Offworld Trading Company, a strategy game about competitive capitalism on Mars, turned out to be quite good: "Ruthless, immediate, and thoroughly rewarding," as we put it in our review. But soon it will be time to move on to greener—which is to say, rockier, more volcanic, and infinitely more dangerous—pastures, as Stardock has announced that its first expansion, Jupiter's Forge, will be out later this spring.
As the title suggests, the expansion will be set further out into the solar system, specifically the Jovian moon of Io, a volcanic ball of rocky crapola that makes Mars look like a tropical paradise. It's also rich with resources, although as lead designer Soren Johnson explained, not endlessly so.
"Unlike Mars, Io's resources are finite and will deplete over time, which makes the competition even more cutthroat," he said. "Players will have to adapt to an entirely different resource hierarchy than they've become used to on Mars or Ceres if they want their business to survive here."
The expansion will bring a brand new campaign to the game, and add a pair of new factions, the highly-adaptable Penrose Collective and the exclusive, advanced Diadem Trust. Io will open up access to the new Basalt resource, as well as new buildings, structures, patents, and additional black market and map events. There's also a new "1000 Map Challenge," a series of increasingly difficult maps with leaderboards tracking individual and overall scores.
A solid release date hasn't been set, but you can find out more about Offworld Trading Company: Jupiter's Forge at offworldgame.com.
