Ixion, My Favorite City-Builder From 2022, Just Got Better

I wrote a good bit final yr about Ixion, a deep area city-builder than mixed the thrill of popping in little buildings with some 4X components like exploration, then wrapped all of it up in an engrossing story concerning the dying days of the human race. I liked the sport, however I additionally hated it.

I liked it for all the explanations I spelled out right here, however I additionally hated it as a result of it was at occasions pointlessly demanding, and its tightly-wound narrative, which helped the sport in so many different methods, was additionally an infinite ache within the ass when it got here to progressing by means of Ixion’s ranges:

In Ixion you’re all the time in peril, all the time in need of one thing you want, and it’s laborious to get that stuff at the very best of occasions, not to mention while you’re coping with every part from employee strikes to burning factories. A city-builder ought to no less than 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 possibility to only take pleasure in for a day or two the truth that, hey, we have been nonetheless alive. A sandbox or freeplay mode may have actually helped right here, however sadly the sport doesn’t embody 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 May 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.

Actually, it’s one thing even higher than that: they’re deeply customisable issue choices. Look at this!

Any new playthrough will now start with a alternative of three issue modes:

Journey:

This mode is for gamers who need to benefit from the sport’s narrative and is advisable for these unfamiliar with the city-builder style.

Default:

This is the supposed IXION expertise and is advisable for gamers conversant in metropolis builders.

Challenge:

An unrelenting combat for survival; this mode is for Administrators who actually need to take a look at their expertise.

Want a bit extra customization so you’ll be able to play IXION the way you envisioned? Then this fourth choice is for you. In Custom mode, you’ll be able to regulate all kinds of sport mechanics to your style. Tired of the fixed hull degradation. Turn it off. Not getting sufficient employees from cryopods? Change the ratio. Accidents occurring too typically? Decrease the frequency.

You may regulate these issue parameters through the pause menu mid-playthrough – together with in your present saves!

Perfect. This is good. It lets us proceed to play the sport the best way its builders supposed, but additionally 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’d like!

My preliminary Ixion suggestion in 2022 got here with some fairly robust 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.