Not satisfied with keeping me up until dawn conquering the world (or galaxy) in its gargantuan grand strategy romps, Paradox has lately been trying to find other ways to stop me from going to bed at a reasonable time, like early access colony sim Stardeus and next year’s Sims-like Life By You. Today, another game is being added to the list: Foundry.
Published by Paradox Interactive and developed by new studio Channel 3 Entertainment, Foundry drops you on an infinite, procedurally-generated world and tasks you with building a stupidly large factory. It’s a voxel deal, and Channel 3 boasts that every block can be destroyed or replaced with either buildings or new terrain, so you can terraform the place as well as covering it with industry.
Firing up a new game will generate a brand new world containing different biomes, like jungles and mountains. You’ll be able to build inside said mountains, too, creating underground factories and mines. Presumably different biomes will spill out different logistical challenges, but Channel 3 is yet to reveal specifics.
The first-person perspective calls to mind the excellent Satisfactory, but Factorio of course remains this subgenre’s touchstone, and Foundry’s procgen approach is just one of the features that it shares with Wube’s superb sim.
Unsurprisingly, you’ll need to dig away to harvest resources, which in turn can be transformed into machines and buildings, until you fill the world with pipes and conveyor belts, automating your industrial behemoth. Judging by the trailer, it looks like you’ll be able to manufacture an army of robots to assist with this, while also playing a robot yourself.
Pals can lend a hand with this mammoth-sized endeavour, too, and while Channel 3 says that multiplayer is best limited to 2-4 players, there are currently no player limits. I’m trying to imagine what could be achieved by 100 players all working away on the same world and it’s an exciting prospect, though that dream might be a little too ambitious.
Thankfully it won’t be long before we’ll find out more about Foundry, since it will be featured in the upcoming Steam Next Fest, which kicks off on October 9