Paradox Interactive today revealed all-new details for Victoria 3's first expansion: Sphere of Influence. In Sphere of Influence, rapid technological and societal changes of the Victoria Era allows empires to compete in new lands and with new means. The expansion has a handful of new features inc??luding the ability to create your own Power Bloc and then bully, bribe, or befriend other nations to get them to join.

The Great Game

Sphere of Influen?ce also focuses on The Great Game, a 19th-century rivalry between the British and Russian empires over influence in Central Asia. Players can use Prestige to become a Great Power and create their own Power Bloc, from which they can dominate other nations in diplomatic arrangements or use the bloc to pursue common economic or ideological goals.

Players also have the opportunity to ?play as any of the powers central to The Great Game conflict, including Persia and Afghanistan. The map has been redrawn to highlight the many competing interests during The Great Game.

Other features of Sphere of Influence include Foreign Investments, Nationalization, Subject Interactions, Interest Group Lobbies, and many more systems built aroun??d the new Power B?loc feature.

I've got about 30 or so hours in Victoria 3so far and have been waiting for an update like this to jump back in. The ab??ility to ccreate a Power Bloc will really change up the strategies you can use to effectively grow your empire, and I'm excited to see how it all works.

To celebrate the news, a Trains Bonus Content Pack with ten new 3D models for trains from the early days of steam to the golden age of rail is available to download for free for anyone who owns Victoria 3.

Victoria 3: Sphere of Influence is set to release ???on PC on May 6, 2024 for $29.99.

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Paradox Interactive has announced that they’ll be handling publishing duties for XperimentalZ Games�Escape the Mad Empire under their Paradox Arc (al??ternative game publishing??) label. It’s set to launch into early access sometime this year.

Escape the Mad Empire has been quietly in development for quite a number of years now. However, with that sweet, sweet PR budget, there’s now a nice new trailer for us to watch and a demo to play. Both of these outline the uniq??ue action/strategy mix that is? put to use.

I played a bit of the demo since I wasn’t able to fully grok the gameplay based on the trailer. While Escape the Mad Empire is a loot-heavy roguelite, you control a party of adventurers. However, this isn’t a turn-b??ased affair. The action plays out in real time. However, to enable you to control multiple peeps, you can use tactical pause to stop time, and issue commands that instantly get carried out when you unpause.

It’s a neat little system that keeps things moving while also giving you the ability to pull off big attacks against hordes?? of enemies. There's also a cover system that encourages movement, so your spellcasters don't have to stand out in the open like dumbasses. I haven’t played past the tutorial in the demo, but it leaves a goo??d first impression.

Escape the Mad Empire is p?lanned to launch into Early Access sometime in 2024. The demo is available now.

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Paradox Interactive unveiled its plans for grand strategy title Crusader Kings 3 over the next year. The new chapter features two new expansions including a Byzantine-themed Major Expansion, an event pack, and a free cosmetic clothing addon. All of this new content is part of the Crusader Kings 3 Chapter 3 Expansion Pass.

Legends of the Dead

The first new content as part of the third chapter is the Legends of the Dead core expansion. Available March 4, the expansion adds new activities, events, and features to the grand strategy game. New f??eatures include:

• Legends: Commission an epic retelling of your family history or build your own heroic reputation through great deeds. Promote this legend, far and wide, and see how the stories of the past reverberate through the centuries, and add even more glory to legendary dynasties.
• Legendary Playstyle: Leverage your living legend status through new Decisions and actions, keeping the stories of your family in the minds of a continent, strengthening the legitimacy of your rule and allowing further choices.
• Legendary Buildings:  Your legendary reputation gives you access to new elite buildings, cementing your legacy for future generations.
• Legendary Feasts: Poets and bards can ornament your celebrations with songs and odes to your greatness, inspiring your guests to spread the tale of your legendary generosity.
• Court Chroniclers: Hire an official historian to spread the story of your dynasty’s great accomplishments, or use your poets and musicians to turn your actions into art.
• Two New Legacies: A new Heroic dynastic Legacy for the heirs of legendary characters, even using the great deeds of ancestors to justify claims from the distant past, as well as a Legitimacy Legacy that promotes your dynasty as the true rulers of the realm.
• Illness and Mourning: New diseases like the Bloody Flux, Measles and Holy Fire may ravage your court, but you can honor your deceased loved ones with dignified Funeral rites, according to your faith.
• The Black Death: The greatest scourge of the Middle Ages strikes down noble and commoner alike, radically transforming the political and social environment. Prepare your realm and prepare your soul, because a rampaging plague may be the strongest enemy facing your rule.
• New Art: Both life and death are given new energy with the celebrated art style that Crusader Kings III fans have come to appreciate. A new exclusive Map Table, new varieties of clothing, unit models and holding designs for extra flavor.

Into the Future

After the release of Legends of the Dead, another major expansion and an event pack are still in the plans for 2024. The first, Roads to Power, is a Byzantine Empire-themed expansion. Players can rule Constantinople through a new Administrative Government form and experience new Byzantine-themed events and flavors. With this expansion, you'll?? also have the ability to live your life roaming the map as an adventurer for hire, a first for the series.

In the Wandering Nobles event pack, Crusader Kings 3 looks to build upon the travel s??ystem introduced in the Tours and Nightmares event pack. Wandering Nobles adds a new travel system and new ways and reasons to travel including new incide?nts and stories.

Crusader Kings 3: Legends of the Dead will be available on March 4, while the rest of the new conten??t is scheduled over the rest of 2024. Those interested can pre-purchase the Chapter 3 Expansion Pass and ga??in immediate access to the free Couture of the Capets cosmetic clothing add-on.

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Fantasy 4X Strategy title Age of Wonders 4 is set to get its next content pack, Primal Fury. Triumph Studios and Paradox Interactive revealed today that Age of Wonders 4: Primal Fury ??will get the primal beast-themed pack on February 27 across all platforms. The content pack adds a handful of new features and content to the popular 4X title with a focus on a new Primal?? Culture system.

Channel your Primal Culture

The new Primal Culture system allows players to channel an animal spirit that influ??ences and shapes their empire both physically and spiritually. The Tome of Fey Mists and the Tome of Stormborne are two new Tomes of Magic added to the content pack, and include spells to conceal troops in shrouded magical fog and gain advantag??es over seas and shorelines.

In total, there a??re seven primal animals that the people of your empire can worship. New quests allow you to follow specific primal anima to earn unique rewards. Your people can even take on new physical forms in tune with the animals, including Lupine and Goatkin.

Also releasing alongside the Primal Fury content pack is the free Wolf Update. While Primal Fury is a paid content pack, the free Wolf Update will add new features and improvements for all play?ers. In the Wolf Update, Necromancy has received a rework, new randomly generated items have been added, and War Bounti??es allow you to better direct your allies in conflicts.

Age of Wonders 4: Primal Fury releases on?? February 27 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S for $9.99. Players who purchased the Premium Edition or Expansion Pass will get access to the Primal Fury content pack at? no additional cost.

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Paradox Interactive has revealed a new region pack is on the way for Grand Strategy title Victoria 3. In the Colossus of the South region pack, players will face challenges as they seek to ??lead Brazil through a rise of power after being freed from the domination of Europe.

Build a New Hemispheric Power

Launching alongside the DLC pack is update 1.5. The massive update will rework warfare, companies, and how local prices works in Victoria 3. According to the video for the DLC, this is the biggest update to milit??ary, economy, and diplomacy in the grand strategy title yet.

The Colossus of the South region pack is a narrative-driven pack centered around the Amazon River as South America enters the Victorian Age. Features ??of the pack include:

• Reign of Pedro II: Historical actions highlighting the reforms and ambitions of Brazil’s Emperor Pedro the Magnanimous, including the abolition of slavery and the modernization of Brazil’s economy.
• The Old Republic: The power of Brazilian landowners and the emergence of the Positivist revolution against the monarchy.
• Populism: Challenges to the agrarian oligarchy in Brazil from anti-government bandits and the populist Integralist movement.
• National Awareness: Development of a unique and diverse Brazilian culture, as well as expansionist goals in Paraguay, South American unification from Gran Colombia, and Pan-National movements of the Federation of the Andes and Rio de la Plata.
• Amazonian Riches: Exploit the riches of the Amazon while avoiding international conflict and national disorder.
• New Historical Characters: Coup leader and general Deodora da Fonseca, populist dictator Getulio Vargas, and more.
• More content for South America: New events and journal entries and flavor for many countries in the region!

I played Victoria 3 when it originally launched and while I enjoyed it, I really had a hard time figuring out some of the things that w?ere going on. Apparently a lot of that has been fleshed out since, so this region pack seems like a great time for me to jump back in and give it another shake.

Victoria 3: Colossus of the South releases on November 14 for $5.99. Players who purchased the Grand Edition or have a subscription to the Victoria 3 Expansion Pass will be able to access the region pack a??t no additional cost.

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Paradox Interactive has announced the next Stellaris expansion, titled Astral Planes. The new narrative-focused expansion will allow players? to wield reality-breaking technologies to explore alternate dimensions. In these parallel universes, players will encounter new creatures and phenomena as they journey into the true unknown. There was no specific release date given for Astral Planes, but the release does say it is coming to PC later this year.

The story-centric expansion will feature branching narratives, a first for Stellaris. Players can navigate a branching narrative built specifically to make choices matter. According to Paradox, Astral Planes will be full of surprises and hard choices. Decisions will not only affect the narrative but also?? shape the player's empire to fit their playstyle.

In terms of gameplay features, Astral Planes will feature new Technologies, Actions, and Relics, which is p??retty par for the course for this type of expansion. It also appears there is a new Origin called Riftworld.

Stellaris is my favorite Grand Strategy game, so any new content looks good to me. But depending on how the Astral Planes actuall?y works, this could set the 4X title up for even more content avenues in the future.

Stellaris: Astral Planes will be released on PC later this year.

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Paradox Interactive and Harebrained Schemes have announced that the two companies will be parting ways. This comes after Paradox expressed disappointment with the performance of The Lamplighters League. Paradox had acquired the company in 2018.

This is all kind of shocking to me, simply because it doesn’t seem like that long ago that Harebrained Schemes was acquired. However, following the launch of The Lamplighters League, Paradox said that they’d be taking a write-down on the production, as they don’t expect to recoup the development costs. Destructoid’s own Steven “Big Lifter�Mills has a pretty great write-up of that here.

Charlotta Nilsson, CCO of Paradox said, “We and HBS�leadership have been discussing what would happen after the release of The Lamplighters League, but a new project or sequel in the same genre was not in line with our portfolio plans. Hence, we believe that a separation would be the best way forward.�/p>

Meanwhile, Harebrained Schemes expects to continue supporting The Lamplighters League through the end of the year and will be seeking p??artnerships and funding beyond tha??t.

A different strategy

Harebrained Schemes was founded in 2011 by Shadowrun creator Jordan Weissman along with Mechassault producer Mitch Gitelman. The company seemed to be set on revisiting FASA’s old properties, being known for the Shadowrun Returns trilogy and Battletech. However??, following the acquisition in 2018, Weissman left the company.

The Lamplighters League is a new property from the developer, but following lukewarm reviews, it has not performed to expectations. Personally, I’m puzzled by it. I have always kept one eye on Harebrained Schemes (mostly with hopes of another Shadowrun title), but I had no idea that The Lamplighters League was even launching. While many of the game’s features have been called over-ambitious, much of t??he community’s complaints seem to be about technical issues and day-one DLC. Those sound like publisher problem??s.

Nonet??heless, I’m hoping this isn’t the last we see of Harebrained Schemes. This outcome is at least better than the company being shuttered outright.

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Set and primed to release on October 24, the new Cities: Skylines game might launch with some potentially big problems, according to the developer. As per Colossal Order's latest announcement, the studio has decided to hit its targeted release date even though this means launching with less-than-stellar optimization. In other words, early adopters of the long-anticipated city-builder may end up struggling to ??run the game properly on day one.

This information comes from Colossal Order's recent forum announcement, where the post ??states: "Cities: Skylines II is a next-gen title, and naturally, it demands certain hardware requirements. With that said, while our team has worked tirelessly to deliver the best experience possible, we have not achieved the benchmark we targeted." It's really not phenomenal news, but the fact that Colossal Order is being up-front about it merits kudos, for sure.

Is Cities: Skylines 2 going to have bad performance on day one?

Colossal Order's announcement that Cities: Skylines 2 might run poorly on PC on day one comes not long after the significa?nt bump-up in the game's system requirements. Colossal Order's recommendation is now for players to come packing some serious hardware, all things considered, with the RTX 3080 and the Ryzen 7 5800X being the recommended GPU and CPU, respectively. The fact that the devs would go on to provide further clarification on the game's performance even after this sugges??ts that things could be rough early on.

"In light of this," says Colossal Order's announcement, "we still think for the long-term of the project, releasing now is the best way forward." The statement also adds that "[Colossal Order]?? will continually improve the game over the coming months, but [the studio wishes] to manage expectations on performance for the coming release. Our ambition is for Cities: Skylines II to be enjoyed by as many players as possible, and we're committed to ensuring it reaches its full potential."

It's not all bad news, of course. The very same post also goes into considerable detail on Colossal Order's modding plans for Cities: Skylines 2, saying that "while the modding tool [for Skylines 2] will have a basic framework at its inception, we are dedicated to its continuous expansion and enhancement, making it a central focus of our development efforts moving forward." Console players, too, will be getting access to mods, which is the silver lining to the fact that the console build of Skylines 2 got postponed, to boot.

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Just one week after its release, Paradox Interactive has revised its sales? forecast for The Lamplighters League. In a public statement, Paradox Interacti??ve revealed they would be writing down capitalized development cost on the turn-based RPG. The publisher announced it plans to write?? down MSEK 171, or roughly $15.7 million USD.

Per Investopedia, a write-down is an accounting action that reduces the value of an asset to offset a loss or expense. The write-down is based on a revised sal??es forecast established after the? game's release.

The statement goes on to reveal the capitalized development costs of The Lamplighters League to be MSEK 320, which equates to about $30 ?million USD. The newly revised sales forecast puts the fourth quarter profit impact estimates for the game at MSEK -248, which is just ??shy of $23 million USD.

"The Lamplighters League is a fun game with many strengths. Even though we see cautiously positive player numbers in subscription services, the commercial reception has been too weak, which is frankly a big disappointment. Game projects are by their nature always risky, but at the end of the day we haven’t performed at the level we should. It is painful but makes us more eager to roll?? up our sleeves and do? better."

-Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive

Essentially, Paradox is saying The Lamplighters League is off to a slower start, so it's writing down expenses a??s a loss it doesn't expect to immediately recoup. Paradox Interactive is a publicly traded company. As such, they are obliged to disclose this information pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU nr 596/2014).

As a reminder here, The Lamplighters League just released a week ago on October 3. Hopefully, this is just Paradox Interactive mitigating its own economic risk, and not a sign of things to come in a recently hectic industry.

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Paradox Interactive announced today that the company will publish Foundry, a factory-building sandbox simulation game by Channel 3 Entertainment. In Foundry, players are tasked with using their imagination to build an efficient factory in a procedurally-generated sandbox. Prior to the announcement, Foundry had climbed to the top of itch.io as a top-selling game. The game can be compared to similar factory-building titles like Satisfactory and Factorio. Players start at the bottom of the technological totem pole, having to manually mine and process reso??urces. Eventually, you unlock the ability to craft new machinery, develop technologies, and automate your entire production line.

A new demo for Steam Next Fest

Paradox also revealed a new demo will be available for Foundry during next week's Steam Next Fest which takes place from October 9 to October 16. Players? can jump in solo or with friends to build efficient production lines and self-sustaining factories.

"The overwhelmingly positive feedback we received from the Foundry Alpha on Itch.io was encouraging and highlighted the game's immense potential. To fully realize this potential, it was essential to collaborate with the perfect partner. Being published by Paradox Interactive allows us to fulfill the vision and ambitions we have for Foundry.

- Patrik Meder, Vice-president at Channel 3 Entertainment

I'm a huge fan of Satisfactory and Factorio, so I'll definitely be checking this one out. Based on the above announcement trailer, it seems like a fine-crafted hybrid of the two. Of course, being first-person and 3D makes you initially think Satisfactory. But the intricate production lines remind me more of Factorio. I'm also curious to see what sort of features can ut?ilize the? voxel-style world, which is a first for the genre.

No release time frame was given for Foundry, but once again the new demo will be available for one week starting October 9. Those interested in playing can download the demo via the Foundry Steam Page once Steam Next Fest begins.

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Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 has awoken from its long slumber, with a new studio and release window in tow. Over the weekend, Paradox Interactive confirmed that Bloodlines 2 development is?? in the hands of ??The Chinese Room, with a release window of fall 2024.

Bloodlines 2 has been quiet for some time, following what could only be considered a tumultuous development. After delays, departures of its leads, and eventually Paradox removing Hardsuit Labs from the sequel, the Vampire succes?sor has found a new home with The Chinese Room.

It's an interesting pick, as The Chinese Room is well-known for its narrative adventures. The studio produced Dear Esther, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, and is working on another horror experience, Still Wakes the Deep. Now, it's taking ove??r the sequel to a cult-classic RPG.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6b6LGubq6I

Sleepless in Seattle

My immediate question was how much we'd see of Hardsuit's Bloodlines 2 work in The Chinese Room's version. In an interview with PC Gamer, Paradox VP of World of Darkness Sean Greaney and Bloodlines 2 creative director Alex Ski?dmore talked a bit abou??t it.

While Greaney says they "have been able to reuse a significant amount of art and level design" from Hardsuit's work, Skidmore clarifies that The Chinese Room is utilizing "a new code base with different gameplay mechanics and RPG systems." You can see some of the original vision in the re-reveal. There's a look at the snowy holiday atmosphere and its initial Seattle setting. And while The Chinese Room is a surprising pick for an RPG, Skidmore brings some experience; he was a lead designer on Gears Tactics and worked on the Fable series, per PCG.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=2clSTM3UvTo

Where the original Bloodlines 2 pitch had the player taking on the role of a recently turned "thinblood," The Chinese Room's Bloodlines 2 wil??l star an "Elder" vampire. We're d?ue more information soon, as a gameplay reveal is set for January.

It's a shame we won't see Hardsuit's vision, but I'm still curious to see what The Chinese Room makes of a Bloodlines sequel. It's an interes?ting choice, but the studio does seem to be doing something a little different in an intrigui??ng way. We'll learn more in January, ahead of a planned fall 2024 release for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

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As we get closer to the Cities: Skyline 2 launch, developer Colossal Order has been highlighting various features of the city builder with weekly video releases. Today's video highlights the new Game Progression system which looks more in-depth than the original Cities: Skylines.

There are? 20 milestones in total that you can strive for with each one unlocking new rewards. Unlocking a milestone will earn you some cash as well as some expansion permits and development points.

Expansion permits allow you to add new tiles to add to your city, expanding the bounds in which you c??an build your metropolis. You can also use expansion permits to check out? the exact resource and quality aspects of a prospective tile.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtytQ9rX3Bc

New development points system introduces progression trees

The addition of development points is where it looks like progression in Cities: Skyline 2 will really shine. Development points are required?? to add city services such as fire departments, water and electric utilities, educational buildings, and more. Each city server has its own unique tree that you will spend development points on to unlock new buildings. As your city grows and the demands of your population change, you will have to unlock new buildings to address them. The further down the tree you progress, the more advanced each building is offering higher levels of sophistication and specialization.

For example, when addressing the transportation needs of your population, you will first unlock basic transportation services like buses. However, from there you will have to choose from several options. You could choose to unlock trains, trams, and eventually subways. Or, you could go down the water tree and unlock boat?s or even the air tree and unlock planes and eventually even a space center.

Also, it looks like milestones will progress differently in Cities: Skyline 2. Cities: Skylines progressed and unlocked milestones based simply on reaching new population highs. Bu int Cities: Skyline2, each milestone requires a certain amount of XP to unlock it. According to the video, you'll unlock XP passively based on population happiness as well as actively by investing in your city and placing key buildings or building up infra??structure like roads.

I saw some pretty interesting-looking buildings on the development tree in the trailer. I'm not exactly sure what I'll be able to do with a Large Hadron Collider, but I'm excited to find out. I'm excited to see what other cool things we can unlock via progression in Cities: Skyline 2.

Cities: Skylines 2 releases on October 24 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Se??ries X|S.

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Warm towels

Paradox has announced the last stops in its Cities: Skylines “World Tour�content push that will bring us to the end of the DLC for the game. The big ticket item here is the Hotels & Retreats mini-expansion, but there ??is also a slate of Content Creator Packs coming with it. It’s all set to drop on May 23, 2023.

Hotels & Retreats does essentially what it says on the tin. Sort of. It enables you to plop hotels in your city and run them. This runs in line with previous expansions like the Campus one that gave you things that would, I expect, be largely outside of your municipal power. I can’t see the mayor/city planner getting involved in the day-to-day of managing a hotel, but that’s what this expansion asks you to do.

You start with a small 1-star establishment, then unlock upgrades to expand it to a must-see tourist hotspot. You’ll then unlock various other types of hotels, like hostels and cabins, as well as supporting tourist buildings. Location? is key, as certain hotels will bring in specific tourist groups.

This seems like it will be a completely missable expansion to a lot of people, but I’m personally very excited about it. I love service management games, so mixing that in with my favorite urban city-builder is just so appealing.

//youtu.be/BFc50HzpQYk

Creator Content

These are some inter?esting Content Creator Packs, too.

From Samantha “Avanya�Woods comes the Industrial Evolution pac????k. This includes growable industrial buildings that draw from both historical and modern sources.

Next is Railroads of Japan from Ryuichi Kaminogi. As the name suggests, this offers several items ??to make your rail system more like Japan’s legendary commuter system. This includes stations, trains, and buses. I’m probably most excited about this pack, because I have no end of appreciation for Japan’s rail.

Finally, there’s Brooklyn & Queens from creator Prosper. This one is also pretty self-explanatory as it adds a number of growable buildings inspired by the boroughs of New York City. This is quite a timely set since Brooklyn features prominently in The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

On top of this are a couple of radio stations, which are probably less interesting because, if you’re like me, you just switch off the music and play your own in the back??ground while ??you build.

End of an era

This all marks the fact that attention is now moving to the recently announced Cities: Skylines 2, which is set to drop this year. Developer Colossal Order pledges to continue the support for Cities: Skylines through to the end of th??e year. However, it’s unlikely it will see any new content past that.

At the same time, I don’t expect Cities: Skylines 2 to launch with all the extra features that the first game built up. It could be a while before we see hotels again. Hopefully, all the new features of the sequel will make up for that. Otherwise, you can always wait eight years until ever?ything drops.

All of the above will launch on May 23, 2023.

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That's right, it's a Tournament arc

Crusader Kings III is setting out for some new festivities in May. The next Crusader Kings III expansion, dubbed Tours and Tournaments, debuts on May 11, 2023.

While Crusader Kings has had plenty of courtroom drama, this particular expansion looks to add some pageantry to all of it. Host a royal wedding! It's never gone poorly for anyone, ever. Head out on tour,? or yes, even hold your own tournament. I'm sure leaving your kingdom in the hands of a cunning and ambitious seat-warmer will certainly turn out fine.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATwJhpy_FQw

It's not all just events planning, though. The new travel system will include route planning, which means determining how fas??t you want to travel v?ersus how safe your charted course will be.

Additionally, Knightly Accolades are getting a spotlight, as are some new armor? designs and clothing. Fashion is crucial, even at a sometimes bloody tournamen?t.

Expanding your borders

The Tours and Tournaments expansion for Crusader Kings III will go for $29.99, and will launch alongside a "major" free update for all CKIII players. Or, if you prefer a more deluxe route, you can also pick up the Chapter II pack.

The Chapter Packs for Crusader Kings III tie in a few extra updates, big and small, for $34.99. Picking that up now will immediately garner the Elegance of the Empire Pack, with historic regalia inspired by real-life rulers. Further on down the road, alongside Tours and Tournaments, Chapter ???II pack-owners will get the Wards and Wardens Pack as well as the Legacy of Persia pack.

Basically, a lot more grand strategy is on the way for a pretty solid grand strategy game, from what I've heard. Tours and Tournaments arrive for Crusader Kings III on May 11.

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That's a lot of responsibility

As promised, by way of livestream, Paradox has given us all the juicy, wriggling details on their upcoming life simulator, Life by You?. This includes not just how the game will play and the approach it will take but also its goal ?of releasing in an Early Access state on September 12, 2023.

//youtu.be/ZNhV-Gnjdy8

Life by You is an open-world life simulator that looks to move in on The Sims territory. You create your families, design their houses, and dictate their lives. That’s pretty much The Sims, but Paradox Tectonic is trying to differentiate Life by You in quite a few ways. The most disturbing to me is that conversation will be held using real language rather than the gibberish Simlish utilized in Maxis�legendary s??????????????????????????eries. Outlined is a conversation creator that allows you to choose how your person reacts in different situations.

One of the features that stuck out to me is the ability to directly control your humans in a third-person control mode. This feature hasn’t been available in any of the mainline games of its closest competitor. However, a few of the console and handheld versions have allowed this, such as The Urbz and The Sims 2. I like the option. I have two modes of playing life simulators, and those are direct? immersion and storytelling.

Customization seems to be the central design philosophy. You can build the town of your humans to your liking, including homes and businesses. There’s a variety of different creators built in to allow you to tweak things to your liking. They’re also touting the integration of mods, which has been something EA has always been a bit cagey on with The Sims.

Life by Me would just be a trainwreck

It’s absolutely bizarre to me what a creative monopoly The Sims has had on the life simulator genre. Some of the ways that Life by You is breaking from the formula initially strike me as sacrilege, but upon reflection, I can’t see why. I even had difficulty not referring to the “humans�in this game as “sims.�/p>

[caption id="attachment_369497" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Paradox Interactive[/caption]

Rob Humble is involved, bringing with him some life simulator clout. He was producer during much of The Sims 2’s and was a big pla??yer at EA Games during that time.

There isn’t much reason why I shouldn’t love Life by You, but so many of my expectations are hung up in The Sims. I’m definitely going to try and get over that and give Life by You a try when it drops.

So far, Life by You has been announced for PC. It will be arriving in Early Access on September 1?2, 2023. You can pre-order it for $39.99 on the Epic Game Store, but it will also be launching on Steam.

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Stop the cult, save the world

Harebrained Schemes, the studio behind Battletech and the Shadowrun Returns trilogy, has a new strategy game. Today, Harebrained and Paradox revealed The Lamplighters League, a pulp fic??ti?on adventure that mixes stealth and strategy with quite a look.

Announced as part of today's Paradox Announcement Show, The Lamplighters League definitely has an XCOM sort of vibe to it. You manage?? a motley crew of misfits, all working together to stop the Banished Court ?cult from taking over the world.

As the tagline notes, "Unfortunately, the best of the best are all gone, so now it's up to the best of the worst." Today's announcement trailer emphasizes that?? a bit, as your team are not quite pristine heroes, so much as endear??ing rapscallions.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7oq0_dIRiU

Each team member brings their own skills to the field, and the action takes on a mix of modes. While you infiltrate in real time, combat ?plays out in turn-based order. It's a pseudo-real-time-with-pause that I've come to like a lot, actually.

Mixed in all of this is an alt-history 1930's aesthetic that reminds me of those classic globetrotting, treasure-hunting stories. The pulp style is a neat one, and definitely a departure from the likes of Battletech.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnTjWoFvmzg

Don't put this in a museum just yet

Add on some mentions of injury and stress that I spotted in the Steam Store description, and The Lamplighters League seems like a pretty neat entry in the strategy genre. Harebrained Schemes did some solid work on the Shadowrun trilogy and while I've yet to try out the big mechs of Battletech, I'm definitely intrigued by today's reveal. The Lamplighters League could be something a bit different and unique for strategy fans to keep an eye on,?? as we learn more.

The Lamplighters League is expected to hit PC and Xbox Series X|S sometime this year. Also confirmed today for Paradox fans were a new life-sim and Cities: Skylines 2.

The post The Lamplighters Le?ague is a pulpy new strategy game from the Battletech devs appeared first on Destructoid.