On first glance it’s almost inscrutable - but it’s also tantalisingly simple.
You move on in time to survive - manage that four times and you’re done.
The Banished Vault review
But first: the density.
The Banished Vault is consciously designed as a kind of virtual board game.
That’s mere survival, though.
The density comes in all the many, many things you’ll need to do to actually achieve this.
Fuel requires a Fuel Producer - of course!
- which is a building you construct on planet surfaces.
It sounds torturous, and in many ways it is.
Part of The Banished Vault’s genius is its ability to pit you against that old enemy of yourself.
I write notes for a living!
I definitely lost that final one.
Again, a whiff of torture - how is this fun?!
It’s attention to detail and care, a game rising up to meet you where you meet it.
Much of this is summoned through a sumptuously tactile interface.
All of this, even still, is really only the surface-level of it.
And, heaven forbid I don’t mention it, there’s the manual.
It’s also not even the real wonder of The Banished Vault.
The Banished Vault accessibility options
Audio, music, and effects volume controls.
Difficulty tweaks and modifiers available, but only after completing a run.
I can’t remember another game that captured it.