Little Kitty, Big City
Little Kitty, Big City
Game
Game2022
Settlement Survival
Developer Gleamer Studio
In this city-building game, you will lead a group of survivors in their search for a new home. Manipulate the landscape, manage limited supplies, plant crops, hunt wildlife, gather resources, and develop trade routes to build a bustling and unique town. From the Steam store page
208 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon, Lemmy) · newest Oct 7, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
57
Mixed
112 positive · 86 negative
95% range 50–63%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 112 | 86 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
10 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
6,891 of 8,107 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Mixed reception: praised as a Banished successor, but criticised for imbalance and abandonment.
Many players enjoy Settlement Survival as a deeper, more polished version of Banished, with cleaner UI and expanded supply chains. One fan notes it 'has all the things I like in a strategy town-building game' and offers flexible difficulty. [3][7][4]
However, many criticise the game for being unfinished, abandoned by developers, and poorly balanced. Complaints include a broken repairman bug, AI-generated art, and a tech tree that feels 'ridiculous'. [23][36][20][25]
Praised Banished-like depth · relaxing gameplay · flexible difficulty
Criticised abandoned development · balance issues · bugs · AI art
Summary drafted by an AI model from the 36 reactions it cites ([n] links open each post), then checked by code: every paragraph cites real posts and every quote is verbatim. Written Oct 8, 2026. Method
Reactions
60 of 208 · most liked firstI love the idea of this game, it looks good on the surface but there just isn't any substance to it and many of the mechanics are half baked. I did everything the game allowed, then hit a wall which was obviously the limit of the games development. I left it half a year hoping to see the game progress through early access, finishing off those half baked ideas and features... but nothings changed. I guess they moved onto something else. I've been burned by early access too often and think I…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Settlement Survival has potential, but it feels abandoned and unfinished Not Recommended (unless heavily discounted) Time played: ~30 hours (some AFK/alt-tabbed) The core loop is enjoyable and there is a good game here, but the experience is dragged down by constant friction, vague systems, and what looks like a stopped development cycle. Controls and keybindings are a constant fight Missing keybinds for basic, high-frequency actions (canceling construction is a big one). Several keybinds…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I hate to leave a negative review, but this game is too tedious not to. Settlement Survival is a game going through the motions of being a colony sim, without seeming to care all that much about what specifically makes colony sim games fun. I would not recommend it to anyone that can tell the difference between a challenging game and an unpolished game. Which is a shame, because this game has all the raw ingredients of a great game, and falls just two steps short of polishing its way there.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →At first glance it's a 1:1 copy of the game Banished with more stuff. (which is good) Has a very cozy village building feel to it and I really want to love the game but.... As time played goes on all the little bad designs and small bugs adds up to the point where it's just not fun anymore, especially since the general consensus seem to be the games further development is abandoned. While the UI is working better then Banished and feels more modern, there is a lack of needed features.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's Banished 2, and had a lot of potential, but the final balance of the game is terrible. 1. Citizens barely make enough food for themselves, and if you don't start near a fertile land or fishing bonus area, it's game over. 2. Half map worth of trees provide just enough lumber to build a few houses and firewood for winter. Same for iron and stone. 3. The tech-tree is quite ridiculous - to make some straw slippers, you need to first research how to extract clay, then use clay to construct…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After spending some time with the game, I have pretty mixed feelings. There are some interesting ideas here, but right now the overall balance feels off. My biggest issue is that it constantly feels like your settlers are lacking something. If it's not food, it's fuel. If it's not fuel, everyone is freezing. The seasons seem to pass too quickly, and food consumption feels overly punishing, making it feel like you're always putting out fires instead of actually developing and expanding your…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →one single design flaw and game is ruined, theres special resources on the map that dont reappear or appear later in game. very important aspects of your econ will develop around them and for whatever reason they just disappear, your town design may even develop around them and all this takes tons of hours to set up. was a decent town building game until this occured
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Absolutely do not recommend. The game was released in an unfinished state. Most of the mechanics are completely unbalanced, making the experience a total ordeal. If you do manage to stick it out until the mid- or end-game, you’re rewarded with abysmal performance. Nope—no thanks!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Decent city building simulator. Unfortunately the game seems to have been abandoned by the developers (despite their statements to the contrary). A few underdeveloped systems and annoying lack of control over certain aspects of the game severely limit enjoyment.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →3/10 no heart and soul to this game. just here's the assets we bought and slapped in ive played this exact same game before but it had more content. forgot what it was called
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Seems abandoned, didn't disclose GenAI anywhere yet it's blatant in the game's assets, etc. If I could refund this game, I would. Much rather play Manor Lords tbh
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Don't bother with this game at all, there are way better alternatives on the market. Which are even in early acces nova roma for example Bought this game for 5 bucks and i even ended up feeling cheated, say's enough really
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Chore of a Survival.. So I bought this game on Jan 1st, 2026 after keeping it on my wishlist for a while and till now, I have only played 7.6 hrs of this game because it feels like a chore. Going to list the biggest issues I have with this game: Your people want to die. They take forever to harvest resources and when they do harvest them, you pretty much end up using it all in a few days (weeks, months, whatever) to build like.. a pencil. Then they proceed to get injured and get unhappy…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As it exists I cant give it a thumbs up. I want to, but I can't because Its terribly imbalanced. I love the concept and the direction its going, especially the vast array of aesthetic additions available for you. But functionally there are problems and I'm still very early into the game which does not bode well for later on. One example is how slowly citizens age. Unlike other similar games, it does not seem that building up your town attracts any new citizens outside of the occasional…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Amongst the many minor bugs, this game has a long-standing bug with 'Repairmen' which makes the game unplayable (unless you enjoy continuously rebuilding structures for no good reason). I advise you not to buy it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Seems to be based on playstyle. So, doesn't match mine. My experience, so far. - Settlement can't stabalize early game. There are always more jobs needing to be filled than population available... and when you get the population, more jobs are needed to appease them. - Starting 'happiness' boost is just a patch over. Without it, the settlement would fall apart far before being able to do anything. - Trade is a waste of time. Like most games... things sell for little, while even buying the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It is not a bad game, but there are just many better options out there. In a nutshell the game is as following: - Ensure a steady supply of water. - Get the soybean seed. - Producte a metric ton of soybeans. Game is basically done. You really want to go for some achievements to spice things up, but most items feel kinda pointless and / or are just badly balanced. The UI is quite rough, and I had to look up online what blueprints are, yes they are that rare. If you are looking for…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Undisclosed use of AI, didn't even get out of the tutorial before it appeared. Immediately applied for a refund
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was initially very excited to play this game because I love games of this genre; however, this game was very disappointing. This game clearly uses generative AI for villager pictures and perhaps in other ways as well. Personally I would rather see a badly drawn sprite than generative AI. Additionally, this game lacked any spirit. I only played for a few hours, but the game seemed boring and it wasn't very exciting. I felt like the developers of the game did not have much passion when they…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This might seem like a fantastic successor to Banished, with a lot of interesting concepts ... however, it remains a badly assembled pile of concepts. Toss in the use of genAI to generate villager sprites and resource icons, and who knows what else, and all this has managed to turn me off the game entirely. Not mentioning on the store page that AI has been used also leaves a sour taste. To add, the text in the tutorial and frankly, everywhere else in game, flows horribly. Either it's…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought this for 50 cents, and at that price this is recommended. it might even be worth a dollar, but not more. :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is so unbalanced it has forced me to quit playing. I'm in mid-game now and the citizens are yearly dying of old age. slipping on banana peels and even getting killed by meteorites while seldom is anyone being born for their replacement. I have 40 houses and 60 villagers with health and happiness in the green. And since this is an abandoned game it looks like it going to stay broke.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →15-20 hours of fun; loses steam at endgame. Graphics: Nice low-poly graphics, reminds me a lot of the mobile game Battle of Polytopia. I really liked the camera control, however, once you find your ideal position, you pretty much don't change from it. Computer Specs: If my janky 6-year old computer with a cracked screen can run this, yours probably can too. Gameplay: Alright, this is your typical city/civilization builder game. There's buildings that produce natural resources (farms,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game was abandoned. Will not work on MacOs at all. DO NOT BUY.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →-It has AI generated art assets. If you look at the store screenshots, you will see the portraits are drawn a bit like Stardew Valley. When you get in game, you will get the most obvious AI slop instead. -Very poorly translated, -The UI is incomprehensible and I can only navigate it thanks to it having played basically every game in this genre -You get essentially no workers at the start of the game which is an issue because you can't get the ressources required to sustain your 20 people with…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Masters Builders Collection Bundle up on GMG ($15 for all) buff.ly/Z1PglKw #ad -Jurassic World Evolution 2 -Two Point Campus -Frostpunk Game of the Year Edition -Fabledom -Settlement Survival -SteamWorld Build -Flooded
unlabelledView post →Banished 1.5 in many ways, cleaner UI , bigger supply chains and instead of being the hardest at start it slowly ramps disasters
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Got this in a bundle. There's not enough going for this game to really be worth paying for it. Also take note that several people are saying the game uses genAI for assets.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →a lot of potential, a head from Banished. But a big But., this game need A LOT of balancing. In the end this game just Banished 2
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There is something wrong with the goods generation/needs system. Frequently, I will see reports that I have generated N number of goods but my entire colony will be lacking it. Example, water and jackets is a frequent offender. Jacket generation would be 50 for the season, but nobody is wearing clothes....
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Developer did not disclose use of AI images. If I'm not mistaken, that's against Steam's TOS. It would not have taken them that long to make the art themselves, especially art that matches the game's simple style.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a fine entry into the medieval colony sim genre. Doesnt have anything revolutionary or disruptive, but the overall concept is there and well implemented. It has some interesting ideas, like faction trading and the Tourism DLC, but those definitely needed some more iteration and fleshing out. Some down points, though. The way to get new animals and new seeds are very limited. The research to get new technology really needed some balancing. And the trading needed some reworking. All in…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Apparently I've played this for 111 hours. As a working mother of two, I have very little gaming time these days, so that should give you an idea of what 111 hours means in my world. It has all the things I like in a strategy town-building game - I get the choice whether I want to deal with invasions and disasters, or just build a peaceful town, I can choose to trade or not trade, I get some choice about the aesthetics of my town and there's all the usual stock management stuff (though it…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun enough, but completely abandoned and pretty unbalanced. Used to love it, now I wish I could get a refund. Not gonna bother applying tho, obvs.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →ai on citizen portraits 💔
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Tutorial needs serious work; do not buy this game if you don't have extensive experience in this genre, and if you do, just go back and play those games you already own and enjoy.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a predble and boring game, i say this as i enjoyed its simplicity and narrow scope i wanted to build a small simulated city and manage tiny amounts of resources. But that is all this game does ok, it usually struggles with keeping an enjoyable game loop. Its main issue is that it has a lot of bugs with combat, hostile NPCs are uslly nored by your own military units and this causes a minor annyance since the enemy AI is usually very predictable and easy to deal with, so the game mode…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It’s simple: AI-generated citizen portraits are an immediate 'no-go' for me. It makes me not want to play the game. They look like they're from a completely different art style, and they just look lazy and over-aestheticized.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not very innovative nor engaging. Managing the economy is not intuitive at all; the game neither gives you the information you need to determine where consumption comes from nor does it seem that any settler is a net positive to the economy. That means that, no matter the size of your village, you will not be able to meet basic needs while juggling preparing for bandits and winter. Perhaps later unlocks (through a tech system), seeds, animal catches make that more manageable, but I could not…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A good successor to Banished if you're missing that type of gameplay, with a little bit of Dawn of Discovery (aka Anno) thrown in there as you can only build houses within a circular radius around a market. It has a satisfying gameplay loop and will keep you on your toes constantly doing something. There are a ton of buildings, each with their own supply chains, that will keep the gameplay varied for a long time. There's a fair amount of micromanaging adding or removing workers from buildings…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Too many game-breaking bugs to actually make it worth your time. It is a good game otherwise, but still needs time for development.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unfortunately, I can't recommend this; the UI is very bad and the tutorial isn't very helpful.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i really do not get people that like this game, nothing in the logistic system make sense, and the tech tree is a mess. the gameplay feels unnatural.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you've ever hoped that a game would be made that builds on the mechanics of Banished and fleshes them out, Settlement Survival is for you. There is a bit of Engrish in the game translation, but it doesn't cause any issues. It's obvious that the makers of this game really loved Banished and decided to build on it, and that passion comes through clearly in this game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →makes me want to play banished again. I was okay having a vague understanding of how to affect my people's health and happiness at the beginning but it doesnt get better mid game. No charts showing how it changes over time, no overlay showing who may need extra medicine or a new bathhouse nearby their residence. hard to know what type of food people want to eat. hard to know if i have enough of that style of food each season. Do the gatherers make more food in certain places? Can i…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →painfully slow and not worth the struggle to bother with the balance of this game is remarkably bad
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Perfect City Builder I am a huge fan of the city management genre.... but I am PICKY! I want to be challenged, and to a certain extent, I want to micro-manage things. I want to have control, but not so much that I have to spend hours laying sewage pipes. I also don't want progress to feel so linear and pre-destined that I cannot fail. Ultimately, I want to be able to find that perfect flow state of engagement, where I need to stay diligently on top of things in order to succeed. For…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →- Tech tree is really annoying and artificially slowing down the game. You have to wait forever to make some damn shoes. - A tiger walked over the river (like Jesus) and destroyed my settlement in a couple minutes. I guess I was supposed to create a military by then, but when bandits appeared the game told me I have 8 years to prepare. With that tiger I had like 2 minutes. Horrible game design. And since tech tree is taking forever, I couldn't research and build soldiers to defend myself…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really enjoyed Settlement Survival! It’s such a relaxing and rewarding city-builder — it reminds me of Banished, but with more depth and charm. I love how you can shape your settlement any way you want, balancing resources, happiness, and population growth. The graphics are cozy and detailed, and the gameplay loop of planning, gathering, and expanding never gets old. What really hooked me was how every decision matters — do you focus on farming, trade, or industry first? Each playthrough…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →At most I'd use this as a sandbox game. The symbols of the Interface are tiny so I tried to size them up in the options, but turns out they stay tiny, just the UI gets bigger (so much so it can go off screen!), some of the text gets blurry, oh and the "helpful" screenshots have Chinese writing ._. Then there's too much info on screen which even the tutorial doesn't take the time to explain! I mean I get it, you dont't have to, but if you offer a tutorial (4 actually; for bloody beginners,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Settlement Survival: Everyone Starved and It's My Fault Regret: 67% (my citizens deserved a better mayor) Settlement Survival is a city builder where you guide a group of settlers through harsh seasons. It's pretty and relaxing, until winter comes and everyone starves because you forgot to build a second farm. It's a decent game, but it feels like a lighter version of Banished. 10 hours, and my first village is now a graveyard with a nice view.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TLDR: A simple Banished clone, but not in a bad way. General Thoughts/Overview: If you’ve played banished, you’ll be familiar with Settlement Survival (SS). If not, then you are the overseer. You have perfect information and with it you’ll juggle the expansion of, resource extraction for, and expectations of, your population. Keep them fed, clothed, housed, and equipped. Monitor their happiness and health, along with their fertility as the settlement grows. There’s also tech to do, and trade…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A fun little colony sim that scratches that Banished itch, but it definitely has a few rough edges. Managing your citizens and expanding your town is addictive at first, but the UI can feel a bit clunky and things snowball out of control fast if one tiny resource chain breaks. Worth grabbing on sale if you love city-builders, just be ready to reload your saves often!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am really loving this city builder. It is obvious that it has taken a lot of inspiration from Banished (a game I love) and has expanded on it considerably. Especially in the mid and late game where Banished was lacking. I an see this becoming a firm favourite of mine and if you enjoy city builders, Id recommend it
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a brilliant game. It’s very well designed, with a gameplay system full of development options. It never gets boring because there’s always something to do, but it’s not so difficult that you have to restart 10 times like in other similar games. The menu design is clean and easy to navigate, which is also a big advantage in a game where you need to manage and keep track of many things. I recommend it to people who enjoy calm city builder and city management games, where there are plenty…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Copy of banished and also so buggy and unfinished :(
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't know why, but this game is no fun for me. It falls flat and uninteresting in my opinion. I am really glad I bought it for ultra cheap, because it would have been just a waist of money.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'd like to recommend your game, but I find it very limiting in what it can do. The market square boundaries aren't big enough to hold enough citizens beyond maybe a couple dozen "essential" jobs, never mind the luxuries they want. Your maps are either too crowded with mountains to build close to town, or too few to mine the essentials/luxuries. You have too many water-wheel or river dependent industries. Your tech-tree should pause the game because there's a lot of searching to do for which…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not my cup of tea, unfortunately. It didn't pull me in at all. Got much more interesting city builders in my library already.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Runs great. Deep game that scratches that City Building itch. Like all good games of this genre, you can make it as easy or as brutal as you'd like. Would like more QoL improvements, and wish it was still being worked on, but here we are: A great game for a few dollars for those who love this type of game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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