New Cycle Wants You to Build a Metropolis “Beyond Survival”

New Cycle is the debut from Turkish Core Engage, due to launch in Early Access at the beginning of 2024. Our task will be to build a shelter, and then create a new safe haven for humanity in post-apocalyptic realities.

In the year of 2034 a powerful solar flare leads to the downfall of human civilization, destroying all electronics first, and then leading to the end of institutions and order, as we call it. Over next few decades the world engulfed in chaos, and a handful of survivors are simply trying to survive. In these conditions, successive generations grow up, raised in essentially primitive societies. However, the time has come to rebuild the fallen civilization and this is where we step in as players.

At the beginning of the game, survival will be the only thing that really matters. We will focus on basic resources and buildings, and providing food and shelter will be enough to satisfy our residents. Give it time, because as the settlement develops, the needs of the population will also start to grow. What will initially be a few hastily built shelters will eventually become a haven of a civilization, a real dieselpunk metropolis befitting the surviving remnants of humanity, with an extensive production sector and a wide range of goods.

What stands out in New Cycle is the strong emphasis on industrial development. The cities shown in promotional materials look as if they were taken straight from industrial revolution, with chimneys and densely located factories, where an entire human can be rented to work for the whole day at a ridiculously low price. The settlements in New Cycle are stern and focused on efficiency only. This game is certainly trying to broaden the genre and find it’s place next to games like Civilization and Frostpunk

Add New Cycle to your wish list on Steam

In a post-apocalyptic world, survival is paramount. Trivial matters such as health-and-safety procedures, human-centered design, or ecology take a back seat here. Source: Core Engage.

One of the most important tasks in the game is to ensure a supply of energy that will power all buildings. This requires strategic planning and anticipating future needs. Boosting energy production won't be easy, and future technologies and facilities will need more and more of it. If we design the energy system poorly, we may end up with the dilemma of which essential buildings to cut off from the grid.

Proper management of production and inventory is key to survival. Source: Core Engage.

The most important thing in a survival builder is proper management of production and supplies. In the game, detailed info about each resource will pop up, making it easier for all you spreadsheet fans to build a stable settlement. And acting more impulsively will allow them to analyze where they would have made a mistake. In survival-focused titles, situations where we have an excess of some resource are rather rare, and available workforce also isn't pouring in. Of course, there's the possibility of sending children to work, but are we ready for the possible consequences?

The game is supposed to offer a lot of freedom in choosing the style of managing. We can strive to preserve as much humanity as possible and, despite extreme conditions, create a friendly environment where universal rights exist. We can also choose the path of authoritarian governments in the name of a higher need, which is the survival of humanity. Or decide on something in between and balance on the edge of guilt when making decisions.

As our settlement develops, we will be able to unlock new technologies. Source: Core Engage.

During the game, we will also develop new technologies and develop our settlement. Every new building is not only a benefit, but also a growing liability, a phenomenon well known to fans of games focusing on complex production chains. We may often lack raw materials and it will be important to properly distribute them among strategic factories. On the way, there will also be no shortage of complicated moral choices. Will we sacrifice the temporary prosperity of our residents for potentially long-term benefits?

Over 40 types of raw materials and goods should provide plenty of complex fun for all fans of them production chains. Source: Core Engage.

There will be over 47 types of raw materials and goods. The creators boast a sophisticated system that, on the one hand, is supposed to be logical and result from the real needs of the residents, and on the other hand, pose logistical and planning challenges.

In the further stage of development, when the settlement provides relatively stable living conditions, it will be possible to send expeditions to explore the surrounding areas. The scouts are to acquire valuable resources, as well as bring refugees who will join our settlement. Exploration may prove to be an important element of development, which will allow to further the efforts to construct an ideal city.

The key to survival is to be properly prepared for changing environmental conditions, including weather. Source: Core Engage.

The game will also feature a sandbox mode, in which we will be able to freely choose the map and adjust the difficulty level. However, we will not receive the ideal location – each will combine both benefits and potential threats. We will face a choice, whether we prefer to develop on fertile lands with small deposits of minerals, or perhaps we prefer areas full of fishing grounds, but devoid of places suitable for cultivation.

Industrialism is strong in this game. Source: Core Engage.

As the creators themselves admit, when working on New Cycle they dissected well-known games of this type and took the best elements from them. However, they assure that they will "leave a unique mark on the genre," introducing at least a few new and interesting solutions to it.

Add New Cycle to your wish list on Steam

Whether this will actually be the case, we will find out on the 18th of January 2024, when New Cycle will be available in Early Access on Steam (you can now add the game to your wishlist). As part of early access, we will receive a campaign that is to serve as a tutorial showing the operation of the most important mechanics and preparation for functioning in an extremely unfavorable environment. The campaign will prepare us for challenging scenarios that will be added to the game throughout its’ Early Access phase. In these scenarios we will take control over advanced settlements in dire need of help.