Artist Colony

In Brief

Artists Colony is a well-constructed ‘Sim’ like game that is viewed from an isometric viewpoint. I’ve scored it a 9 out of 10 for game play

The game was previously given away on the 30th September 2018 HERE where it received a positive 81% from 31 votes with 19 comments which you can see HERE

You can see a couple of videos of game play HERE and HERE. There are more videos below the game review.

Introduction:

Once home to the most pioneering creators of their time, it’s up to you to restore a thriving oasis of artists as you rebuild the community. Attract new talent by renovating the gorgeous surroundings and inspiring artists, dancers, musicians and more to become masters of their craft in this fun Sim game. Create, perform and sell brilliant works of art to revive this ultimate creative sanctuary in Artist Colony!

Reference accessed HERE 30th Sept 2018; reposted 23rd April 21

The Game:

As the name suggests, Artist Colony has you running an inherited refuge for aspiring artsy types, including painters, sculptors, musicians, dancers and photographers. Players will be first treated to the history behind these grounds, beginning with partners in the ’50s who experienced a falling out, and then fast-forwarding to today when you take over (and your "ne’er do well" step-brother soon follows).

You’ll soon find your characters can develop feelings for one another, which may or may not be reciprocated, but hey, a broken heart can serve well as inspiration.

Tasks, in this top-down isometric game, range from the menial (clean away leaves or snow) to the important (restore and upgrade key structures) to the beneficial (sell pieces of art, or performances, to visitors for cash). And all three are interconnected. For example, you might not be able to enter the sculptor’s studio if it’s blocked by debris, and you won’t be able to upgrade the musician’s studio unless you have enough money to do so (earned by selling works or putting on performances). You get the idea.

You’ll train each artist in a primary and secondary craft and work your way to fill up all 10 slots, as they advance from novice to genius. When your characters get hungry you need to drag them to the kitchen to eat; when they’re tired you need to find a place for them to rest (residence building, park bench or grassy spot); and when they’re feeling down and unmotivated you need to drag and drop them onto inspirational objects (such as pretty floral plants) to help them create (and thus, sell) masterpieces.

Over time you’ll soak up the evolving story (including love triangles, betrayal and hardships), and really feel like you’re part of this haven for creative types. You’ll also collect pieces of photographs to unlock new areas of the colony (and reveal more info tied to the original owners) and view your masterpieces via in-game albums. In total, the game features more than 500 masterpieces spread between the three-dozen characters who will arrive and leave the compound throughout the tale.

Unlike some other simulation games, Artists Colony does not keep playing even after you’ve turned the game off. (So you won’t find any nasty surprises waiting for you – like deceased characters – if you don’t boot up the game for a couple of days.) The game’s pace is adjustable, and you can pause the action at any time by hitting the Escape key.

As much fun as we had playing Artists Colony, it’s not a perfect masterpiece in itself. For one, while the interface works for the most part – allowing you to quickly see the needs and whereabouts of each character – I had trouble finding the inspirational items (e.g. flower bunches) on the map, so you might find yourself dragging a character around for a while before finding it. A hot button to show you where these always-moving items are would have been a good idea. Secondly, the game only has one mode and doesn’t let more than one person play at the same time (that is, only one save spot).

Overall, however, this surprisingly deep and enjoyable game is well worth your time, especially if you’re a fan of people simulations. The unique concept is well-designed and successfully executed, and should provide many engaging hours of fun.

For similar games, try Virtual Villagers, Virtual Families, Escape from Paradise, Sprouts Adventure, and Totem Tribe.

Reference accessed HERE original review by Marc Saltzman on Jul 9, 2009; Edited and reposted by Whiterabbit-uk 30th Sept 2018 and again the 23rd April 21.

Other Reviews and Videos of Artist Colony:

You can see community reviews of Artist Colony HERE, plus forum comment, suggestions and help HERE. You can also see game play videos of Artist Colony HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE & HERE.

Conclusion:

If you like sim games for example virtual villages you’ll love this. I only played the game for just over an hour, but will definitely be returning to it soon. I highly recommend this game for its intriguing game concept, gorgeous graphics, and well balanced. It’s almost a decade old, but well worth 9 out of 10 from me.

If you miss today's game giveaway you can always get the game via MyPlayCity 24/7 HERE; or If you prefer to purchase the game you can get it directly from Big Fish Games HERE

Other free games worth adding to your game library
The latest Epic freebies include two more games; the excellent Alien: Isolation, A first person psychological/survival horror game based on the Alien movie franchise and set in an atmosphere of constant dread and mortal danger. It was previously given away on the 21st December last year. This is an opportunity for those who missed it the first time to grab it now. I bought Alien: Isolation when it was first released on Steam back in October 2014 as I love the Alien movie franchise and have purchased all of the games related to the franchise. My favorite game in the series is Aliens versus Predator Classic 2000 that was originally released 21 years ago, and which always gave me the same adrenaline fuelled rush I got when I first watched the original franchise. It was later re released on Steam and is now only £3.99. The re imagined version Aliens vs. Predator released in 2010 looks better visually, but IMO does not have the same scary moments when Aliens suddenly pop up in front of you coming down dark corridors. Even today the original scares me and I get the same feelings I used to get as a child when hiding behind the sofa trying to watch Dr Who.

We also get Hand of Fate 2, an RPG roguelike deck builder card game; Master a living board game of infinitely re-playable quests - unlock new cards, build your adventure, then defeat your foes in brutal third person real-time combat! (combined cost of both games is over £50/$70/€58).

Please see Delenn's threads for other Steam and Non Steam freebies HERE and HERE respectively. There won't be new freebies added every week from these sections apart from the Epic games, but it is worth checking them regularly for details of any games going for free. Delenn usually posts details when a game is being offered free for a temporary period. These include games from Good Old Games (all DRM free), Ubisoft's uPlay client, Valves Steam client, EA Games Origin client and other indie developers.

You'll find hundreds of freeware games of all arcade and indie genres on Itch.io and Caimans Games as well as other sources. Please do check out the game discussion forums for older posts HERE (the sticky section is useful). Many of the earlier posts may be out of date with respect to the links I and others have provided to the free games; however, you only need to know the name of the game to find most of them via other sources. Many of those games from 2008 to around 2017 were posted as part of a project to supplement the lack of weekday games when the game giveaway went to weekend only games around Easter 2008 (mainly instigated due to the financial crisis of 2008) until November 2018 when Falcoware stepped into the weekday slot; however, from around 2015 onwards we did start to get the occasional Steam key for various games offered as limited giveaways, with a restriction on the number of keys available (anywhere from 25 to 2000+). These included over 60 decent AAA games and indie arcade games ; for example some of the better AAA games included , lucky Warhammer: Vermintide 1 & 2 plus DLC for version 2; Dreadlands, Mount & Blade: Warband, Immortal Unchained and Conan Exiles.

I've not posted details of any Indie Gala freebies since my older computer went on the Fritz back in October last year. Since then Indie Gala have added quite a few more free games, some of which are definitely worth downloading. You can find the latest freebies HERE and their showcase list, which includes all the freebies still current; (many of which have been included for a couple of years now) HERE.

It’s worth adding these links to your favorites and checking regularly for available freebies. Most are only free for a specific time. If you miss the deadline you’ll miss out. Once added to your account, they are yours to keep. :)