On Tuesday, mobile game studio Tuesday Quest released A Planet Of Mine and its probably one of the most satisfying 4X mobile games I’ve played in a while. The game is a offered as a free-to-try which unlocks one race and one game mode but these free unlocks are surprisingly in-depth. It only took me 30 minutes in the game to realize what a gem it is and plunk down 5 bucks to unlock the entire thing.
A Planet Of Mine Gameplay
Like all 4X games, A Planet Of Mine includes four distinct gameplay elements: eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. Players begin the game by choosing a specific race. Each race comes to the planet with a unique set of resources and skills. In the full mode there are 16 races to choose from but free to play players are confined to Space Chickens whose skill is intelligence.
Once a race is chosen, you are taken to your planet which is essentially a circle divided into 24 slices. Each slice can be a different kind of terrain with different possible resources including things like water, trees stone etc. You begin with two inhabitants and your number one task is survival. Initially only seven of the terrain slices are unlocked so you have to assess what you needs are and how to use the space. Your initial objectives are gathering food and building housing. The globe moves in a circular motion, where 20 seconds equals one full day passing. With each day that passes, you earn ascension points and expend a certain amount of food depending on how many inhabitants you have. You have the ability to speed up time by spinning the circle clockwise if needed. Once you reach a certain amount of ascension points, you can upgrade your civilization, unlocking new buildings and research perks. Every time you build something new, you unlock a little more territory until all 24 slices are revealed. Since you territory is limited, you have to think carefully about what buildings you need and how you are going to maintain your society once you run out of room. At that point, the game reaches even more complexity as you must determine whether you have the resources to fight neighboring planets to gain more territory or try to befriend them in hopes of setting up amiable trade relations.
The most satisfying and mind boggling thing about this game is the sheer depth and thoughtfulness of design. Besides allowing for hours of fun in discovery mode alone, if you unlock the complete game, you can also play 12 different challenge modes that require things like creating the most science centered civilization, hottest tourist spot or find ways to explore every planet in the system, not to mention gameplay with the 16 different races unlocked in full mode.You don’t often see such a long-term play show up on mobile devices. It’s really the best thing I’ve played in this genre since The Battle of Polytopia.
For whatever reason, Planet of Mine seems to have fallen under the radar of Apple’s “New Games We Love” list, but in my opinion it definitely belongs there. Completely free of ads and premium currency models found in so many mobile games, this game provides so much for so little. If you haven’t had a chance to check out A Planet of Mine, you can download it for free now on both the the Apple App and Google Play Store. You can unlock small character packs for 1.99 each or purchase the entire game for 4.99.
