New Cycle
Release Date: January 18, 2024 Early Access
Strategy, science fiction, steampunk, economic, RTS, post-apocalypse, indie games, city builder, singleplayer
Steam
New Cycle is a city builder with survival elements inspired by Frostpunk and Anno. We play as the leader of a settlement, trying to survive after an apocalyptic disaster that destroyed the world's technology and turned the Earth inhospitable.
Videos and Screens
[1:00] New Cycle New Cycle - Produce and Deliver Update Trailer
[4:51] New Cycle New Cycle - Early Access Launch Trailer
The main pros of the game
- Aesthetic Appeal: The game features great graphics and a strong atmosphere, with beautiful details that enhance the visual experience.
- Addictive Gameplay: Users find the gameplay loop satisfying and engaging, making it easy to get hooked on the game.
- Intuitive Design: The game is easy to pick up, even for newcomers to the city-building genre, thanks to a well-structured tutorial.
- Strategic Depth: Players appreciate the strategic elements involved in managing resources, health, and expansion planning, which make decisions feel impactful.
- Customization Options: The ability to customize HUD elements is a notable feature that players enjoy.
- Challenging Yet Accessible: The game strikes a good balance between being challenging and not overly punishing, keeping players invested in their settlements' survival and growth.
The main cons of the game
- Bugs and Technical Issues: Some players reported bugs, particularly with road connections that can hinder production.
- Ineffective Trading System: Traders are seen as offering basic resources at high prices, which diminishes their usefulness.
- Lack of Guidance: Some users feel that there could be more in-game guidance to prevent players from feeling lost.
- Sudden Ending: The game?s ending is viewed as abrupt, with limited post-ending content and replay value, making it less satisfying compared to similar games like Frostpunk.
The features or elements that are missing from the game according to users
- Post-Game Content: Players desire more content or variations in the storyline after completing the game to enhance replayability.
- Enhanced Story Closure: There is a call for better narrative ties between player decisions and the game's ending, as many felt the conclusion lacked depth and connection to their gameplay.
- Optimization Improvements: Users noted the need for better optimization to improve performance, especially on high-end systems.
- Additional Mechanics: Some mechanics were mentioned as not fully developed or impactful yet, such as policy decisions.
Summary
- Overall, "New Cycle" is well-received for its engaging gameplay and aesthetic quality, but it has room for improvement in technical stability and narrative depth.
Summary generated on:
New Cycle Description
New Cycle is a cross between a real-time economic sim and a survival game inspired by Frostpunk and the Anno series. It's the debut game of Core Engage and was published by Daedalic Entertainment.
Plot
Just like Frostpunk, New Cycle tasks us with leading a dieselpunk settlement in a nearly inhospitable world, 43 years after the fall of human civilization, which came to be due to a solar flare. We must reunite humanity and help it reclaim the meaning of life, to ensure its survival and the survival of all life on Earth.
Mechanics
As befitting the genre, the game tasks us with managing a settlement and helping it survive in a hostile world. We must ensure access to resources by hunting, gathering, lumbering and trading with other tribes. Construction-wise, we have lots of freedom: we can build anywhere we want or divide the city into zones.
Like in Frostpunk, expansion will be no easy task. The world is ruined and dangerous, while chaotically changing seasons and weather can foil our plans at any time. We should also keep an eye on our people's moods, so they don't overthrow us in search of a better leader.
The larger our settlement is, the more problems we'll face, which requires efficient management and implementing laws. Over time we can also start annexing other tribes. On one hand, this grants us more influence, may help us with making valuable discoveries and ultimately rebuilding humanity. On the other hand, having more settlements complicates the game further, though management is simplified later on through advanced analytical tools and information panels.
Technical aspects
New Cycle runs on the Unity Engine and the Castle Game Engine.
New Cycle Summary
Platforms:
PC / Windows
Developer: Core Engage
Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment
Age restrictions: 12+
New Cycle System Requirements
PC / Windows
Minimum: (30 fps / 1080p) Intel Core i5-4590 3.3 GHz / AMD FX-8320 3.5 GHz, 8 GB RAM, graphic card 3 GB GeForce GTX 960 / Radeon R9 280 or better, 8 GB HDD, Windows 10/11 64-bit
Recommended: (60 fps / 1080p) Intel Core i5-7400 3.0 GHz / AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz, 16 GB RAM, graphic card 8 GB GeForce RTX 2060 Super / Radeon RX 5700 XT or better, 8 GB HDD, Windows 10/11 64-bit
Frostpunk and Anno-Inspired Survival City Builder New Cycle Releases Today
In a few hours, New Cycle, dieselpunk-styled citybuilder strategy, will release on Steam.
video games
Adrian Werner
January 18, 2024
12-minute Gameplay From New Cycle, Promising Post-apo City Builder
Core Engage studio showed us in a long footage what the gameplay of New Cycle looks like. This post-apocalyptic city builder will soon hit early access on Steam.
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Maciej Gaffke
January 12, 2024
New Cycle Wants You to Build a Metropolis “Beyond Survival”
A new title addressed to fans of survival city-builders games will release early next year on January 18th 2024. This is the debut of an ambitious studio that wants to try and shake the genre up.
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