Anusha Ganapathi By Express News Service BENGALURU: City-building games can get tense very fast. Take Anno 1800, for example — it starts during the industrial revolution and your city thrives if the technology advances. Very soon in the game, new threats emerge — competing rulers and political warfare. Other games in this genre incorporate real-time strategy elements to make it tougher. But sometimes, we need a game like ‘Islanders’— which is only as complex as its explanatory trailer and a must-play for three of its comforting constituents: Minimalism Although named ‘Islanders’, the game does not feature a single living human. It features elements that make the procedurally-generated island a majestic standalone body of land using fields, towers, houses and the such — but no people. Ambient music fills your ears when as you decide to take a ‘masonry pack’ over a ‘shaman pack’ to cover an empty section of your city. The island feels like a giant tetris board where the different buildings fit in, without negatively affecting the point generating capabilities of the others. Simple rules The game starts with a tiny empty island and an initial list of resources which can be placed on the island. The aim is to build a high-density city by managing these resources in a way gleaning maximum game points. Islanders prompts the total points that can be earned by positioning settlements in a specified area. For example, placing buildings near resources gain more points. To make decision-making even more uncomplicated, the game keeps its point system apparent — highlighting in red when a shaman is placed near a factory (which means an immediate point reduction). It even shows the radius at which a certain building or a settlement element can affect the island. Quick wins Arranging your new element on the island immediately adds to your point total, filling up in a remarkably fluid manner. The points add up to a grand total, which means both the ability to start life on a new island or gain more resources to add on to your existing empire.Islanders has endless replay value, if a non-complex yet compelling game is in your interests. ‘Game overs’ are not demotivating — but forces you to restart settling in a new island, solving the giant puzzle more efficiently. Islanders stands alone in an ocean of bustling competitive PC games. Anusha Ganapathi @quaffle_waffle (This economics graduate spends her leisure time preparing for the zombie apocalypse)

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