Fate of the World

How climate crisis games' could better model our problems and our future

In Vectorpark s Sandcastles, you build fantastic towers and watch the waves erase your work every 10 seconds. It s a very direct metaphor for the global climate crisis that threatens to flood coastal cities and exacerbate natural disasters. Sandcastles confronts us with our totally predictable watery doom, but we also find fun and expression in our totally foreseeable destruction. When the planet dies, at least we ll be entertained. Before you commit to starving and drowning, you should probably understand how and why it ll happen. To imagine this nightmarish hellworld, readers can flip thro

All rise and no fall: how Civilization reinforces a dangerous myth

Civilization VI: Rise and Fall wants to solve a problem. That problem is perpetual growth, and it plagues many 4X games. Whether your aim is world conquest or cultural hegemony, victory in Civilization and many of its cohorts depends on domination. However peacefully you try to play, you’re often straight-jacketed into a utilitarian-psychotic view where all resources and people are just raw material to be assimilated, Borg-like, until the whole map is monochrome. But as the early excitement of exploration and expansion ebbs to late game stagnation, the fun runs out. Historically, stagnat

Fate of the World Online starts crowdfunding

Back in 2011, climate change strategy game Fate of the World taught us that oh god, this is so difficult, we’re doomed. It was one of our favourite games on that year’s RPS advent calendar, which is how much fun we are at Christmas. Well, after another six years of the world going to heck, sequel Fate of the World Online is angling for crowdfunding cash to update the calamity and add online multiplayer. As a world leader, can you keep your country stable while fighting climate change? (more…)

Have You Played Fate of the World?

Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time. Would you like to learn about the Human Development Index and global fuel policy? No, I suppose not. What about playing a videogame where all your decisions lead to the entire earth becoming a slowly decaying barrel of human sadness? I thought so. Here s Fate of the World. …

We re Doomed: Fate Of The World Sequel Announced

When a wide-eyed young lad named Quintin Smith played Fate of the World, he learned that we’re all doomed but hopefully you and I will die before the world’s fully trashed. That’s my understanding of his lesson, anyway. It was a fascinating strategy game about big problems facing the world over the next century – dwindling resources, changing climate, growing population, famine, revolution, extinction, and so on – and how they’re all tangled in complicated ways. Creator Red Redemption shut down a few years back, but another studio have picked up the rights t

People Who Like Science and Other Thinky Pursuits

It can be a challenge to buy a gift for your brainy, science-obsessed friend. What kind of games might he or she like? The science brains among us can be so intimidating, partly because it's always scary buying things for smart people, but partly because who knows what those science people even like? Do they want beakers? A scale perhaps? Maybe some sort of assistance in covering up their secret meth-cooking operation? This list is for you, weary gift-giver. It's here to help you find some fun science-ish gifts for the egghead in your life. And always remember: if none of these sound good, yo

Indie Royale 'Difficult 2nd Bundle' adds more games

Indie Royale's "Difficult 2nd Bundle" of indie gaming fun has been expanded, adding bonus goodies including soundtracks, downloadable content, and new games. As the offer approaches its final day, you can now "pay what you want" (above a minimum price) for a grand six games. The two new additions are shoot 'em ups Bullet Candy Perfect and Irukandji by Charlie Knight, whose Scoregasm was one of the bundle's original games. They can be added to a Desura account, but, unlike the other games, not to Steam. If you've already bought the bundle, you'll find the games added to your purchase page. Fate

Indie Royale’s Difficult Second Bundle Is On

The second Indie Royale bundle has this second gone live. You’ll remember the first one from Adam telling you all about it. It’s the excitingly confusing system where the price goes up over time, but people paying more than that price cause it to go down. I think. Whatever it is, it works, and tens of thousands of people bought the first one, getting a splendid bargain. So what’s in the second collection? (more…)

Indie Royale launches 'The Difficult 2nd Bundle'

Fledgling 'pay what you want' bundle vendor Indie Royale today launched 'The Difficult 2nd Bundle,' it's next cut-price collection of indies. The new bundle packs Fate of the World, NightSky, Scoregasm, Time Gentlemen, Please!, and Ben There, Dan That!. All the games can be added to Steam and Desura accounts, or you can download them directly. The bundle will be on sale until 10am Pacific on Tuesday.

Fate of the World Updated

Changes since previous release * Fixed: Steam Cloud synchronisation failure on Mac. Caused save files and mission progress to be reset when game was launched. ;* Fixed: Achievements not awarded on Steam. ;* Fixed: UI crash in load/save screen when deleting the last save. ;* Fixed: UI crash when impact effects with unrecognised categories occur (usually triggered by old mods). ;* Fixed: UI lockup when transitioning between regions with graph open (or something like that) ;* Changed: 'Relax Borders' now completes after one turn. ;* Fixed: inline save button on Mac crashed the UI. This button has

Fate of the World: Tipping Point makes saving the world easier, is out now

Fate of the World is a strategy game about saving the world from climate change. You'll have to deal with the threat of rising sea levels, spiralling carbon emissions, species extinction, political uprising, flash fires and more over the course of 200 years. RPS note that a new version, Tipping Point, is out now. As well as some interface tweaks, new scenarios and the much needed addition of an easy mode, Tipping Point includes the Denial, Migration and Extras DLC packs. It's all bundled together and available through Steam, Gamersgate and from the Fate of the World site. You can find out more

Fallen Earth: Fate Of The World Tipping Point

Edited to correct pricing details – thanks for pointing it out, folks! It’s been a while since I’ve played Fate of the World, the game that tasks you with saving the world from mankind and itself in a terrifyingly realistic fashion. Quinns wrote a fine summation of it here, summed up by the phrase “You find out you’re an idiot”, which is precisely what I found out when playing as well. And for a while I played it far too much, so that every news report of a real life catastrophe I read would make me roll my eyes at the futility of all possible solutions. It might be tim

Fate of the World Updated

Version 1.1 : Released 2011-09-29 Upgrade instructions: * Download fotw.msi from your distributor (Direct2Drive users will download fotw.exe instead); * Launch it; it will remove older versions and install the new version Changes since previous release:; * Added: Migration now occurs as a result of many environmental impacts. These effects only occur in the missions 'Three Degrees', 'Dr Apocalypse' and 'The Flood' and only if the Migration DLC is installed. ;* Added: support for Mac OS X (10.6 or later) ;* Added: Regional Technology Panel, showing the current Tech level and the rate of advance

New Release for PC and Mac - Fate of the World: Tipping Point, 20% off

Fate of the World: Tipping Point is now Available on Steam for Mac & PC! Revised, rebalanced and expanded, "Tipping Point" is Fate of the World as it's meant to be played. Take control of the GEO through the five original missions, as well as the “Cornucopia” and “Earth Day” update missions, and the “Denial”, “Migration” and “Extras Pack” DLCs. Purchase before October 6th at 10AM Pacific Time and receive 20% off!

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