City 20, at its core, is a survival game, akin to Sons of the Forest, Rust, Soulmask, and myriad other genre mainstays. You have to eat, drink, and sleep. You have to gather resources and craft your own gear. The game world is hostile, and even the smallest action like picking berries can end in violent drama. But from what I’ve played of City 20, it’s also unlike any other survival sim, or, in fact, any other game at all. Visually reminiscent of old-school Fallout and with a post-Soviet, nuclear-apocalypse setup similar to Stalker, its systems, mechanics, and approach to dynamic play are, potentially, more complex than anything else I’ve seen – and now it has a launch date.
As a denizen of the titular City 20, your job, initially, is to just stay alive. A nuclear disaster means the whole place is cordoned off – over the decades, City 20 has metastasized into a cutthroat, barter-driven primitive society, where violent factions hoard all the resources and the general citizenry fight over food. Eventually, the goal is to escape City 20 for good, but the survival game has innumerate inventive obstacles to throw in your path.
Put simply, every single NPC in City 20 is governed by the same systems as you, the player. You need to eat; so do they. You have to sleep; they do, too. Your base health, strength, and other stats are all equivalent to those around you – if you’re used to being the hero and easily outplaying the residents of Whiterun or Megaton, here, you’re just another Joe Schmo, and your chance for survival is about as great (or limited) as everyone else’s.
What’s most compelling is how every character in City 20 has a different personality, and how they continue to live their lives even off screen. Let’s say you break into a house to steal some dinner. In some cases, the owner might like himself as a bit of a tough guy, and try to fight you head on. Other times, he might be more diplomatic, and ask you, beggingly, not to take his food. Let’s say you steal what you need and, one way or another, get out of there.
Again, depending on his individual characteristics, the homeowner might go and tell the guards what you did – when you come back to the city, the guards will be looking for you. Alternatively, he might circumvent the law and put one of the factions onto you. Or maybe he’ll be too scared and keep quiet.
And then it branches out further. Maybe the guard he told is a bit of a coward, so even though he sees you and knows you’re the thief, all he does is give you a verbal warning, and then backs down. On the other hand, maybe he’s aggressive and just looking for an excuse to put someone in the infirmary.
Or maybe he’s corrupt and he’ll leave you alone if you give him a share of your take. The dynamic story in City 20 is fueled by these distinctions and idiosyncrasies. Every NPC has their own drives, personality, predispositions, and attitudes, and whether you’re successful will depend on how well you can read everyone.
If it sounds intriguing, the City 20 Steam Early Access launch is now set for Monday September 23. This will give you access to around ten hours of the game, with the opportunity to explore the city and its surroundings and meet two of the central factions.
Developer Untold Games says that players’ main objective during the early access period is sourcing the materials to build an initial shelter, which can later be upgraded with water and electricity to become a full-scale safehouse. If you want to wishlist City 20 ahead of the preliminary launch, head here.
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