Endzone – A World Apart is a city building survival game, in which players must take control of a group of survivors who emerge from their Fallout-style underground bunkers a couple of hundred years after after the world was obliterated by nuclear bombs.
Not Our World
The world of Endzone – A World Apart is very different from the one we know today. The nuclear apocalypse destroyed most of civilisation, leaving very little intact. While there are still some small settlements that have been created by survivors, or shells of buildings that survived the blasts, most of the world is now covered by nature.
Players take over as soon as their group of survivors emerge from their Fallout-style shelters underground. Immediately the game will force them to start surviving and meeting the needs for all those in the group, because death will come quickly otherwise.
Unlike many other city builders, the survival elements of the game make it a bit more complex when it comes to building a community. Water towers need to be built to store water from local sources, and those sources need to be linked up to the tower in order for them to work. Other buildings will ensure things like hunting for food and gathering resources are taken care of, but all of these areas need survivors assigning to them.
In a similar system to the priority mechanic in Rimworld, players will assign survivors to certain areas. Enough survivors need to be assigned to each area in order for every task to be completed quickly and efficiently, though tasks can be accomplished slower with fewer survivors. Over time more survivors will join the group and make it easier to have every task completed to the highest standard, but desperation will definitely be a big part of the game’s opening.
This World Will Kill You
The world of Endzone A World Apart is very much out to kill you. Every cell is simulated with different aspects, including humidity, fertility, and radiation. If a cell is fertile and humid, then it can be used to grow a range of crops pretty fast, but if it’s radioactive then it will deal a serious amount of rads to any survivors who enter it. Radiation can move, so that area where you placed those dwellings might become incredibly dangerous further down the line.
The most important thing about radiation is avoiding it. Any survivors who are exposed to radiation can become sick, but any who are exposed to a lot of it will definitely get sick, and probably die. This keeps players on their toes, forcing them to reconfigure their settlement’s layout over time as radiation threatens to take everyone out.
Finally, the weather in this world is completely different to what we know now. Violent sandstorms can sweep the land, blocking out the sun and making it impossible to grow crops. These storms can last for a full year, making it impossible to grow any food for that entire time, and even drying up water sources. This means that players need to stockpile everything, because you never know when a storm will come along and make it impossible to survive.
Explore and Thrive
As with any apocalypse, the nuclear apocalypse has left plenty of areas for survivors to scavenge for supplies. Players can send their group out on runs to find whatever has been left behind, whether that’s resources, water, or new survivors to join the group.
On top of these runs, players will also be faced with choices to make throughout their time with the game. A fresh group of survivors might be seeking somewhere to settle, or a dangerous group could be checking out what you’ve got before they attempt to take it for themselves.
I’m honestly really excited about Endzone – A World Apart, and can’t wait to play it when it launches in Spring 2020. Let me know if you’re into these strategy games in the comments.
