Banished - 5/20 hours

Thanks to the election, I've been too stressed out (and lately) depressed to do much games blogging, but I decided to push past that and start up Banished anyway. And at first, things went well. My town of about 35 people reached an equilibrium, harvesting resources as quickly as they were used and being able to support a church and a graveyard, with the villagers having a diverse diet and good health. I was feeling good.

Then the tornado hit.

It completely wiped out my village center and killed half my citizens. And I couldn't rebuild their houses fast enough while harvesting enough food. That winter most of the rest of them died of starvation and exposure. Eventually, there were only three men left, doomed by their gender to be the last generation, and who slowly died off one by one.

I feel like this might be a metaphor for something.

Since then, I haven't been able to duplicate my initial success. It always seems easy enough at first, but on one attempt, I completely ran out of stone. In another, my population grew faster than my ability to feed them. I guess I just got lucky my first time through (at least until everyone died) and I didn't understand the mechanics as well as I thought.

That's becoming a distressingly familiar feeling lately. I've got nothing to do but keep trying. It's the only way to learn.