I'm loving this game. I've been playing it since it's release date and thank god Shadowrun comes out tomorrow - because Banished is addicting. Over 50 hours in and a ton of cities built - most have failed . . . so what.
For me its sorta like SimCity 2000 and Ascendancy. But I'll get to that later.
You're building a somewhat medieval city but there is a unique strategy. No money is used in the game (only Barter) and there are no armies you have to fend off or build. You can even turn off disasters (I usually turn em off) but really bad stuff can still happen to your citizens. The uniqueness comes in the planning of your city. You just can't lay down stuff, you not only have to take into account your resources but where are the builder citizens located who are going to build your stuff. This is not a problem in the early game but when you start expanding the map, your core of builders my be where you last constructed that Gatherer's Hut on the north end of your continent. This "feature" is driving players crazy because it is not unusual to have your citizens starve to death on their way to work.
How the game works is the citizens tend to live(or move) close to their place of work. So lets say you build two settlements in your early game next to each other. As you build the third settlement you stock it with a wood cutter, some homes and a nearby hunting lodge. But what happens is your new hunting lodge resident is married with kids and the wife is a wood cutter in the old settlement. The new hunter has to commute (walk) to his new gig. Many times when the walk is too great and the citizen has to do it in the winter he may freeze or starve to death. The game will eventually get the family into a closer home, but many times it's not soon enough. And this is a big problem on a large map.
There is an excellent Lets Play video by a guy by the name of Quill18. If you want a feel for how the game works.
Earlier I said the game for me is like Sim City 2000 and Ascendancy. I like city builders and I like creating a metropolis be it the islands, Egypt or the Black Forest. I like looking at my work when I finish the map. And like those games Banished is easy to play but hard to master. A lot of players think its easy because there is no real problem getting your city to 100, but try managing all the intricacies with a city of 600, or 1000. The general consensus is that if you can maintain a city of 1500 for one season, you have beaten the game. I also really love the music in this game - it reminds me of the great sound track on Ascendancy by Neno Vugrinec. There is even one tune in Banished that sounds very similar.
The media folks are calling the game a survival - city builder. I agree with that assessment because unlike Sim City when your planning fails and the place becomes a slum, in this game you fail at planning, YOUR CITIZENS DIE. And that is the end of the game. I think . . . because when the counter starts ticking down and I only have a couple guys left, I tend to quickly exit the game.
It's a really fun game. Check out some Lets Play vids on youtube (Quill18).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gAXcREfjbQ
The Sim City franchise has left me, Banished nicely fits the city builder that is in me.