Banished

Gameplay

Trying to keep a steady pace while Banished asks you to make sure a whole town has enough food for winter sounds like a decent workout, as long as you’re happy to pause and think instead of keeping your hands busy every second. I’d start on an easy pace, because the game keeps giving you small problems that feel manageable until you notice that your firewood supply is low and winter is already on the way.

The exiled travelers have to turn a cart of supplies into a town, and I like how quickly that makes your choices feel practical. You’re not building a monument because it looks nice, you’re trying to get people housed, fed and warm, and a new building can solve one problem while making another more obvious. A crop field looks like a great idea until you realize it needs workers, and those workers could have been gathering food. It’s a lot like running a kitchen where everyone is also the customer.

The seasons give the planning a useful rhythm, but they also mean there are stretches where you’re watching supplies and waiting for the next harvest. I think that works better than a long cutscene for exercise, since you can keep moving while the town ticks along, but it’s not constant action. Sometimes your most important contribution is noticing that the number beside your firewood is going in the wrong direction. I don’t know, that’s still a kind of management.

When something does go wrong, it tends to make you rethink your whole plan instead of just clicking a single fix. A shortage of food can turn into a shortage of workers, and a shortage of workers can make the town even harder to feed. I like that the game doesn’t need a villain to make the stakes clear, although watching people starve because I planned badly is not exactly a relaxing little side activity. I’d keep the pace moderate rather than trying to make every run a high effort one.

There’s enough to think about that I’d call it a good strategy game, but not one that keeps your brain lightly occupied. You’ll be deciding where things go and whether the town can support its next step, and that can pull your attention away from your stride. If you enjoy a slow puzzle and don’t mind stopping to plan, it has a lot going for it. If you want something that asks almost nothing of your hands, this probably isn’t it.

Category Score: 2 out of 3

Treadmill and Bike Compatibility

The pause button is your friend here, and I’d use it without feeling like I was spoiling anything. Banished gives you time to look over the town, think through what’s short and choose what to do next, so you can stop making inputs while you’re moving and resume once you’re settled. That makes it much more workable than a strategy game where the clock keeps sprinting while you stare at a menu.

The actual controls are the less comfortable part. Placing buildings and selecting small bits of the interface call for a cursor, so I’d want a mouse close by and the screen positioned where I can see it without leaning forward. I can’t confirm native controller support from the details here, so I wouldn’t buy it assuming a controller will make the menus easy. If you already use Steam Input, check how it handles the cursor before you set up your workout.

On a treadmill, I’d stick with a gentle pace and pause before doing the fiddly town planning, because a cursor that’s easy to place while standing still can get a little wobbly when your arms are moving. The game doesn’t demand quick reactions, which is a huge help, but I still wouldn’t try to lay out a whole new section of town while pushing hard. You can let the settlement run for a bit and focus on your feet. That seems sensible.

A bike may be the easier fit if you can keep your upper body steady and reach the controls comfortably, though it’s not automatically perfect there either. You still need to read the interface and make small selections, so I’d avoid a hard effort where your hands are bouncing around. I don’t know how much of the game you’d want to manage at once during a workout, but you can take it in short stretches and pause whenever the town starts asking for your attention. It can wait.

Category Score: 2 out of 3

Computer Requirements

The listed minimums are very modest, so you don’t need a recent gaming computer to get Banished running. I’d check that an older graphics setup can handle its DirectX requirement, but this is not the sort of game that should send you shopping for a new graphics card.

Category Score: 3 out of 3

Conclusion and Score

Banished is a thoughtful choice for an easy workout where you’re fine with stopping to plan, and I’d point you toward it if slow town building sounds better than constant action. Skip it if you need the game to keep your attention without asking you to read and make decisions.

Overall Score: 2.33 out of 3