I decided to take a peek at some of the city builder/strategy demos available during this fall’s Steam Next Fest. There were so many games to try so we are going to focus on the five games today.
Industry Giant 4.0
I played Industry Giant 4.0 for about an hour. Very informative tutorial that walks you through the game mechanics. In the hour I spent with the game I managed to get the food and wood production chains going. I also got the basics of truck and rail lines going for the supply chains.
This is a gameplay loop I can see myself losing hundreds of hours to. Game reminds me of Workers and Resources a bit. I am looking forward to the game’s full release. I enjoyed this more than expected.
Builders of Egypt
One of the games I have been following for the longest that I played this Next Fest. Let me preface this: This is a demo not the full release. The first time I tried to play the demo I had some issues getting past the task in the tutorial involving the regional map. Tried a day later and got past that bug. Again this is a demo so I expect things to get better before the game releases in early 2025.
The Good
The UI is clean, the gameplay mechanics and info screens seem well thought out, and the graphics are pleasing.
The Not so Good
While I think the graphics are pleasing they are also somewhat broken. I saw issues with clipping and the water while beautiful, seems to also be slightly broken. Builders of Egypt is slated for a January 2025 release. I have my skepticism on that.
I want to reiterate that this is a demo so I am not trying not to judge too harshly, I also have to give my assessment. Another thing I noticed is LOD (Level of Detail) seems broken in odd ways. The citizens are an afterthought and they are a pretty important part of these types of games. They make the city feel alive after all. In this game (so far in this demo) they are floating, seem to lack most animations and disappear so quickly when zoomed out even slightly. I really wanted to love this and I am hoping its just the demo and full release will have these bugs ironed out.
Tlatoani: Aztec Cities
Next up I played through the first mission and about half way the second mission for the demo Tlatoani: Aztec Cities. This city builder/strategy game is set within the Aztec Civilization. Because I didn’t finish the second mission I didn’t get too deep into the combat so I can’t comment too much.
I like the visuals of the game and watching the citizens going about their day. The building mechanics, supply chain management, and citizen happiness all seem well thought out and make for a fun gameplay loop. Tlatoani: Aztec Cities harkins back to those old school games like Pharaoh, Caesar, and Zues. I thoroughly enjoyed playing this demo and look forward to Tlatoani: Aztec Cities coming out!
Pinevale Settlements
I’m going to be honest Pinevale Settlements is an EARLY alpha demo of the game, it gives you an idea of what it will be but because it’s so early in its development I don’t feel super comfortable making much commentary.
Overthrown
First off, tossing trees at the sawmill is a heckin ‘delight. Taken straight from the Steam page “Lift and throw anything as you build and manage your kingdom in this chaotic city builder for 1-6 players.“ Overthrown was another delightful demo.
Spent about an hour and half playing the demo, thoroughly enjoying building the start of my cute cozy little town. The demo walks you through the basics as you figure out the supply chains for building and expanding your town. I can’t wait to spend some more time with this demo this weekend. I will be buying this on release for sure.
Bonus Demo: Achilles: Survivor
So to start off Next Fest before I decided to stay in my lane as it were I gave Achilles: Survivor a whirl. Achilles: Survivor is an action rogue-like by the devs of Action RPG Achilles: Legends Untold set in the same universe.
I have a habit of playing rogue-like’s before bed to unwind. While I won’t be adding Achilles: Survivor to that rotation because it is a bit too fast for me I will be checking it out after release. I enjoyed the demo and look forward to playing Achilles: Survivor.
