Zenith Frontier
Zenith Frontier is an interstellar strategy simulation game. Explore and colonise hostile exoplanets and help humanity survive the struggles of 2040 and beyond.
Zenith Frontier features several novel mechanics in the context of traditional 4X and grand strategy gameplay elements. Experience visionary strategic gameplay set in an evolving procedural galaxy populated by billions ot autonomous citizens and private companies. Build a faction with a rich background and strong identity, then oversee their interstellar efforts to advance their position within the precarious New Space Age.
New Gameplay Features:
-
A Shared Origin: Factions start in the same overpopulated, suffering home system and compete to expand outwards in the year 2040. This is made possible by the recent discovery of –REDACTED– which allows high-tech spacecraft to slip into subspace.
-
Volatile Subspace: Exploration of this newly accessible subspace is incredibly dangerous. This chaotic region is thick with dark matter and swirling dark energy fields, but the ability to travel interstellar distances in considerably shorter timeframes may be worth the risk. Known safe routes will become critical to sustaining your remote holdings, but beware - subspace is neither static or stable and these routes may change!
-
Information is Essential: Unshielded signals will be destroyed in subspace and must be carried through by comm drones. News that arrives at your capital from a distant colony will be out-of-date - the situation will have evolved and you will have to consider this when planning your response. Additionally, perhaps the illegal hijacking of another’s comm drones will glean some strategic information - and prevent it from arriving at its intended destination!
-
Special Relativity: Spacecraft travelling at incredible speeds and colonies established within deep gravity wells will experience first-hand the effects of special relativity and time dilation. Time will progress more quickly for the crew of your –REDACTED– spacecraft making a long journey at high speeds than the colony they are destined for.
-
Geospatial Resource Pricing: A supply and demand model for price determination within a dynamic economic system that includes taxes, import/export fees and transportation costs mean that resource prices will vary throughout the galaxy. Plan your economic developments accordingly - or invest in this interstellar network infrastructure to take a slice of your rival’s operations.
-
Top Level Direction: Shape your faction from the top down by issuing orders, directives, and edicts to your military staff, governors, and private sector. These are executed autonomously, which can lead to surprising outcomes. This indirect control poses interesting strategic challenges.
Traditional Gameplay Features:
-
Diplomacy and Politics
-
Research and Technology
-
Military Conflict
-
Management and Governance
Zenith Frontier’s Design Pillars:
Zenith Frontier is being designed and developed in line with these pillars.
-
Emergence - A rich, living world that generates unique emergent scenarios.
-
Strategic Depth - A semantic network of interconnect systems.
-
Gameplay Over Graphics - A high quality interactive system that priotises gameplay.
-
Self-Directed - The player is primarily working towards self-selected goals in open gameplay.
-
Top Level Decisions - The player provides direction from the top-down to autonomous agents.
Read More: Best 4X Grand Strategy Games.
Astraeus
The next generation game for fans of Eufloria. While more abstract, gameplay consists of missions resembling Homeworld’s tactical map. A true, addictive crack gem. 4X whittled to the bone. A virtuoso use of VR.
– Real player with 408.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best 4X Strategy Games.
Pretty fun game concept, not too hard, not too easy. The campaign is really just a tutorial and ends after about 2 hours which you can keep going if you want. All in all it’s an interesting concept
– Real player with 2.1 hrs in game
Starfighter General
It cost $0.64
– Real player with 44.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best 4X PvP Games.
If you like flying and blowing stuff up you’ll enjoy this game.
– Real player with 13.6 hrs in game
Industries of Titan
There are already a lot of excellent (constructive) reviews here already for the 21 June 2021 Steam release but I’ll add my 2 cents here to talk more about the side elements of the game and offer some advice for potential players who are still sitting on the fence.
What do you get when you combine the macro-management aspects of SimCity 2013, with FTL-like micro-management in factory management and combat, then slap on a UI that’s reminiscent of grand strategy games? You get the absolutely fascinating city builder that is Industries of Titan (IoT for short).
– Real player with 115.3 hrs in game
My first impression of the game:
The beginning is a bit confusing. You have different management levels:
1. Production
-
Collect raw materials (initially from ruins, later in mines)
-
Collect artifacts (also from ruins)
-
Produce fuel and electricity
-
manage garbage (a lot)
2. Citizens and workers
-
Buy and house citizens
-
Earn money from citizens watching advertisements
-
convert some citizens into 24/7 workers (who then stop watching ads)
3. Build on two different levels
- Inside buildings on a square grid (reminiscent of Tetris blocks :D )
– Real player with 54.8 hrs in game
Cyber Factories
Cyber Factories is an Automation and Base Building game in a cyberpunk universe.
On post-apocalyptic Earth, all cities and settlements have been ravaged by pollution, war and a hostile biosphere.
Humanity as a species hasn’t adapted well and only a small fraction of them remain. Fortunately, humans recently discovered a new technology allowing them to transcend death. This discovery consist of transferring human soul to a new synthetic cyber-body receptor. These new humanoid robots can now endure thousands of years of light speed travel!
With this new hope, you lead a colony of human remnants. Help them survive, expand and gather enough resources to leave Earth for their new home planet..
Orphan Age
Orphan Age is a life-sim game where you look after a band of orphans in a cyberpunk warzone.
Set against the backdrop of an unforgiving, neon-lit dystopian warzone, your only battle is the fight for survival, scraping out a living in the face of extreme danger. You will guide a band of orphans, each with their own skills, emotions, strengths, weaknesses and fears, through a dangerous and ever-changing city in a bitter struggle for survival. Constantly balancing risk and reward, you must make the big decisions to ensure the group stays alive. Build up your base, scavenge, craft and explore the city for new recruits, whilst ensuring there are enough supplies to keep going, even when it seems all hope might be lost.
Orphan Age plays as a single player campaign with a lot of replayability inspired by the 4X genre. But there’s a twist! 4X stands for Exploration, Exploitation, Expansion and Extermination. In Orphan Age, we replace Extermination with Empathy, bending the 4X genre into a 4E.
The city of Orphan Age is ever-changing and procedural. You won’t find the same building twice. There are high risks and high rewards when you explore. You can find rare resources, Orphans to recruit, but you can also get wounded or worse…
Exploration is similar to the expeditions of Fallout Shelter: procedural text adventures. They offer more complexity though, because you have to make decisive choices while you’re out of the orphanage.
Hundreds of resources are left to be scavenged in the Orphanage or in the city. They are classified in 6 categories that allow you to eat, drink, take care of wounds and to craft the items and resources you need to build your Orphanage.
The Orphanage is the place your Orphans call home. The environment surrounding the Orphans greatly affects their moods. Try to keep the rooms lit, warm, furnished and clean for the happiness of all!
There are 38 different items of furniture to build (beds, playgrounds, science mats, campfire, heaters…) and each one can be upgraded.
Research allows you to discover better furniture and improve living conditions for the orphans.
Orphan Age is a deep micro-simulation making each Orphan unique in personality and in gameplay. The Orphans have different ages, set of skills, backgrounds and personality traits. Depending on who they are and how well they are, the Orphans will take different paths anytime there is an issue to be discussed.
INFO:
-
For PC, Mac & Linux
-
Comes with a companion visual novel Orphan Age: Diaries
