Paradox Interactive has unveiled its next Grand Strategy game, the post-apocalyptic Afterworld. The game is in development for PC.
While Paradox has traditionally leant on history for its Grand Strategy games, from Europa Universalis through to Hearts of Iron, Afterworld will be the second fictional game from Paradox Development Studio, after the space-y sci-fi Steallaris.
Afterworld is set in a post-apocalyptic North America, which is filled with hazardous terrain, old ruins and remnant pockets of humanity. You’ll have to handle both strategic challenges to grow a new empire, as well as moral crises as you grow from a small settlement and tribe. This small beginning could make this a similarly accessible game to Stellaris, which saw you start with a single planet and grow from there.
The game is being led by Game Director Dan Lind, who was the lead of Hearts of Iron IV until around five years ago. He said, “Afterworld is Paradox’s first non-historical setting in a decade, and I can’t wait to see what stories our players will tell with it. This is the first world we’ve gotten to build from scratch in a long time, and the first one we’ve had the pleasure of destroying before the game starts. The old world is still out there in fragments, waiting to be found. What comes after it is entirely up to the players.”
The game will feature multiple origins, from starting with Fallout-like shelterfolk emerging from a nuclear bunker, to zealots in the duslands. While set in North america, the world will be procedurally generated around that, ensuring that there’s variety for multiple playthroughs.
As your empire grows (which might need you to decamp and move as resources run dry) you’ll be able to discover some of what happened to the old world, learn from its ancient technology with the Ideas Tree, forge alliances and battle rivals, and build up until you can confront the Ancients – leaders from before the Fall who are kept alive by their ancient tech.
It’s an intriguing fresh start for a PDS game and we can’t wait to see more.
