by theygamesEver found yourself playing Cities Skylines and thinking: ‘what would this be like if it was after a huge, planet-ruining apocalypse?’ It happens all the time, right? Right? Well, Endzone 2 answers that question perfectly, and as it looks to grow out its feature set during its Steam Early Access period, it’s just dropped its first major update that brings electricity and upcycling to its Fallout-esque wastelands.
The first Endzone game did a good job at creating a compelling city building game within an irradiated, post-nuclear disaster world, but Endzone 2 wants to push things even further. Rather than offering just one massive map that your single settlement can expand across, Endzone 2 encourages you to venture out and discover various ‘habitable zones’ scattered around the wasteland. This means you can now have multiple settlements to manage and trade resources between. The addition of vehicles also make such trade routes possible, and your trusty bus is used to find the initial plot of land you start your journey with.
Developer Gentlymad Studios isn’t done there though, as in its new update two essential features have been added to the game.
The first is electricity – no doubt a vital and rare resource in a post-apocalyptic world. You can now construct wind turbines, solar panels, or biogas plants to generate your electricity, relay stations to distribute it, power lines to transport it, and even massive batteries to store up your precious volts. With this power at your fingertips, not only can you now light up your settlement but you can also create more useful amenities, such as a water pumping station or a steelworks. There are a couple of new electricity-themed missions too.
The second – and for me, the coolest – is upcycling. No, we’re not talking about turning an old shopping trolley into a bed frame or something like that. This is more about living out the post-apocalyptic fantasy by finding rundown ruins of important buildings, taking them over, and restoring them in a makeshift manner with whatever you’ve got to hand. Building shacks from scraps of wood and metal that you find is great, but I always love it when apocalypse games do something creative with existing, pre-disaster architecture or give you these relics of the past to stumble across.
When discovering new habitable zones, you may now come across rundown houses and warehouses that can be commandeered. You can also find old wind turbines which can be restored to provide electricity or mines that can provide you with resources.
The new update for Endzone 2 is out right now. The game is currently in early access, but you can pick it up with 20% off and read more about it over on its Steam page here.
For some similar experiences, check out our list of the best management games. These 4X games may also scratch some similar itches with their penchant for expansion.
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