PC Game Review Virtual Villagers 3: The Secret City

My people have returned! My people have returned! I don’t play any Sims-style games except Virtual Villagers (VV). I do like Sims games, but they require time I don’t have. But when it comes to the tribal crew, I’m there.

A human year has passed since we helped the villagers through their trials and tribulations in The Lost Children.

Virtual Villagers 3: The Secret City takes our people to a new spot on Isola. They moved on from the other part of Isola to seek more land for their growing tribe. In landing on the northern side of Isola, they find an previous lived-in place.

Unlike past VV games, the tribe doesn’t start from scratch considering this was an abandoned city. All doesn’t come easy as they have to repair run down buildings and figure out how to get more food than the occasional mushroom. The tribe can’t go fishing in the shark-infested ocean, so they must brush up on alchemy and research to find other solutions.

Like the previous two games, the villagers can gain skills in five areas: farming, building, researching, healing, and parenting. Healing has been a difficult area to master, but that has changed with this one as the game offers more opportunities to build up a villager’s medical knowledge. Parenting is probably the most difficult to master — as it should — and repeatedly pregnant and pairing up of the villagers doesn’t quite help them master parenting.

Building up tech points takes a long time, so we must have patience. I hate limiting myself to checking on my people to twice a day. However, checking them too often resembles watching a pot boil. In the early years of the game, you’ll need to check in more often because food is a challenge. You will come to a point when it won’t be, but not for a long time.

The biggest new feature is the factions. Players need to choose between Nature and Magic factions. Nature helps with food while Magic increases longevity. This feature will compel players to create at least two tribes — one from each faction.

Other new features include having a tribal chief with special powers, a medical area, a special plant that only appears based on the chosen faction, weather, collections (turtle shells, coral, tablets, and feathers), and areas of technology (restoration, alchemy, and leadership). Science and Medicine appeared in the previous edition and return in Virtual Villagers 3: The Secret City.

Villagers again come with likes and dislikes that can make some tasks harder or easier for them. Sometimes, you have to give up on the idea of helping one become an elder (mastering three skills) because a villager refuses to try something no matter how many times you push. The kids also take on traits from their parents. This time, they have an opportunity to become a master before they’re 18 because the tribal leader can give lectures once a day, which makes the kids smarter.

Also new to Virtual Villagers 3: The Secret City is the trophies-type screen with 10 awards you can achieve. However, when you earn an award, it’s a non-event. The only way you know your tribe receives an award is by going to the awards screen.

You have four speed options. Virtual Villagers 3: The Secret City continues to be a persistent game. This means that when you exit the game, they tribe lives on. I use the fastest speed and it’s still not fast enough. Really, you should savor the game and be patient. However, some of us don’t have that luxury.

Maybe it would work to have a sliding scale that outlines the human time and tribal time. For instance, a mother won’t do anything except take care of her baby for two years — 120 minutes (time depends on the chosen game speed) in human time. Or perhaps, add options to stop the game when food gets to zero. What do I know? I’m not a game developer.

The hardest part of the game — for me anyway — is leaving my villagers alone. I try to cut down to checking them two or three times a day (keep the fire burning, at least), but I jump in more than that. After completing 10 of the 16 puzzles, I need level 3 for the remaining puzzles and that takes hundreds of thousand tech points as I need to upgrade all five areas of technology plus my faction’s level. Ay yi yi.

Adventure / strategy games don’t run long because of the involved programming considering they have little repetition (like hidden object and arcade games). Yet, Virtual Villagers 3: The Secret City lasts a long time and gives players their money’s worth. I dare you to try it for an hour, if you’ve never played. Whether you’ve played the previous two has no bearing on this one. You can start with this and play the others later or start with Virtual Villagers.

No matter — you can’t help but love them like children. They have their moments and give you plenty of laughs with an occasional, “Aw, man!”