Aven Colony Is Free On The Epic Games Store

Monday, Prime Gaming was half decent again this month and for a few more days Humble has a casual-friendly fighting bundle, while Darkest Dungeon II sold 100K copies in a day. Tuesday, Mr. Driller DrillLand is coming to modern consoles for the first time in the west. Wednesday, dog-based business-sim To The Rescue is now on Steam, and Skyrim is becoming a board game after the success of the (quite enjoyable) Fallout board game. Thursday, Midnight Suns was delayed weeks after being announced, and Among Trees finally got a release date.

On to this week’s free game on the Epic Games Store, a colony/city-builder with sci-fi elements that I never knew about until last week. Aven Colony was released back in 2017 on Steam after a short run in early access with a beta released on Itch.io. Of course, there may be a reason for not hearing much about it. Looking at the reviews, it never impressed people beyond adding a droplet to the ocean of Steam’s many releases. It probably didn’t help that three games made more headlines with Northgard, Black’Hood, and Empires of Undergrowth, the latter based entirely on an ant colony being mugged to death by the local black widow.

Then again, I think we were all mugged by this year’s Black Widow. So yes, there was at least some competition, but I was too busy enjoying a small indie game called Kingdoms and Castles. None of which is to say that Mothership Entertainment’s Aven Colony is not worth playing, but it might be a little more focused on hardcore fans of the concept. Of course, a little while later down the line, we saw Haemimont Games’ Surviving Mars, which is a little more like space-Tropico. If it seems like I’m avoiding talking about Aven Colony, that’s because it is going down the line of fantasy sci-fi of your typical aliens enhabiting a green M-Class kind of planet. It is nice, but without thrills.

All this week, you can pick up Aven Colony on the Epic Games Store until the morning of the 11th of November. Reminder, if you are in the UK, hug pets because tonight people will be celebrating terrorism by scaring animals with fireworks. As for next week, it is a dour prospect, but that’s enough about Doctor Who: Flux. In all seriousness, all we’re being shown right now ahead of time is a promo for Rogue Company with its season four Epic pack. If you thought I was disinterested in Aven Colony, I find free-to-play games about as entertaining as a clown running across a minefield. Why yes, I am enjoying rewatching The Thick of It, how can you tell?