The genre of city-builder and survival in inhospitable conditions has become a very popular type of games. From Frostpunk to Timberborn to Survival Mars, we’ve seen plenty of scenarios where nature makes life difficult for our virtual population. Generation Exile also falls into that category of games, a game about “making ends meet” while your colony on a spaceship tries to survive. The combination of survival and cheerful solar punk aesthetics was the reason why we had to give this game a chance. Unfortunately, the road to stardom is often paved with poor design decisions.
| Initial price | Reviewed version | Reviewer copy |
| 30€ | PC | Provided by publisher |
In search of a better tomorrow
There are two ways to play Generation Exile: through the campaign or through the sandbox mode called Planetfall. In the campaign, the game puts you in the role of the Caretaker, the leader of a group of human survivors on a generational ship traveling towards humanity’s new home. It’s up to you and your helpers to rebuild the ship and make sure the colony doesn’t fail before you reach the new planet. You’ll achieve this by building structures on hexagonal maps, each representing a different biome within the ship.
New maps are unlocked as you progress through the story, and each of the three biomes brings with it its own obstacles and new objects to build. In this context, the game’s gameplay turns into a loop consisting of building objects, reading text that pushes the story forward or describes an event, balancing limited resources and assigning assistants to perform certain tasks such as research or motivating the crew.
A little color goes a long way
If there’s one segment I really liked about Generation Exile, it’s its visual vision. While most modern sci-fi titles suffocate in the same washed-out, gray and depressing tones we’ve long grown accustomed to, this title fully embraces the solarpunk aesthetic.
Each biome has its own specific color palette, and each structure has animations that make the whole micro-world seem like someone really lives there. It all feels deliberate and done with the intention of heightening the atmosphere, giving the game a visual identity rarely seen in a sea of generic sci-fi titles. Combined with the pleasant music of Ben Puntry (who did the soundtrack for FTL: Faster than light) you will momentarily forget about the logistical nightmare ahead.
Each biome has its own specific color palette, and each structure has animations that make the whole micro-world seem as if someone really lives there.
The visual style hits on nostalgia and atmosphere, but the functionality of the interface is a story in itself. Key information is often hidden, so, for example, you won’t see a detailed explanation anywhere about what exactly it means if a character has the “shy” trait. I mean, it’s clear what it means, but not what impact it has on the gameplay itself.
When the spaceship runs out
Now we come to the main thing in Generation Exile – building structures and managing resources. If you like planning vast industrial zones and complex logistics networks, this is not the game for you. The limited maps here won’t let you do that. Most buildings have a short range, so you’ll quickly find yourself in a situation where you have to build three of the same building just because the first one doesn’t reach the adjacent lot by just a few millimeters. Instead of thinking about the proper layout of the facilities, you think about how to fit a water pump between three warehouses.
If you like planning vast industrial zones and complex logistics networks, this is not the game for you.
If the maps were a little bigger, and the ranges of the buildings more logical, I have a feeling that facing the challenges would also become more varied. This way, we only have the option of surviving in a confined space that stifles any attempt at planning. This is best seen in waste management. Some of the structures produce bio-waste that needs to be disposed of in special structures that have a limited capacity. Once this capacity is filled, the game does not offer a way to release the capacity, but a new structure must be built, and the old one cannot be demolished or removed.
However, once you manage to arrange the structures and solve the set goals, at least you feel the satisfaction that everything is finally working as it should. As a reward for solving tasks, you get a new level of development that unlocks new structures or improvements to existing ones. However, that feeling of satisfaction disappears once you get to a new map and the process of stacking in a confined space starts all over again.
R.N.G. ENTERPRISE
The previously mentioned assistants are presented as characters, each of whom has his own skills, traits and memories of certain events. As their traits are unique, you’ll wonder if they have any impact on the gameplay or if they’re just there to fill space. However, as we have already mentioned – the game does not explain this at all. Similar chaos reigns in the influence system during dialogue. You’ll get a notification that you’ve failed a speech check, but the game will never explain to you how the check counts in the first place. A sense of power and control over the fate of the colony here too often replaces mere speculation.
The task management itself is, unfortunately, rather shallow. It all boils down to simple math: find the character with the highest number, click on it and repeat fifty more times. There is no weighing of traits, risks or specific skills that would bring the game to life. I also got on my nerves with the red icons that constantly warn about the capacity being filled, although we don’t have an option to solve it. These are the little things that constantly throw you off track and remind you that this ship is still in the rough assembly phase in the hangar.
The illusion of choice
Conversations between characters are the main way the story moves in Generation Exile. The texts and dialogues that push the story forward are full of strange expressions and “professional” English that sound a bit like they were written by an AI. Sometimes it feels like the game is trying to be smarter than it actually is, forgetting that the narrative is supposed to serve the player, not just give the impression of the dialogue being conducted by scientists.
Through talking with your co-workers, you have the opportunity to choose different answers or make different decisions that should have weight or some kind of impact on the gameplay. But if there were any consequences for choosing one option over the other, I didn’t notice them. The game also asks you to make important decisions before you even get a chance to understand what the consequences will be for your colony. Instead of feeling like a wise leader, you more often feel like someone randomly pushing buttons and praying to the RNG gods.
Instead of feeling like a wise leader, you more often feel like someone randomly pushing buttons and praying to the RNG gods.
One example of this lostness is when my character caught crew members organizing fights as an “exhaust valve”. I had the option to ban their version of “fight club” or join them. I chose the second option, so that the game would tell me through text that I accidentally killed one of my assistants during the fight. I replaced him very quickly and there were no consequences for me being responsible for the death of a member of my crew, either through additional plot or some kind of reaction from other characters.
At the end of the day, Generation Exile leaves the impression of a game that had a clear vision of what it wanted to be, but in practice, didn’t know how to get there. Her solarpunk aesthetic and beautiful color palette are truly eye candy in a genre that too often fades into gray, but that visual identity is just a wrap around a series of frustrating design decisions. From the cramped maps that stifle planning options and turn the game into a sort of Tetris version, to the unclear interface, the game doesn’t give the impression that you’re a capable colony manager.
What hurts the most is the missed opportunity in the narrative and management segment. Helpers who should be the heart of the colony remain only generic items and you rarely pay attention to them. The dialogues are full of artificial phrases only deepening the feeling that your decisions have no real weight. Instead of a deep strategic simulation, we got an exercise in patience.
The potential for a good game is definitely there, hidden somewhere between the beautiful biomes and the atmosphere that entices you to stay with the game. With enough effort from the development team and listening to community feedback, this ship could eventually course-correct and become an experience that stands out not just for its visuals, but for the depth it deserves. But the early access phase has passed…