Diesel-powered city builder New Cycle invites you to rekindle hope after a solar flare wrecks the world

GamesCity BuilderDiesel-powered city builder New Cycle invites you to rekindle hope after a solar flare wrecks the worldWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

Dieselpunk city builder New Cycle will release this week on January 18, 2024, challenging you as the leader of a band of survivors trying to rebuild Earth’s civilization following a series of devastating solar storms that obliterate our societal and technological infrastructure.

The Early Access release from developer Core Engage and publisher Daedalic Entertainment will include “all core mechanics, including the social class system, production trees, seasonal and daily cycles, construction, trade, managing exploration units and internal events,” says Core Engage.

New Cycle’s big pitch is that it’s about complex production chains and industrial circumstances, yes, but it’s also about the social conditions of your post-apocalypse settlement—and about human needs beyond the merely physical. The developers describe this as giving your people something more than merely preservation of their lives: “A future beyond survival.”

The Early Access launch will include both sandbox and campaign gameplay modes, and what looks like up to four different biomes to build your city in. Beyond the city-building gameplay it’ll have elements of trade with other settlements, exploration of the world around your settlement and establishing outposts, as well as functioning systems of train transport and conveyor belt transport between factories.

For my part, I find the emphasis on recovering and preserving knowledge that New Cycle appears to have to be very compelling gameplay fodder. Rebuilding a capable specialist class would be a major part of efforts to recover civilization, as would laying down laws that balance personal freedoms with the harsh new rules of survival in a devastated world.

Which is apparently still being devastated, with the Early Access build to include disasters including fires, lightning strikes, sandstorms, building collapses, workplace accidents, and other extreme weather. Cyclones, static discharge events, and oil fires will come in the future.

You can findNew Cycle on Steam, where it releases into Early Access on January 18, 2024. You can also check out the quite prettyNew Cycle website.

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

More about city builderI played a whopping 23 city builders in 2024, and here are my 5 favoritesBest City Builder 2024: Manor LordsLatestSpeedrunning Crazy Taxi with a live band is an inventive way to dodge a DMCA takedownSee more latest►

More about city builderI played a whopping 23 city builders in 2024, and here are my 5 favoritesBest City Builder 2024: Manor Lords

More about city builder

I played a whopping 23 city builders in 2024, and here are my 5 favoritesBest City Builder 2024: Manor Lords

A city near a waterfall

I played a whopping 23 city builders in 2024, and here are my 5 favorites

Best City Builder 2024: Manor Lords

LatestSpeedrunning Crazy Taxi with a live band is an inventive way to dodge a DMCA takedownSee more latest►

Latest

Speedrunning Crazy Taxi with a live band is an inventive way to dodge a DMCA takedown

Crazy Taxi being speedrun with a live backing band

Speedrunning Crazy Taxi with a live band is an inventive way to dodge a DMCA takedown

See more latest►

Most Popular

Here’s a game about being a depressed, lonely maintenance robot on a long-haul space colony ship

Civilization 7 has been Steam Deck Verified ahead of its launch next month

23-year-old D&D RPG Neverwinter Nights just got a new update thanks to the ‘unpaid software engineers’ of its unkillable community

My Summer Car, the absurdly detailed Finnish life sim about vehicle maintenance and drinking in your underpants, smashes into 1.0 after nearly a decade in Steam early access

Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes a run at improving parkour, as Ubisoft strives to make the system less ‘like a gas pedal’

Today’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11

The Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in April

Lords of the Fallen publisher embraces fear of the DEI boogeyman, says it will not include ‘any social or political agendas’ in its games

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney says tech leaders are ‘pretending to be Republicans’ to gain favor with Trump, skirt antitrust laws, and ultimately ‘rip off consumers and crush competitors’

If you’re trying to convince me your ‘companionship’ robot is ‘lifelike’, maybe don’t rip her face off in the demo video

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

A bunch of the best Steam Deck accessories on a blue background.

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

Thank Goodness You’re Here review

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review

Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review

3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

4Ikea Utespelare desk review

Ikea Utespelare desk review

5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals