategy genre on console via an addictive mix of easy-to-grasp city building mechanics, a surprisingly intriguing sci-fi story, and a tight campaign that offers variety and never outstays its welcome. Unfortunately, it has a number of annoying technical issues which -- while they might not affect every player -- are persistent enough to undermine the experience depending on your tolerance for slow down and hard crashes. If you can weather the storm of technical shortcomings Aven Colony throws at you, you'll find an impressive, accessible strategy game that feels right at home on PS4.
Aven Colony is a good city builder. The overall experience is great and has a tendency to make us addicted. Its accessibility, its huge quantity of statistics and buildings allow the title to shine in a kind of games which has been already seen many times. The only problem is the lack of challenge that could scare the most skilled gamers, when you look at the lifetime of the campaign mode. However, Aven Colony has many qualities and a good potential. To try it is simply to adopt it.
Review in French | Read full review
As a seasoned city-builder, Aven Colony is a solid game that has translated remarkably well to the PlayStation 4.It's incredibly fun and challenging and optimising your colony to no end will keep you entertained.
It's as absorbing as it is relaxing, and it does a good job at bringing its own to the table whilst still retaining what makes city builders fun and challenging.
Aven Colony strikes a superb balance of introducing its systems and giving one enough freedom to live and learn.