Revival: Recolonization review

Genre: Turn-Based Strategy
Developer: HeroCraft PC
Publisher: HeroCraft PC
Release Date: April 11th, 2024

Revival: Recolonization is a 4X (Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate) game that is now out of Early Access and ready for Prime Time. Or is it? Made by developer/publisher HeroCraft PC, it takes a bit of a different approach than more traditional games of its type. To start, we start out with the ability to change the environment of specific areas under our control. Imagine a bit of desert (or maybe a tropical beach) right next to a bit of tundra in the hex next door. It can seem a bit incongruent, but we’re in a super-advanced society that has technology so advanced we’d think it was magic (thanks to Arthur C Clarke). And so it goes. You are some sort of colony administrator whose entire goal in life is to terraform the planet in his /her /its image. Hilarity will then ensue.

No, not really. This critter (for want of a better word) has to micromanage everything from the loyalty of the population(The Bread and Circuses Effect), to the color of the military’s socks
on any given day— because they’ll wreck their feet if Our Hero doesn’t keep on top of things. After all, not changing wet socks is a good way to get trenchfoot (No, really). Sorry, I lost where I was going with
that. Where was I again?

Right, the game. There’s a lot good about it, and a lot to answer for. On one hand, it looks pretty and the soundtrack is nice, with a visceral feel to the combat if you’re controlling it yourself (Even if
you win in an auto battle, expect to see extremely heavy losses, even if it says you’ll win handily). The game’s UI is anything but intuitive, with critical command buried behind additional menus you
have to get to first. It does have a tutorial, but it rushes by so quickly you’ll probably miss something critical— I did, twice. Do not skimp on player training when your UI is over-complex. I’ve played
quite a few of these games, and I’ve never had that many problems. As I stated above, it looks nice, and the build I played was rock solid, but getting the game to cooperate took some doing.

So, let’s talk story— you’re a colony administrator tasked with reclaiming Earth from not just environmental damage, but all the other crazy people that had the same thought. Your job is to mold the planet
in your own image, often at the expense of the other factions hanging about. Go nuts. If I’m being honest (and it behooves me to be), it needs something more, at least a bit. During the time I played it, I
went back and forth between frustration with the UI and a case of The Bored when it came to interactivity. There’s no lore beyond the premise, and even making the various Wonders are a chore— especially
when you have to keep doing it to keep the plebs happy. It’s a treadmill, make no mistake.

If you’re one that prefers a controller, you out of luck— the game won’t even register that you have one. Keyboard and mouse is its preferred method, to the exclusion of any others that it swears don’t
exist. Not that playing 4X games with a PS4/ XBone controller will result in stellar gameplay in the first place. On the flip side, the music is nice and the sound FX is of reasonable quality. Nothing that
will compel you to write home about. If you can get your head wrapped around the interface, the gameplay isn’t bad, but can be arcane at the best of times. The big thing they focused on was the tiles you can
build and the efficiency of such in each sort of biome. Of course, that includes terraforming areas with the magic-like technology they have available for that purpose, whilst insisting that you follow a
tech tree that starts with technology far below that. Almost stone age, in fact.

End of the day, Revival: Recolonization isn’t terrible, but as it is for the 1.0 release, it needs some TLC and polish. It works, and despite all of my other griping, it’s competently put together. If I had to guess, it’s a game that ran out of something. Time, money, critical eyes from Early Access players, or what have you. Most likely a bit from column A, a smidge from column C and a healthy dollop of column C. The exact proportions of whatever happened may never be known, at least not to the likes of me, but I can see that something went down. For all its faults, there could be a really good game in here, but as it stands, I’m having a hard time recommending it. Maybe after more feedback from the live team (and maybe this review), they can sort out the issues, polish it up really well, and make it the game I believe it could be.

Pros

Solid, stable performance at runtime

Sound and music is nice, but not super-stellar

Art style and direction work pretty well.

Cons

UI is arcane at the best of times, frustrating at worst

Needs micromanaging to keep your high-maintenance population happy

Needs more clear player training, especially in the UI

Thin premise with no particular actors

AI auto-combat yields ruinous results

Lord Crocosquirrel gives Revival: Reconstruction a Drastik Measure of
4.5 out of a possible 10 (45)