In Cities Skylines 2, all your success depends on a functioning electrical grid – without enough wattage, everything falls apart. It’s the same in Command and Conquer, albeit a bit more simplified. If you don’t produce the juice, your war effort grinds to a halt, and you’re overrun by NOD faster than you can say ‘Hell March.’ As in reality, so in videogames: it’s all about power. Inspired by Fallout and Stalker, City 20 is a supremely realistic, urbanized spin on survival games. Hitting Steam in the very near future, its creator, Untold Games, just revealed some smart, strategic new ways to get ahead in City 20. If you want to beat the social system, you need to turn the electrical system firmly in your favor.
I’ve previously called City 20 one of the most realistic survival games that I’ve ever seen, and with good reason. The premise is straightforward. The titular City 20 was once the site of an experimental nuclear facility, not dissimilar to Half-Life’s Black Mesa. Something went wrong, the government quarantined the whole place, and you and the rest of the city’s denizens have been stuck inside ever since.
The goal is to eventually get out, but in the meantime, you need to eat, drink, sleep, and otherwise keep yourself alive while avoiding the wrath of the various factions that preside over City 20’s meager resources.
So, what makes City 20 so special? Every single NPC is governed by the same systems as the player. They need food, water, and rest, and they’re all on the make – everyone is trying to get ahead of everyone else. On top of that, they all have unique personalities and memories. Let’s say you break into someone’s house to steal some food.
In some cases, they might attack you outright. Other times, they might run and tell the guards, or perhaps cower and beg you just to leave them alone. Now, let’s say they did tell the guards. Even if you escape before they come to investigate, the guards will remember you based on the information from your victim – if they see you again a few days later, they’ll try to arrest you.
Or maybe not – maybe one of the guards is corrupt, and you’ll be able to buy him off. Once again, every single person you meet in City 20 has their own characteristics and specific behaviors. What results is an endlessly variable survival experience, where you have to play the whole town off against itself. But apart from psychology, there are other tools at your disposal.
Electricity is one of the most vital commodities in City 20, and if you’re sly, you can turn the whole system to your advantage. In some cases, this is simple – pull the fuses on the side of someone’s house and they’ll come out to investigate, leaving you ample time to slip inside. But if you’ve got imagination and guile, you can really turn City 20 on its head.
Let’s say you need to do a little reconnaissance, or pilfer from three or four buildings in a row. Walk around town, try to find an engineer, and tail him to the street’s main power supply. Sabotage it, and you can plunge entire blocks of City 20 into darkness.
Similarly, when it comes to building your own shelter, if you don’t have the materials and know-how to construct a generator by yourself, you can surreptitiously hook a cable to a neighbor’s and try to steal some of their juice. Will you get found out? Will they want to punch your lights out (no pun intended) if they discover you? Again, it depends on their personality.
If you want to give it a try, the City 20 Steam Early Access release date is set for Monday September 23. You can find it right here.
Otherwise, try some of the best sandbox games, or maybe the best open-world games available on PC.
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