New Cycle might be the most overlooked city building and strategy game of 2024. We've all been following the Cities Skylines 2 redemption arc. Likewise, our eyes are on the launch of Frostpunk 2 and stalking horse rival Endzone 2 - and don't get us started on Civilization 7. But New Cycle deserves a lot more attention. With a gorgeous steampunk aesthetic, complex (but not convoluted) building and production chains, a survivalist narrative, and incredibly slick road building tools, this is the apocalypse city building game that everyone should be playing right now, especially since it's just gotten a big update and is now available cheaper than ever.
The year is 2073. A series of solar flares and apocalyptic weather events have all but destroyed our planet, reducing the last remnants of humanity to a state of pre-industrial primitiveness. Some elements of technology remain, however - while your first obligations in New Cycle include farming corn and creating rudimentary hospitals, as time passes in the city-building game, you're responsible for restarting mass production and connecting your settlements with power lines and transit.
It's a terrific mix of low-scale, microscopic leadership, where you must safeguard the needs of your individual citizens person by person, and high-end, helicopter strategy, where a finished game map includes factories, housing blocks, and dozens of connected villages and towns.
Originally released in January, at its peak, New Cycle attracted around 3,800 concurrent players on Steam - as of this writing, however, its highest player count in the last 24 hours is 170. But compare that to its reviews. Over its lifetime, 80% of user reviews for New Cycle are positive. Of the player reviews posted during the last 30 days, a huge 91% are favorable.
Combine that with the latest 'Production and Deliver' update, which adds new buildings, maps, mechanics, and resources, and the fact it's cheaper than ever right now, and New Cycle is absolutely worth your time. If you want to get New Cycle, it's available now for $22.49 / £18.74. Just head right here.
Otherwise, you should try some of the other best strategy games, or maybe the best grand strategy games if you want something a big bigger.
You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides, or grab our PCGN deals tracker to net yourself some bargains.