I wrote a good bit final 12 months about Ixion, a deep house city-builder than mixed the thrill of popping in little buildings with some 4X parts like exploration, then wrapped all of it up in an engrossing story in regards to the dying days of the human race. I beloved the sport, however I additionally hated it.
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I beloved it for all the explanations I spelled out right here, however I additionally hated it as a result of it was at occasions pointlessly traumatic, and its tightly-wound narrative, which helped the sport in so many different methods, was additionally an unlimited ache within the ass when it got here to progressing by Ixion’s ranges:
In Ixion you’re all the time in peril, all the time wanting one thing you want, and it’s laborious to get that stuff at the most effective of occasions, not to mention if you’re coping with every little thing from employee strikes to burning factories. A city-builder ought to a minimum of generally be a tranquil expertise, as a result of they’re about constructing and watching issues develop; right here there have been valuable few moments I wasn’t feeling extremely stressed, and by no means felt like I obtained the prospect to simply take pleasure in for a day or two the truth that, hey, we had been nonetheless alive. A sandbox or freeplay mode might have actually helped right here, however sadly the sport doesn’t embrace both of these issues, there’s simply the marketing campaign.
I wrote that in December—Ixion simply squeaked into my 2022 GOTY checklist—and now we’re in Might 2023. And whaddya know, whereas the sport doesn’t have a “sandbox or freeplay” mode, it now has one thing possibly even higher: issue choices.
Really, it’s one thing even higher than that: they’re deeply customisable issue choices. Take a look at this!
Any new playthrough will now start with a selection of three issue modes:
Journey:
This mode is for gamers who need to benefit from the sport’s narrative and is really helpful for these unfamiliar with the city-builder style.
Default:
That is the meant IXION expertise and is really helpful for gamers accustomed to metropolis builders.
Problem:
An unrelenting combat for survival; this mode is for Directors who actually need to check their abilities.
Desire a bit extra customization so you possibly can play IXION the way you envisioned? Then this fourth choice is for you. In Customized mode, you possibly can alter all kinds of sport mechanics to your style. Bored with the fixed hull degradation. Flip it off. Not getting sufficient employees from cryopods? Change the ratio. Accidents taking place too typically? Lower the frequency.
It’s also possible to alter these issue parameters through the pause menu mid-playthrough – together with in your current saves!
Excellent. That is good. It lets us proceed to play the sport the way in which its builders meant, but in addition lets us—the Royal Us, these of us who weren’t down on a few of its issue and pacing points—tailor a few of its extra annoying facets to easily make it extra enjoyable. And that doesn’t simply imply making issues simpler, you may make them tougher if you need!
My preliminary Ixion suggestion in 2022 got here with some fairly sturdy caveats; these are nearly all gone now, so if the concept of a city-building Battlestar Galactica appears like your factor, it is best to undoubtedly test it out in 2023.
