Desolation Tycoon

This game has so many little annoying quirks for some bizarre reason.. No indicator to where your currently clicked destination is. You stop and forget your destination and need to re-click if you check the map. No names on towns in demand map. No way of seeing demand again once you've bought item. No way of seeing last known demands outside of city. But those are small issues, the main one is it's not very interesting. It has a reasonable premise but is very bare-bones and makes you grind the same thing over and over again.

Absolutely loved it! Played it last night until it crashed(probably due to Facebook somehow being able to send me a notifaction in game) Which were the only sign of civilization I saw all night. Game has alot of potential, is quite fun as it stands already; and the amount of hours you could squeeze out of this is actually quite large. For a trading game; it's somewhat original, has some fresh ideas, and doesn't feel like any other. That is indeed a good thing. Recommend this game to anyone at full price. A steal when discounted.

This is a niche recommendation. Desolation Tycoon is the perfect game for anyone prone to moods where they want to play something, but everything feels like too much effort. There are no stressful timers, important decisions, anything to keep track of, and nothing you do matters. Watching your little colored peg bounce across the landscape is quite soothing. Traveling between equally featureless towns is a kind of honest monotony you’d find living on the road. What is this game’s power is also its weakness. What you see is what you get. There is no strategy or depth here. Character creation is random yet doesn’t change the flavor of your playthrough at all. It makes some things harder, others easier, but you’ll be doing the same thing no matter what. Unlocks change nothing either and is likely why this game features one of the harshest unlock treadmills I’ve ever seen outside of an abusive F2P game. It’s harsh because it doesn’t matter. They’re a trivial bonus, not a f...

I found this game while looking for a replacement for Caravaneer. This isn't it. But it is a fun game with some similar elements, it just lacks any real depth. With 31 hours in, I feel like I've seen everything it's going to offer. I'll keep it for days when I don't have any brain power to invest, but still want to play something :/

Reminds me of Tradewinds

This game is great for the price (I got it at $15 CAD) and I would happily recommend this to anyone who wants a more laid-back, minimalist experience with some great atmosphere. There is a surprising amount of depth here along with some great encounters and flavourful factions. However, there are a few things that I would love to see that would bring this game to a 10/10. Bear in mind, there is still a lot of game left for me to play (founding towns, etc.) so perhaps this will come back to bite me later. 1. Add visual effects for things like sandstorms, etc. (as of now the only way to tell is the far top-right of the screen; not ideal in my opinion) 2. Add in some extra schemes & fix some current schemes as some of the options are reversed (for example, sometimes the dishonest outcome advances settlements founding and the positive outcome does nothing; this should be reversed) 3. Adding something to rework the wealth system as there is no real punishment for going into debt (no revo...

A fun game with good exploration and a nice feel to it that feels alive with loads of potential. So far I am intrigued by it and its possibilities and can't wait to see how it develops.

Surprisingly addictive game. The trailer shows you the graphics you will get, and you will get nothing more. But the game play is more than simply doing trades on a randomized market. The market does have some depth and can be influenced and cheated. Wealth is not necessarily defined by money, it's also in stories, warnings and mysteries and those can be worth a lot too. For me it's a bit of a combination between Fallout 2 (style/feel), Sunless sea / skies (stories, mysteries, ...) and Merchant of the skies (trading and mining). There is certainly some luck involved, but most of it can be omitted by playing safe and/or smart. I love being able to free roam. I also like the fact that it doesn't have hard limits but gradual limits. For example: over encumbrance is not necessarily a bad thing. There is replay value, because every game you play will unlock parts of new towns with new stuff in the long run. Music is very nice, graphics are OK and fit the style (although I am not a fan o...

The game seems simple at first, but as you play it you become aware of more and more decisions, so it gets more interesting. It is very minimalist in its design, so that won't be for everyone, although the game does have an addictive loop, a "one more turn" effect much like Civilization (1 and 2 especially). On my first run, it felt pretty dumb and pointless, but the hypnotic atmosphere made me want to try and improve my run. It seemed like I simply could not heal enough to keep up with the encounters. I think my second run was similar. Eventually I figured out that I could re-roll when creating the character to try to have more healing ability. The next thing I learned was how to actually make a profit. For my first several runs I would start out by getting a crew and running up a large debt. I found that once I found some excavation site I could switch gears and get into the green. This was my approach for a couple of runs, until I realized how the maps work. You can see which ...

First round played in one 5h session. Nice minimalist trading game.