Hi, everyone.
After eight months, I finally won my long-running Terra Invicta game! My “state of the game 2026” impressions probably deserve a full post; I think the game has fulfilled every ounce of potential I saw back in Early Access.
After I battled to victory the long way, I also shipped my first Terra Invicta mod, “Quick Victory”, which speeds up the victory conditions for four of the game’s seven factions (the Academy, the Resistance, Humanity First and the Initiative). The goal is to reduce endgame grind: if players can fulfil their “main” condition, I think they deserve to win.
I’d like to iterate on this: for example, speeding up Project Exodus’s victory condition in a future version, which would round out the anti-alien factions, and a separate Vanilla Lite mod that stays closer to the vanilla victory conditions while reducing the thresholds. Watch this space…
Meanwhile, I picked up the roguelite deckbuilder Fogpiercer, which reminds me of Into the Breach: combat takes place on a grid and the game reveals what the computer will do on its turn, which lets you move out of the way, shield yourself, prioritise threats, and move enemy units out of position. I quite enjoyed my first run, although I haven’t been in a hurry to play again.
Besides that, I’ve been continuing to play old (and new) favourites. I’m building a lovely underwater town in the new DLC for Pokopia, slowly building the new DLC Hippodrome in Anno 117, trying different civ and leader combinations in Civ VII, gradually racking up more successful runs in Hades 2, and dusting off the stylish Raidou Remastered.
New releases: Star Wars Zero Company
Star Wars Zero Company, a squad-based tactics game, is out to rave reviews.
Upcoming releases: Afterworld, Humankind 2, Civ VII: Earthrise
Big couple of weeks for strategy game announcements:
- Paradox announced Afterworld, a new IP set in a post-apocalyptic North America, and helmed by Dan “podcat” Lind of Hearts of Iron IV fame. The first two dev diaries are out, and Leana Hafer at IGN has published an early preview.
- Amplitude announced Humankind 2. Notably, it is self-publishing this rather than going through Hooded Horse. I am excited about this one — I loved Humankind and spent a lot of time with it at launch, although I don’t think it ever reached its potential. I’ll be curious to see how (or whether) Amplitude is able to improve on, and fix the flaws in, the first game.
- Hot off the press, Firaxis announced a new Civ VII expansion, “Earthrise”, as well as a new major update, “Arc of Tomorrow”. “Earthrise” will focus on astronomy and the space race, while “Arc of Tomorrow” will add a fourth era to the game, the Atomic Age. Both are set for 2027.
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