Rebuild 3: Gangs of Deadsville
A series that takes an inventive twist on the zombie apocalypse setting, Rebuild takes the “man versus man versus nature” struggle present in most games pertaining to zombies and reframes the gameplay from the more common action/shooter elements and turns it into a 4X game of conquest. The world of Rebuild is one in which the survivors are all fairly competent people. Nobody here is an idiot that is going to stand there and quiver in fear while the zombies take a bite out of their neck. The primary struggle is maintaining the flow of your resources and zombies are only really a threat when you spread your people thin. Fortunately the game manages to balance this well so that you’re generally never too comfortable that you don’t have to worry. Each map tends to follow the same flow of scrambling your survivors frantically so you can find food to eat that night to having a slight bit of breathing room so that you can begin to, as the title suggests, Rebuild and then challenge the AI factions present. Zombies ramp up their difficulty as time goes on as well. There are a few strategies that generally guarantee victory as long as you execute them well but I’ll leave you to figure out what those are. It has clever nooks and crannies and like any other good 4X you’ve played it’ll keep you up all night as you have multiple goals planned out at once, one of which can always be achieved in Just One More Turn. The ebb and flow guarantees that you’ve always got something to do.
– Real player with 338.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best 4X Story Rich Games.
Summary: Turn based zombie survival
Multiplayer: No
Completion: 46 hrs
Cards: Yes
Cloud: Yes
Rebuild 3 is a real time or turn-based tactical zombie survival game with a focus on recruiting followers and expanding territory. The game offers two distinct modes of play, Quick Play, and Story. Quick play offers unlimited procedurally generated maps, with various settings that can be adjusted to your liking. Story mode is a whole campaign where you can carry over leader stats and a small group between missions.
– Real player with 81.6 hrs in game
TerraMartis4x
Background story
A short but fragile period of peace followed the cold war. Humanity is divided into two factions. The western part under the leadership of the USA and the eastern part under the leadership of Russia.
That peace ended shortly after the beginning of space colonization. Under the continued pressure of the hegemonial western faction on Earth, large parts of the eastern factions left Earth completely and moved to Mars and are now known as Martian.
Gameplay summary
In TerraMartis4x you take the role as leader of one of the factions, either Terra or Mars. Both factions are at war over the uncolonized space. Your goal is to lead the faction of your choice to victory.
TerraMartis4x is divided into two layers. On the galaxy map you make strategic turned based decisions about which planets to colonize, which fleets to build, where to attack, what to defend and which planet to conquer. When two fleets meet you can dive into the battlefield the second part of the game where you make tactical decisions for each unit in your fleet in real time.
Beside the two larger factions Terran and Martian there are also some minor factions in TerraMartis4x mostly from the outer asteroid belts and not recognized as a united faction by the former two.
Read More: Best 4X Strategy Games.
The Ancients
Earth in prehistoric times. The continents are shifting, the last ice age is coming. Fierce predators roam the land.
KEY FEATURES
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Survive in harsh conditions of prehistoric earth and wild creatures of virgin nature.
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Research and craft new tools according to your geographical needs.
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Protect your tribe from wild animals, cold winters, drought, make them feel safe.
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Discover the language and build an identity for your tribe so your people will be a whole.
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Create root religious ideas and combine them to create your own religion.
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Observe every change of your tribe. (Further reading tribe scene below)
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Build your own culture, make your tribe patriarchal or matriarchal, polygamic or monogamous, etc.
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Shape your tribe policies, authoritarian or free people, brutal or peaceful, equal or hierarchical. Each decision will help you deal with difficulties in its own way.
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Migrate different nodes on earth, to even the most impossible areas and try to survive there, you will be native to where you stay in the end.
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Meet the prehistoric animals, and be prey to them or make them your prey.
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Witness the historical development of humanity or create your own history.
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Try to make the best decisions in various events caused by internal or external sources.
From being starving hunter-gatherers, you will develop a great tribe with many options on prehistoric technology to great cultural breakthroughs. Your goal is to survive and thrive in real-world-inspired locations and migrate to new lands.
CULTURE TREE
The culture tree is where you discover religion, policies, and human interactions inside and outside of your tribe, the main purpose of the culture segment is to allow the player to shape the cultural development of the people. We worked on it to make it as real as real tribe’s decisions.You decide the roots of the culture of your community and what they are like when they advanced to settled life.
RESEARCH TREE
The research tree aims to help the player overcome the obstacles of the game by inventing new tools materials and crafting options. Research Tree is composed of six different categories inspired by historically correct ancient technologies. Our research tree consists six different categories, and six consecutive historic periods. You can become better in any category than others, like historic tribes.
TRIBE SCENE
The Tribe Scene gives you a close-up look at your tribe’s development. You can see the results of your tribe development on this screen. In addition to visuals, tribesmen and tribe states can be observed here. You can check if your tribe members are fed, feeling safe, and bound to the tribe socially. Otherwise, they may fight, steal or leave the tribe. Being a tribe doesn’t mean traveling and eating together, you have to live together and survive as a community.
MIGRATION MAP
While surviving against the wild, relentless nature of the last ice age; travel the vast landscape of the ancient earth. The ancient earth was geographically different than the earth we know today. The world was not like today at the last ice age, do you want to try to walk to America from Asia? Do you know Britain and japan weren’t islands at all…
Discover the ancient earth with your tribe.
HEXAGONAL MAP AND TACTICS
In the game, the player controls different clans of a tribe. These clans may gather food, hunt animals, make camp, or later in the game improve campsite with basic structures like tents and fences against wild animals. Our maps consist of hexagon tiles which is very useful for planning tactics for your clans.
Read More: Best 4X Strategy Games.
Pax Nova
To be honest, this game really didn’t cross my radar until a couple of weeks ago when I saw an article on it and the combined planetary + space layers made me think of Emperor of the Fading Suns. It was on sale for launch and I picked it up. I was a bit soured to the experience initially due to bugs and some UI problems but it seemed like the devs were working on patches so I held off reviewing it. Since there’s been an update I figured I’d go ahead with the review.
Since I posted this review, there’s be a ton of tweaks, bug fixes, and content pushed out by the devs so I’m updating the review to reflect the current state. While there are still some bugs present, the devs have crushed so many of the major ones that I’ve moved the entry to the “Meh” section
– Real player with 265.1 hrs in game
I’ve been sitting on that review for a longer while, but I feel like with latest updates I can finally recommend it, just not for everyone.
You know that sentence, “wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle”? Well, Pax Nova is like that. Just not in the negative way, in my opinion. It’s a casual, simple Empire Builder/4X, that lets you just sit back and relax, something to occupy part of your brain not with a challenge, but heightened activity. Basically a sudoku of strategy games.
Each playthrough there will be multiple planets to explore, each with own map of different size, different strategic resources and with one of few different tilesets (though devs managed to utilize lighting to make two planets with single tileset to look quite different), and above that is vast space, enough for your starships to take turns of travel, despite systems touching elbows with each other. All of those have enviromental dangers, resource nodes for mining and anomalies to explore, all the stuff you expect from a game like that.
– Real player with 111.8 hrs in game
SimPocalypse
UI has an unusal design to help increase the options for the massive number-growth generator applications that all idle-clickers are.
The demand for input from you as a player feels obstructive at a fair bit of time and the techs that allow you to automate yourself away are not clearly advertised with the tech tree being ‘shrouded’. This can add some frustration.
There is little else to add, the combat is mostly for show - my own ‘35K force’ tank brigade does not take any damage at all anymore when facing supposedly superior forces and development of my faction has pretty much gone to a standstill for the past 5 hours while I’m tabbed out letting the auto-combat handle conquering everything.
– Real player with 92.4 hrs in game
This is a ‘yes, but’ review, so. If you’re skimming, pass this one up. If you’re interested in details on why this MIGHT be for you, read on.
So. This is one of those compelling semi-idle games where you fundamentally click things on spreadsheets to make the numbers go up until you literally take over the world. And that’s pretty fun! However.
For the random store browser, there’s not much more to it than that, and I think there’s a lot of room to be disappointed with your purchase.
For people who enjoy the semi-idle thing…?
– Real player with 23.9 hrs in game
Thrive: Heavy Lies The Crown
Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown is a Medieval Fantasy city builder that forces you to make dire decisions that ensure the survival of your kingdom and the people you lead.
Volition is a valuable tool in your inventory as you build your city, shape the land and fortify it as you see fit. Burdened by the weight of your decisions, a seemingly trivial choice can shape your legacy and determine if you’re a soulless tyrant or a fair and just monarch.
Will your kingdom merely survive, or do you have the resilience and dedication to make it THRIVE?
#### Features
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Struggle with real-time decision making that leads to real-time consequences
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Uncover the true nature of the mysterious Waelgrim
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Survive the harsh realities of medieval life, both natural and manmade
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Advance the development of your kingdom through an in-depth tech tree
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Discover your benevolent or tyrannical nature
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Traverse an unknown land to gain new resources and allies
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Explore this land alone or with up to four friends
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Experience a day-night cycle that affects your citizens’ behaviors
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Defend your growing kingdom by waging epic battles
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Receive modding support to play your way
#### Benevolence & Tyranny
The path by which you rule, be it benevolent or tyrannical, is determined entirely by the decisions you make. Thrive’s narrative-driven event system presents dynamic, nuanced options that often make the best choice unclear. Compassion and communion with nature can empower you, but rapid growth and progression could catapult your dominion. One must always remember that a hero to some is a villain to others. What will be your legacy?
#### A Vast Land
Establish your presence in a large-scale 4X land, rich in possibility and potential conflict, with up to four friends. Compete for resources and develop relationships with numerous AI villages and kingdoms, strengthening your foothold in this new territory’s active economy. Develop outposts and small villages to gain increased resources while helping to extend the reaches of trade. As your kingdom grows, will you develop a legacy of fear or friendship?
#### Survival
To survive is to take heed of what you can control, and weather what you cannot. Direct your kingdom’s future through effective planning, advancement and a detailed tech tree. Success is rewarded with new options to empower or enforce the nature of your rule. Countless variables, from weather to Waelgrim, add increased pressure to your reign. Endure these unpredictable forces and prove you truly have what it takes to thrive.
#### Waging War
Thrive’s real-time combat is reflected in the costs of war. Choices are realistic and impactful: soldiers’ deaths affect morale, ammunition needs resupply, armour and weapons require repairs, and troops experience fatigue. Engage in siegecraft, both as an inflictor and receiver, to show you can persevere against any form of adversary. Approach all conflict with a clear strategy, lest you long for a bitter reminder of failure’s high cost.
Void Eclipse
It’s a combination of 4X, deck builder, and grid-based, turn-based tactics with unique factions. Terrific unit design, artwork, and battle animations. Battles were quite challenging so you’ll have to use the full combination of unit upgrades and abilities to succeed.
– Real player with 1.2 hrs in game
Played the beta, bought the game.
Unique exploratory travel/resource acquisition with turn-based encounters, As you advance, you’ll be able to form multi-unit multi-skill squads (check out the dev’s demo vid).
Cool artwork and immersive audio ambiance
– Real player with 1.1 hrs in game
Grim wanderings 2
Worth it! Whether you are playing Adventure or Strategy, you are getting to play a great turn based RPG.
There are so many more options to solve encounters rather than just being a murder hobo. I would even say it is the best strategy for the first bunch of turns until you get your 4 man party set. The combat itself takes place on a tight hex grid, but you get used to getting your party in the right place at the right time.
There are more gameplay mechanics still to come, at least as far as I seen in Strategy play. There is just soooo much you could do with this game with infinite development time. MP Strategy mode would be a great way to make and then lose friends in bitter defeats :) And multiple campaigns for Adventure mode would extend the replay value beyond its already ridiculous value (FUN/time+money). Maybe even slow down the pace of leveling, to make campaigns just for 1-7, 8-15, then high level play.
– Real player with 127.9 hrs in game
What a great hidden gem. A 4x that its not sophisticated in special effects, but in terms of abilities, races, classes and gear is fleshed out. Plus, it comes with a side dish of strategy and base building, so the resources do not apply only to craft. It is dificult to balance a good party tho, and to make things worse you dont get to pick a starting one, adding an extra layer of dificulty to an already complex game. In fact, you are in some things dependent too much on luck. This is the con, if you are not happy with the rooster of the chars available at start, you gonna have to wait a week for a roll on new ones. And the same happens for gear, having to leave some chars even without weapons for a while. Plus, there is a “pick a card” mini-game instead of dice rolls, and might be me, but luck is really not on my side. Regardless it is a very fun game after these hurdles, and the price makes it a must buy.
– Real player with 110.3 hrs in game
Hexarchy
Build a glorious civilization in less than an hour!
Hexarchy is a fast-paced strategy game. It takes the consequential decisions of a multi-hour 4x game and packs them into an action-packed hour long game. Play multiplayer online with up to 10 players or customize your single player game.
Easy to learn. Deep strategy
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Feel right at home with familiar 4x game concepts
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Explore to find other civilizations in a procedurally generated world
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Build cities, armies, wonders, and improvements with your cards
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Research technologies and adopt civics to access new units, buildings, and abilities
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A full game takes less than an hour
Play online or single player
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Join an online game with up to 10 players with our one click matchmaking system
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All players take their turns simultaneously to minimize down-time
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Play single player and customize the game to fit your style or to try different challenges
Features
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Simple, compelling combat system
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10 Civilizations with unique abilities
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Trade resources on a global market
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Customize your units using promotions
Limitless strategies
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Use your military units to capture any hex
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Strategically destroy cards to tailor your deck to the situation
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Is an enemy city too well defended? Take their food supply to starve them instead
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Can’t defeat an invading army in the field? Try cutting off their supply lines
fullybroKEN - A Unique Mix of 4X / Post-Apocalypse / RPG / Roguelike
Overall I think the game has tons of potential, but I think that it still needs some time to iron out some of the flaws it currently has.But as it is early access I am hopeful the flaws will be fixed.
Overall
+interesting challenging gameplay
+roguelike elements that improve the game general post-apocalyptic/survival feel
+replayable
+interesting use of match-3 mechanics
+potential to be a great game
+innovative gameplay
-not quite there
-emergent narrative is still lacking(but as I understood the developer is working on it)
– Real player with 3.9 hrs in game
Fast paced and fun, a bit too challenging sometimes(maybe the dev can balance it better?). I didn’t had much chance to play and the game is in need of some bug fixes polish and as I understood content additions, but I do hope that during the early access the game will become only better.
– Real player with 0.8 hrs in game