20,000 Lightyears Into Space
I've been playing 20,000 Lightyears Into Space since before I started writing this blog, so it mildly surprises me that I haven't wrote about it.
You play as the captain of an extra-terrestrial colonial expedition from Victorian-era England. You've landed on a world that is suitable for powering your steam-based technology. On the menu screen, there's a letter from your friend. He mentions that he's detected evidence of an alien civilization on this planet. That's all the background you're given. That's all the story you get in this game. There just doesn't need to be more.
This is a real-time strategy game of sorts. You don't build an army and march towards an enemy base. The objective is to gather steam and upgrade your city to a specific level. You build outward from your city, using nodes and pipes to gather and transfer steam to your city. If you run low on steam (due to network destruction or upgrading too fast), you lose.
There are obstacles. Aliens will attack your structures for a season. (I'm assuming that these aliens have a breeding season?) The planet is seismically active, so there will be earthquakes, and afterwards, there will be storms. (I assume there's a breeding season for storms.)
It's a cool little game that I play while watching Youtube. It's free. Have fun!