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On Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
SteamWorld Build, the “Anno meets Dungeon Keeper” city builder from Thunderful Games and internal studio The Station, finally has a release date and will be forging new frontiers on PC, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, and Game Pass from 1st December.
SteamWorld Build is, of course, the latest in the genre-hopping SteamWorld series, which has so far explored the likes of platform mining in SteamWorld Dig and its sequel, tower defense in the appropriately titled SteamWorld Tower Defense, turn-based strategy in SteamWorld Heist, and card-battling RPGing in SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech.
It’s all change again for SteamWorld Build, which this time challenges players to construct a city – or, more specifically, a sort of sci-fi-infused Wild West mining town – in a bid to attract enough Steambot workers to dig deep into the nearby abandoned mines which, or so it’s rumoured, contain ancient technology that’ll help everyone get off the dying world.
SteamWorld Build’s above-ground element will be broadly familiar to fans of Anno and its ilk, requiring players to manage and expand their town by building facilities to acquire more goods to satisfy more residents and so on. The twist is that it’s paired with a second style of play down in the mines, which – drawing on developer Bullfrog’s classic real-time strategy game Dungeon Keeper – sees miners fending off foes as they dig ever-deeper for resources needed back home.
SteamWorld Build – which is also notable for being the SteamWorld series’ first fully 3D game – has been designed for PC and consoles simultaneously and is fully playable with either a mouse and keyboard or controller. PC players, incidentally, can get a taste of SteamWorld Build’s strategy action in a playable demo available on Steam now.
The full game launches for PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Game Pass, PS4, PS5, and Switch on 1st December, and Thunderful says anyone that already owns the SteamWorld Complete Bundle on Steam will get a 20 percent discount come release day.
