Offworld Trading Company is a different kind of extraterrestrial RTS. Developed by Mohawk Games, an indie studio founded by Civilization IV designer Soren Johnson, it's all about running a business on Mars: Establish a corporate colony, develop resources, build factories, sell your goods, and crush your competitors through the power of high finance and corporate skullduggery. It's been available on Steam Early Access since February 2015, and on April 28 it will go into full release.
"Offworld Trading Company is a new direction for real-time strategy, where money is both your deadliest weapon and and your toughest defense," Johnson said. "After all of the lucrative resource mining on the asteroid belt is claimed by mega-corporations, savvy business hopefuls turn to Mars to stake their claim to the red planet and build an economic engine capable of out-producing the competition."
The game is built around a real-time, player-driven market that enables plucky startups to buy and sell resources, and even the essentials needed for simple survival, like food and water. But the long-term goal is to be able to afford access to more lucrative off-world markets in order to buy out rival corporations, controlled by the AI or other players, and claim a greater share of the Martian economy.
It's obviously not the sort of thing that lends itself to easy explanations; fortunately, we very recently got some hands-on time with the game, and it sounds quite promising. Find out more at offworldgame.com.
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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.
