As I mentioned in the last part of this series, you never know what the end of the world is going to look like. It could end up being a Mad Max style wasteland, a lush and desolate tropical paradise, or an infinite cover of ice and snow.
It only makes sense that after the apocalypse, advanced electricity will be gone and right along with it all the luxuries that it provides. Anyone who survives will have to find a new way to live. That includes creating makeshift machinery and tools. Personally, I like to think that it will be available thanks to several other energy sources.
This is where the steampunk genre comes in. Most of us fell in love with the genre with Fallout 3, or Fallout: New Vegas, but they aren’t the only steampunk titles around. Both of those games saw you vying to survive in a world that has been destroyed by a nuclear holocaust.
However the world ends, playing steampunk games is a good way to practice for what comes after.
Gaslight is a steampunk inspired strategy game that puts an emphasis on RTS style gameplay. It mixes a little bit of city-building simulation tactics with RPG elements. The bottom line is that it’s incredibly fun to play, albeit quite a bit challenging.
You’re not on present day Earth in Gaslight; instead the story takes places in a fictional world called Eastland. Your job is straightforward and unembellished, build your post-apocalyptic city the best you can while also defending it from the dangers of this new world.
You’ll need to create an empire entirely from scratch, and that includes outfitting an army. You don’t have to do it alone though because you can play cross-platform with friends on Android and iPhone devices.
This is a realtime strategy game, which means that after every structure that you build, every resource you craft, and every unit you make you will have to wait a certain amount of time for the operation to complete. This process is no different from any other city building game like Paradise Island, Smurfs Village or The Oregon Trail: Settler.
Where Gaslight differs from all of those other city building titles, is the conquest mode and individual battles. When a battle takes place, you enter a turn based strategy mode where each opposing team takes turns to attack one another. The conflict usually plays out against a visually appealing backdrop, which just adds to the atmosphere.
Keep in mind, this is the type of game you play in spurts, especially considering most of the time you are spent waiting for resources to renew or build, you won’t want to play Gaslight nonstop. It’s perfect for the times when you want to be productive in real life, and then take five to ten minute breaks.
Of course, if the world actually does end on Friday, then games like this won’t matter in the grand scheme of things.
Still, Gaslight is a excellent way to practice for the potential apocalypse. It teaches you how to handle military units, rebuild a city from scratch, and to generate resources. It’s free to play, and you can get it in the Google Play store.
Check it out, you might be surprised with what you get. In the meantime, I’m going to stock up my bomb shelter with Spam.
