City-building games live or die on their economy. From Cities Skylines 2 to Manor Lords, to Banished, building is only half the game – the rest is managing what’s coming in and what’s going out. In colossal city builder The Wandering Village, the economy’s just as important as in its rivals, and it’s received a huge update in the latest patch for the game. Now there’s considerably more depth in how you’ll approach managing your meandering settlement, with new resources to harvest and different ways to spend them.
It all hinges on research. Unlocking new technologies and buildings in The Wandering Village has been completely revamped, with everything now available in one singular tree. In addition, you’ll have to spend resources to develop new knowledge, helping complete the circle of your economy in this city building game, with you now having places to use your resources in addition to simply building stuff.
While this is the economy and research update, there’s one big change in this patch that appeals to me more than any other. The Wandering Village is set atop the back of a colossal beast named Onbu who roams a post-apocalyptic landscape, and until this patch that platform was somewhat barren, at least until you built your nascent city up there.
Now, forests and large rock formations will litter Onbu’s back, severely cutting down the space you can build on, at least to begin with. Thankfully you have woodcutters and miners who’ll head out there to chop and quarry until areas have been cleared, with you hoovering up resources as a result.
Alongside all that, there are two new building materials you can use in construction, nomads who’ll join your tribe (if you keep everyone happy enough), additional spots for Onbu to stop and feed at, enhanced information when you’re scavenging for resources, and much more. The game’s tutorial has also been similarly revamped, so if you have previously played but aren’t up to speed on what’s new, the game will guide you.
The Research and Economy update for The Wandering Village is out now. If you’d like to learn more, head over to the full patch notes to get the complete rundown of everything that’s changed.
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