Once you’ve built a gate for your colony, that’s when the game really begins, because at that point, not only can you start taking in more survivors to expand your settlement, you can also start sending out your Specialists out into the world map to gather resources and scout out more of the map. In the first hour or so, you’ll mostly be building rudimentary structures to support your colonists’ basic needs, like housing and food, while also gathering resources to build those structures. Every game in Surviving the Aftermath starts out slow, setting you up in a procedurally generated map with a handful of survivors and limited options for building and upgrading things. 'City building and management simulators set in the post-apocalypse aren’t all that common, with a few notable exceptions, but building on the foundations laid down by its spiritual predecessor Surviving Mars, Surviving the Aftermath is one that should probably go down as one of the better experiences in this very limited group.'Ĭhief among those strengths is the core gameplay loop, which is ridiculously addictive, as it should be in any good building and management simulator. Surviving the Aftermath knows what it’s good at, and it smartly chooses to devote most of its attention to those strengths. You occasionally get quests and are asked to make choices, but all of it bleeds into the mechanical core of the game- and it’s better for it. There isn’t much of a story here, and once the setup is out of the way, the gameplay experience takes over. Surviving the Aftermath doles out tiny bits and pieces of lore and backstory for its world, but it is by no means something the game focuses on. In this mess, it falls to you to establish a small colony of survivors and make sure that you not only survive, but eventually, with the right management, grow, expand, and maybe, just maybe, thrive. The hubris of mankind has brought about the end of the world, and what’s left is dealing with a smorgasbord of apocalyptic cataclysms- nuclear fallouts, fire raining down from the sky, disease, deadly winter storms, bandits and survivors at each other’s throats, you name it. City building and management simulators set in the post-apocalypse aren’t all that common, with a few notable exceptions, but building on the foundations laid down by its spiritual predecessor Surviving Mars, Surviving the Aftermath is one that should probably go down as one of the better experiences in this very limited group. With Surviving the Aftermath, developer Iceflake Studios has attempted to tackle that setting in a manner that we haven’t seen all too often. The post-apocalypse has always been a popular genre in entertainment media, and video games aren’t exempt from that either. Surviving the Aftermath players can bring their own visions to life using Steam Workshop.There’s something about the idea of the end of the world and subsequent desperate attempts at surviving what comes next that has enamoured creative minds for quite some time. Take command of your specialists and drive the invaders back. Enemies who breach the gate will pour into your colony, wreaking havoc on everything in their wake. Colonists have a mind of their own and will react to your choices.įortify your gates and protect your colony from rampaging animals and deadly bandits.

Your reputation with other societies will affect your ability to trade and can even affect your relationship with their leaders. You may not be able to control everything in your colony, but how you respond to situations and emergent events will shape the character of your new civilization.Įvery decision can have dire consequences on your colony’s survival. Life in the aftermath requires you to make moral choices. Send them beyond the Gate on scientific missions, scavenger runs, and to fight bandits. Recruit over 80 unique Specialists, each with their own skills and motivations, to manage your colony’s resources and production. Stay vigilant: Natural disasters, dangerous animals, and bandits will put your survivors to the test. Each environment has different conditions that affect your colony’s survival. Construct more than 61 unique buildings to handle everything from resource collection and farming to exploration and security.Įxplore a vast procedurally generated world featuring six different biomes filled with resources, wildlife, rival societies and more. Go beyond the colony and explore the wastelands to gather resources, meet rival colonies, and fight off bandits.īuild and manage a colony of survivors after a world-ending event. Build the ultimate disaster proof colony, protect your colonists, and restore civilization to a devastated world. Survive and thrive in a post-apocalyptic future - resources are scarce but opportunity calls.

Surviving the aftermath developer