Ahead of Frostpunk 2, new Steam strategy game New Cycle has been bringing its own brand of punishing, apocalyptic city building to the table. Offering something more brutal and desperate than the likes of Cities Skylines 2 and with its unique post-apocalypse setting bringing a higher-tech alternative to the upcoming Manor Lords, developer Core Engage says it “couldn’t be happier” with the response to its new game as a first update arrives.
Arriving Thursday, January 18, New Cycle puts you in charge of a settlement in a world thrown into chaos in the wake of devastating solar flares. While much of our modern technology still exists, you’ll have to work your way up via more industrial means to get your factories and workforce up and running once again. It’s a challenging city-building game that will test your ability to meet your population’s basic food and water needs as much as your penchant for organizing production chains.
“We couldn’t be happier about the reception to our game,” Core Engage writes in a blog post for its debut game, “As usual, there were a few hiccups here and there for some of you, but the majority already put a lot of game time into New Cycle and gave us a lot of feedback. Be assured that in the upcoming days and weeks, we will look into each and every one of your points and see what we can do about it.”
The first update is already here, and it brings one of the most essential requests – the addition of an auto-save feature. You’ll have the option to choose what time interval the game auto-saves at, with the lowest being every other day. An issue with active tasks not saving correctly has also been resolved. Core Engage notes that “for massive cities, the allocated save time will be 3-4 seconds longer,” but that this should avoid any potential problems.
Mushroom soup, a staple food in this new world, will now require slightly different production methods to grow yourself. The greenhouse now offers vegetable and herb production, while Core Engage plans to introduce a new structure for indoor mushroom growing. There’s also a new ‘progressed campaign mode’ for those of you wanting to start from Cycle V.
If you’ve been in the mood to make some tough choices, New Cycle is out now and available at a 10% discount through Thursday, January 25.
We’ve also rounded up the best strategy games on PC that you should be playing in 2024, with all manner of options on the digital table, along with the best management games if you’re looking to put your decision-making skills to the test.
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