Offworld is being developed by the relatively new studio Mohawk Games and is currently in Early Access on Steam. But while the studio might be a newcomer it carries a rather huge legacy on its shoulders, as it's founded by Soren Johnson, co-lead designer on CIV 3 and lead designer on CIV 4. That's right, Offworld is being developed by one of the guys behind two of the best iterations of the Civilization series.
Marketed as an economic real-time strategy game, Offworld offers a new twist on the formula. When I bought it, I was not convinced that the "fresh take" would be all that fresh in the end. Surely the focus on economy would mostly be superficial, with tanks replaced by stacks of money, bases by vaults and the cries of war by the cacophony of a constant barrage of "Sell! Sell! SELL!"? I figured the end result would still be a regular RTS, only with new types of units, ones with stocks instead of health points. But it turns out that this new take on an old genre goes much, much deeper than that.
First of all, the game does away with the very thing that kept me from enjoying the genre for so many years: the hectic speed. While it can be intense, it never feels rushed, and I have yet to lose a game to my inability to be fast enough. Sure, there are moments when you'll lose out on a crucial deposit to a competitor because he or she managed to start construction of that iron mine before you did, but those moments are never game breaking, and they wont win or lose the match in and of themselves. They act more as a flavor, and truth be told I quite enjoy them. Another thing Offworld turns on its side are the rigid build orders of games like Starcraft and DOTA, where your ability to win is deeply tied to your ability to build things in exactly the right order, at exactly the right time and with zero deviation from the formula. While there are remains of that tired old system left in Offworld, it's mostly noticeable in the beginning of each match, and due to the large number of randomized factors the number of viable build orders are legion.
So how is it played then? Well, there are the usual game modes for both multiplayer and single player: skirmish, quick match, daily challenges and custom games. You know the drill. Each match starts with an empty hexagon map (there are several sizes to choose from before the match begins) where things like valleys, plateaus and most notably resources are randomized. At first, only a very small section in the middle is visible, the rest is covered by a fog of war, and so each player is granted a number of 'radar pings' that are used to reveal a small section of the map. Terrain is visible through the fog of war, but resources are not and each player will only see the resources that he or she has revealed so far. This is an interesting game mechanic, in particular since you have yet to choose the faction you want to play, and the various factions all use different resources to achieve victory. In other words, the setup of each match becomes a balancing act between getting a good view of the map and picking a faction (and starting location) early on, forcing the other players to react to your choice instead of the other way around.
Start looking for that sweet spot.
Once you've chosen a faction and a starting location, the market screen will appear. This is a large list of both resources and products (all of which can be produced using the resources) and their current price. The market is player driven and thus prices will fluctuate over time depending on what the players are producing, buying and selling. Prices are also influenced by random events, so while it's possible to make educated guesses for future prices, it's not possible to be a hundred percent certain. In order to gain resources and products, the player must place down mines and factories, all of which requires a 'claim'. Claims are few and far between, with a new batch handed out every time you upgrade your HQ, which in turn also requires resources, so choosing what to build is crucial, as you might have to wait for a while before you can build again. However, Offworld avoids painting the player into a corner by making sure there are ways to change your production line even if and when you're out of claims. You can turn facilities on and off to conserve power (or influence the price), demolish and build something new on the same claim and there are also one-off claims to be bought via auctions. If that doesn't help, you have a list of sabotage actions available at a price (and tied to a timer), some of which allows you to briefly take control of another player's facilities or to simply steal resources by using pirates deployed in an area. These sabotage actions are a welcomed flavor and the timer means they never become unbalanced or too powerful. You can choose to ignore them if you're so inclined, and while it will hamper you a bit, it wont break you.
There are more details to the gameplay of course, but that about covers the gist of it. One major element that should be mentioned is that all factions require a number of resources to even function, and these resources will be bought automatically if you're not mining them, meaning you'll go into debt if you fail to set up a basic supply chain of said resources. That may not be a concern early on (debt is a natural part of the gameplay, up to a point), but it can quickly become crippling if the price on those resources starts to reach abnormal levels. Electricity in particular tends to become a problem if not managed properly, as all factions but one use it to power all of their facilities and one third of the available power options only functions during the day.
The point of the game is simply to buy out the competition. Each player (or AI, a competent one at that I might add) begins the match with total ownership of their company stock, but those shares can be bought by the other players, and when someone buys all of your shares you lose the match and control of your company is turned over to the buyer. This not only means that one player is now out of the running, but it also makes the buyer that much more powerful, as he or she now owns the infrastructure set up by the company that was bought. The stock price of each player is influenced by many factors, but in short, the better you're doing, the higher your stock price will be. This is also where the aforementioned debt starts to affect gameplay in a major way, as you can only buy stock with cold, hard cash, and a large debt will also decrease your stock price. So while it's perfectly viable to go into debt early on, once shares are starting to be bought left and right, you need to get that debt under control.
"That's it! Game over, man! Game over! What the fuck are we gonna do now? What are we gonna do?"
So what's my final verdict then? Well, let me tell you, it's good. This is a solid game, and a good example of Early Access at it's finest. The gameplay is deep and varied, and the tempo is less hysterical than that of most RTS titles. Yes, it's obvious that it's still a work in progress (there are plenty of balancing issues), but it is absolutely playable as it is and so far the release schedule for new patches has been pretty hectic. One thing in particular that stands out from many other Early Access games is the splendid 'what's new'-report that will greet you every time you log in for the first time in a while. It's very nice to quickly get an idea of the new gameplay mechanics before you dive back in. Another noteworthy aspect is the visual design of Offworld, which is simply stunning. When I first bought the game, most models were not yet textured, and it speaks volumes that I only noticed that when the textures got patched in. If your design reads well un-textured, it just works, simple as that. The models are clean and sharp, and the design reads well both from an aesthetic viewpoint and with regards to gameplay.
In other words, if the question here boils down to "should you buy it?", then my answer is yes, as long as you enjoy strategy and you don't mind a work in progress, then you absolutely should. It's a great game, and at least for this old war dog, it managed to revive interest in a genre that has been otherwise dead to me for a very long time.
For a more in-depth look at the game, check out my Let's Play video, where I fail miserably to use the Offworld Market the correct way, by clicking on the link below. Until then, this is johnny Panzer, signing out.
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