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Check out the last section for a link to details of 'Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China' which is free via uPlay until Feb 5th, plus two other games 'A Trip to Yugoslavia (Directors cut)' via Indie Gala and 'Kholat' via Steam

Settlement: Colossus

In Brief

Settlement: Colossus is a blend of Hidden Object and City building game with mini games included.

Installation Issues:

Settlement: Colossus downloads to a 207 MB zip file that unzips to three files, (a setup.gcd security wrapper the set-up file and a read me). The game installs to the following path by default, but can be changed if you wish. The installed game is 569 MB in size.

C:\Program Files (x86)\MyPlayCity.com\Settlement - Colossus

Four shortcuts are installed to the desktop; the Play Online Games, MyPlayCity Games and shortcuts to a free online game; the name of which may vary each week can be deleted once the game has been installed. The Themida wrapper may alert your security and even block the installation. There are details in the read me about this issue.

Introduction:

Build an empire out of its grass hut roots! Take the role of a 300-year old emperor cursed to live without his true love until he appeases his god for a grievous offense. Gather resources, research new tools and build bigger and better accommodations as you care for your people and attract new citizens to your fold. Featuring outstanding graphics and a breathtaking score, Settlement: Colossus is a thrilling Hidden Object game!

Reference accessed HERE. 2nd February 2019

The Game:

Settlement: Colossus takes the hidden object genre and fuses it with a strategy game to create something wholly unique in the space. Instead of finding random objects, your tasked with collecting resources that are necessary for survival, which makes the whole experience much more engaging. Unfortunately, it also adds a layer of unnecessary repetition that will cause some frustration in an otherwise excellent game.

The game has you taking control of a newly settled group of people as you attempt to help a fledgling society develop and advance. This is done by collecting resources, building, and researching. The resources are key to doing just about anything in the game, from making tools and building a fire to simply keeping your people fed. Things start off simply enough, as you’ll be collecting berries and sticks to keep your people alive, but the game quickly gets more complex. Eventually you’ll be investing your time and resources into building schools, farms, and, of course, religious temples.

Your people advance quite a bit over the course of the game, and it’s very satisfying to see your settlement grow; it’s just too bad that the whole scenario is tied together with a bland, uninteresting story. In between each of the game’s chapters you’ll presented with a quick cut scene, which details the history of the people and how they came to be homeless in the first place. It’s predictable and generic, and worse still is told through some very ugly cut-scenes that don’t mesh at all with the art direction of the rest of the game.

But thankfully the story is easy to ignore. You can simply skip the cut scenes and focus on what’s most important: stocking up on resources and developing your burgeoning community. Settlement: Colossus is divided up into several chapters, each of which features a number of objectives. Some of them you have to complete, like building a school or a harbor, while others are optional. And doing all of this requires resources. As you progress, you’re given more and more options for what you can collect, which in turn gives you more options for what you can build. Soon enough you’ll go from foraging for sticks and berries to collecting bricks for houses and grapes for wine.

The game gives you little freedom when it comes to how you develop your settlement. Each objective requires specific resources and often can’t be completed until you’ve already finished several other objectives. And since both collecting resources and completing objectives uses up resources, you’ll constantly be forced to go back and replenish your supplies. This leads to a lot of repetition, as you’ll frequently visit the same areas over and over again in order to stock up on firewood or to mine for ore. There is the odd mini-game to help break up the action, but they are presented too infrequently to be very effective.

Since you’re going to be spending a lot of time staring at the forests and caves surrounding your settlement, it’s a good thing they look so good. As opposed to the frankly ugly cut scenes, the hidden object areas are absolutely stunning. The level of detail is incredible, and small touches like buzzing insects and falling rain really help make the different areas in the game feel alive. And, though for the most part they’re not all that difficult to find, the actual objects you’ll find blend in quite well with their surroundings, so they don’t look out of place at all. With the exception of those pesky lumps of clay, which blend a little too well.

In an interesting twist, Settlement: Colossus also supports Facebook Connect, allowing you to share information about the game with all of your social network friends. You can upload screenshots of your settlement, update your status, or simply let everyone know when you complete a chapter or earn a trophy. It’s a neat little addition and great way to spread the word about the game if you’re so inclined. It’s also optional, so you’re not forced to connect if you don’t want to.

But while the end result of Settlement: Colossus isn’t quite as interesting as the core idea it presents, the game is still solid and enjoyable. The game play, while a bit on the repetitive side, is unique and refreshing and the visuals are absolutely wonderful. The game also provides a very lengthy adventure that is sure to keep would-be settlers busy for quite some time.

Edited reference accessed HERE. Originally posted by Andrew Webster Feb 18, 2010 , re-posted by Whiterabbit-uk 2nd Feb 2019

Videos of Settlement: Colossus:

You can see several in-game videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE (Français), HERE (Français), HERE & HERE.

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 HERE via Big Fish Games.

Problems getting the game to work:

If you're having problems installing or activating or getting Settlement: Colossus to work please visit the FAQ's Thread HERE. A common issue seen since the Themida wrapper was introduced three years ago is that some community members installation of the game are blocked by their security because Themida code has been known to hide malware, (usually an error message is flagged for example 'The executable is corrupted' even though in reality it is not); so as a precaution some anti malware programs will block and even delete the suspect installation files even though the files (i.e. the setup, read me and setup.gcd files are actually totally free from malware. This issue can be solved either by rebooting your computer in safe mode with networking or a quicker method is to temporarily turn off your security software to allow the installation. You could also try white-listing the setup.gcd file. In the almost 12 years this game giveaway site has been operating there has 'never' been a game given away that was infected with malware.

If for any reason you want to contact the giveaway team, for example, you have a game to offer the community, or are unable to download the latest game or other issues that the FAQ's thread or these comments don't cover or solve you can do so HERE

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:

If Settlement: Colossus doesn't interest you, but you still hanker for something new to play, you'll find details of some game deals whether they be sale items, indie bundles or games being given away for free HERE (I've not updated the thread in a while, but most of the links still take you to the latest deals).

The rest of the information that used to be posted in the game review can be found in the forums HERE. Finally, check out Delenns threads for details of other free games and offers HERE and elsewhere in the game discussion forums HERE, (usually on the first page of the game discussion forums). You can get Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China free via uPlay until Tuesday 5th Feb morning 7am UK time HERE. You do need a free UPlay account and the uPlay client. Plus two other games; Kholat via Steam HERE and A Trip to Yugoslavia (Directors cut) via the Indie Gala bundle site HERE; all three links take you to the giveaway forums where you'll find a brief description, plus video and images and a link to the download for of each game.