Are you there, God?
Crate Entertainment has revealed what it has in store for the August update of their Early Access survival city-builder, Farthest Frontier. The headline feature here is a new religion system, but it also promises paper industry and guild halls.
Farthest Frontier is coming up on a year in early access. It’s a “colony sim” or a “survival city builder.” This burgeoning sub-genre has followed in the wake of the success of 2014’s Banished. It seems a lot of developers felt tired of waiting for a sequel to Banished and have decided to create their own sequels, each tying in a different twist. The base is that you need to focus on the survival of your settlers, but from there, the concept has gone in some interesting directions.
I’ve actually played Farthest Frontier, and while it’s not as big of a twist as Timberborn’s beaver people, it’s definitely a solid game, even in its current state. It’s detailed, pretty, and has that nice mix of relaxing and stressful.
However, there’s room to expand, and religion sounds like it will be a great addition. Nothing livens up a peasant’s sad existence quite like the fear of an unhappy deity. The central mechanic of religion is finding relics that will “inspire reverence” and provide your people with perks. Personally, I prefer a good sacrifice, but this sounds good too.
There is also the introduction of the paper industry, which will allow you to create books; a luxury item for your settlers. There are also guild halls that will boost a chosen industry in your settlement, allowing you to pick your focus. In the future, Crate Entertainment is teasing tweaks to combat, quality of life, mods, and the addition of new livestock. Hopefully ducks.
Farthest Frontier is currently available on PC via Early Access. The update is planned for release in August.
