Gnomoria

Gnomoria is not exactly like other village management sims you may have played, though it is still equally addicting. Its origins were fairly humble as the developer, Robotronic Games, set out to make a game that gave players only a general list of things to do. Otherwise, it’s essentially a creative and fun little sandbox title that plays similarly to Dwarf Fortress in many aspects. Before diving into the details of this game, its important to note that the developer has left this project behind. It isn’t in an unfinished state, but the pool of glitches and issues it currently does have, which isn’t negligible, will no longer be addressed by the community. This unfortunate news aside, Gnomoria is still a clever city building strategy/games/base-building-games/) game that has a lot of charm with seemingly endless possibilities.

Take Over the Wilderness

I think one of the most interesting things about Gnomoria is that there isn’t a direct story, but there is a treasure trove of lore out there to find, if you’re truly interested.

The most common comparison for this game, though, is that its essentially just a Dwarf Fortress clone. While I’d agree with the overall sentiment that there are a lot of borrowed ideas and aspects, Gnomoria has a flair that’s entirely its own, making it even more enjoyable. As a bonus, the graphics are not as hard on the eyes either; not to knock Dwarf Fortress, but this game is definitely more appealing.

I also especially like the steampunk/medieval fusion going on in the game. It’s a bit quirky, but it truly makes the world intriguing when you’re able to find tricked out guns and swords on the same map. I was also fond of the lack of direction for this game – you’re given the basics, which might take you quite a few games to figure out, and then left to fend for yourself. I know lack of direction seems like a negative aspect, but not being forced to follow a certain path makes having your own army feel realistic in this world. Fight as if you’re fighting and pillaging for no one but yourself.

Establish Your Gnome Kingdom

The possibility of getting addicted to this game is unlike any other. The level of open-endedness Gnomoria possesses causes a lot of your decisions to feel like they have cascading effects. You even have to be careful where you place certain buildings within your city, which can get irritating, but brings to city to life in a way. Additionally, the combat is well detailed, having unique dialogue boxes and all sorts of weapons/units to acquire, though it’s a bit underdeveloped since units cannot face any status ailments. Diplomacy was also a neat feature to experience as I may/may not have terrorized neighboring settlements, but the gnomes of my city didn’t seem to fear me any more or less because of this.

In my opinion, this also undermines the fact that you can build your city to be so efficient is basically a prison camp, or so advanced that society flourishes. In any case, its fun having such versatility in building style, but ultimately lacks the impacts on morale.

Pros

• Endless styles of strategy/gameplay
• Easily addictive – lots to learn but easy to pick up any time
• Neat steampunk setting/combat

Cons

• Game will never update – developer has abandoned project
• A lot of missing features other games of the genre have
• A few game-breaking bugs that will never be fixed