As We Descend burrows beneath the other Frostpunk-likes with ornate card tactics and writing

Years ago I wrote a piece about what I presumptuously defined as the "emerging" subgenre of city games that respond to the climate crisis, with its attendant catastrophes of unchecked capitalism and resurgent fascism. Today, it feels dangerously like that subgenre is "sub" no longer.

We are engulfed in strategy sims where society is the rind between the formless terrors without and the only-human abusers within. The geography is clogged by Last Cities and Final Bastions Of Humanity, all of them awkwardly avoiding eye contact, like the prophets that line the alleyways of Life Of Brian. I guess it's in keeping with the "unchecked capitalism" bit that apocalypse fantasies have become a thriving business. I hope that's not my fault. On the brighter side, roguelike deckbuilder As We Descend is quite fun, combining moderately baroque turn-based combat with tales of Vernian dystopia. Here's Wot I Think of the demo.

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