In the new survival city-builder game New Cycle solar flares of apocalyptic proportions have ravaged the planet and left humanity on the cusp of extinction. Now it is up to you to help guide the human race back to salvation, rebuilding society from the ground up, and growing it into a thriving Dieselpunk metropolis.
After a very successful wishlist campaign prior to the release, New Cycle from Turkish developer Core Engage and publisher Daedalic Entertainment is launching today in Steam Early Access. The game is shaping up to be one of 2024's biggest and brightest survival city-builder-meets-colony sim games, with flavors of Frostpunk, Ixion, Endzone: A World Apart, Surviving Mars and Rimworld. Survival in this new and post-apocalyptic environment is key – and you can only hope to do so by carefully harvesting New Cycle's scarce resources and mastering its sophisticated, intricate and intuitive production chain systems. You can buy New Cycle on Steam right now with a 10% launch discount.
When you start a new settlement, New Cycle gives you access to 35 healthy workers who are ready to roll up their sleeves and begin laying the foundations for a society starting afresh. You'll have numerous positions to fill like stone masons, gatherers, lumberjacks, cooks as you build your town and gradually improve collective knowledge and understanding of this new world by way of research. With each new level of technological advancement comes new possibilities, unlocking new vocations that can further improve your settlement and its civilians' conditions.
By the time you re-discover the knowledge of metalwork, for example, you're granted the ability to extract iron, refine it into ingots at a forge, and craft tools at the blacksmith's shop. Ultimately, this milestone kickstarts an industrial revolution of sorts, whereby your workforce is focused on the production of buildings and maintaining a steady supply of essential materials, such as wood, stone, iron, and, of course, food. As in real life, your settlement's children will eventually reach working age, and can fill vacancies left by retirees; while travelers with bespoke qualities can also be recruited along the way.
Through growth, one universal tenet is of critical importance in New Cycle: the supply of any one material is finite. This means flexibility is key, as you adapt and rework plans to suit your circumstances. With time iron gets swapped for steel, coal gets swapped for diesel and clay gets swapped for sturdy cement. Labor demands change over the course too, with building sites and mines requiring a minimum of 10 basic workers to function, while specially trained craftsmen, who can be accessed later in the game, can significantly increase a building's productivity.
Starting from the third cycle, the complexity and demand for labor rise exponentially. For instance, a construction site requires ten basic workers to operate at peak efficiency, and the same number of workers are needed in a mine, along with rare, specialized craftsmen. Furthermore, the production of necessary raw materials becomes increasingly intricate. For example, to create sturdy bricks, you need not only clay but also stones and water. While wells can be used to access water, this resource is finite, and obtaining larger quantities requires deeper excavation and energy-intensive water pumps.
Even the supply of stones is only guaranteed for a while, as natural stone deposits in your settlement area will eventually be depleted. One option is to establish another excavation pit that can produce stone or sand in addition to clay. However, this comes with substantial personnel costs, as previously explained. To avoid those bottle-necks in basic resource supply it is important to start exploring the surrounding areas around your town, although creating the necessary conditions and structures on the world map is neither simple nor inexpensive.
No matter how well you plan things in New Cycle, random events – such as sandstorms, flu outbreaks, and power outages – can totally derail the means of production with little warning. Looking after the basic and increasingly complex needs of your civilians is crucial, then, which you can help streamline with the introduction of social services, law enforcement, and extra provisions to temporarily boost morale.
Despite its apocalyptic backdrop, New Cycle is a hugely rewarding survival city-builder that is out now! If you fancy any of the above, you can buy New Cycle with a 10% launch discount on Steam right now.
