Clockwork Empires

Clockwork Empires is a steampunk real-time economy simulation strategy game for PC developed by Gaslamp Games, the creators of Dungeons of Dredmor.

Plot

The players assume the role of proud citizens of British Empire, and their task is to colonize new lands. The action takes place in the 19th century, but the vision presented by the developers is largely different from what we know from history books. The creators drew inspiration from old, inaccurate maps, where seas were decorated with drawings of monsters. As we expand our influence, we use technologically advanced machines powered by steam engines. We are also interrupted by, among other things, bizarre alien races, evil cultists, and bloodthirsty monsters.

Mechanics

The basic gameplay mechanics of Clockwork Empires bear resemblance to such series as The Settlers and Anno. Gameplay mostly involves expanding towns and governing them. At the same time, the game give us more freedom than typical productions of the genre. We won’t find any premade buildings that can be simply placed on the map — instead, each structure is constructed in several stages. Players themselves have to chose blueprints and raw materials to be used as well as the shape of the facility, the appearance of which can be further customized. This system is both user-friendly and very powerful, allowing us to design fancy structures such as giant factories or multistory palaces. All these features not only give us a lot of creative freedom but also prevent situations known from other productions of this kind where maps are full of identical buildings at the end of a game.

Apart from building ordinary structures, we also deal with bigger projects. In Clockwork Empires for PC, such undertakings require player participation and often pose a grave danger to the entire population. Although expanding cities remains at the core, the game doesn’t lack warfare elements — the virtual world is inhabited by various monsters, cultists, and pirates, and the players must be able to cope with these threats.

The inhabitants of our metropolis have their own personalities and are largely independent. Their ambitions will give us many troubles. For example, should we leave a scientific team without supervision, it is quite likely that they will eventually try to summon ancient gods from other dimensions at some point. Or whale-hunters will go too far and, as a result, will encounter, for instance, a tribe of fish-humans or Moby Dick himself. The developers also introduced other original ideas. While playing, we have to use volcanoes as energy sources, build energy cannons, repel attacks of rabid badgers, and cope with city slickers that stick their noses in our business.

The game is designed to make players enjoy even failures. In Clockwork Empires for PC, our colony is always in grave danger. At every moment, the entire population can be wiped out as a result of an epidemic, a failed scientific experiment, a mining disaster, inhabitants’ madness, or summing an ancient god to our dimension. All of the above is controlled by a dynamic system — the game world lives its own life and constantly provides new experiences and challenges.

Last updated on October 20, 2016