Among the many city builders on Steam, from the modern stylings of Cities Skylines 2 and SimCity 4 to the more historical period-specific offerings such as Banished and the upcoming Manor Lords, Kingdoms Reborn might have escaped your notice. But since its early access launch in November 2020, the strategy game from developer Earthshine has racked up a very respectable 91% positive Steam rating from over 7,000 user reviews, and now a free Kingdoms Reborn update introduces a new Aztec-inspired faction, with a Steam sale offering you a chance to grab it at a discount if you’re interested.
This latest update, Kingdoms Reborn Echoes of the Sun Stone, adds the new faction Tlatoa, inspired by the Aztecs. Much like the rest of the factions offered in this indie city-building game, Tlatoa has its own unique buildings, resources, military units, and even construction animations. It specializes in growing corn, tobacco, and agave, the latter of which can then be distilled into tequila.
If you’ve yet to check out Kingdoms Reborn, it sees you growing your chosen civilization through many eras from a tiny village into a vast, prosperous empire. With full citizen simulations, a card-based progression system, and a procedurally generated world map with seven biomes, each adventure is a little different as you grow your kingdom through four eras (the Dark Age, Middle Age, Enlightenment Age, and Industrial Age), each unlocking the potential for new technology, buildings, and upgrades to research.
This latest update also makes a few other changes, including gameplay rebalancing, a revamp to the blacksmith and stone tools workshops, a new medicine gatherer, and a UI overhaul. With Tlatoa’s focus on tequila production, its role for the Emirates faction has been replaced with a perfumery instead.
The Kingdoms Reborn Echoes of the Sun Stone update is out now. To celebrate, the game is on sale for 20% off on Steam until Saturday March 2. That means you can grab it for $15.99/£13.59 right now, down from its usual price of $19.99/£16.99.
We’ve rounded up more of the best strategy games you need to play in 2024 if that’s not enough to keep you amused, along with our favorite management games to test your ability to run everything from a city, a farm, or a zoo to a soccer team, or even Jurassic World.
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