After a succession of grand strategy sequels – including Crusader Kings 3, Victoria 4, and Europa Universalis 5 – Paradox has unveiled Afterworld, its first grand strategy game to feature an original setting in over a decade.
As its name hints at, Afterworld whisks strategy fans to a post-apocalyptic future; specifically a post-apocalyptic North America blighted with hazardous terrain, dangerous old-world ruins, and the desperate remnants of humanity. Through this hostile, procedurally generated landscape, players must slowly grow a small group of survivors into a continent-spanning empire – by first scavenging food, water, and shelter, before rediscovering the basic methods of civilisation and expanding from there.
Paradox describes Afterworld as a “story rich” strategy game, beginning with players choosing one of several origin stories for their group – perhaps they’ve been forced to abandon a failed nuclear bunker, or are “wayward zealots looking for their goddess in the dustlands”. Then as the group grows, they’ll learn new skills and rediscover technologies (all unlocked dynamically based on what players find as they explore), set up convoys and supply lines, encounter rival groups, negotiate trades, and fight wars where necessary.
There’s also talk of “strategic challenges and moral crises”, including choices that “echo through generations” as players decide how to, say, ration crucial resources, navigate the rise of new religions, and respond to the “mutated and the augmented”. You might even discover immortal leaders from before the Fall, each with their own vision for who should rule, and “they will not step aside quietly.” The future is fraught, then, and – as Paradox puts it – “a second collapse is always one bad decision away.”
Afterworld will also support co-op and competitive multiplayer when it arrives on Steam. Now all we need is a hint of when we might get to see it.