Superb city-builder Against the Storm will round off its roster with a DLC of bats, who 'take pride in enduring what breaks others and cannot stand being favored'

Concept art showing one of Against the Storm's anthropomorphic bat citizens on the left, and various bat-themed building designs on the right. — (Image credit: Eremite Games)

Against the Storm is one of the best city-builders of recent years, taking the SimCity cycle of building cities destined to be destroyed by natural disasters and infusing it with a roguelike structure, such that the death of your city is merely a part of the game, rather than the end of it. Yet alongside this, one of the key secrets to its success is the diverse array of anthropomorphic animals—the citizens of your civilization in this grim fantasy realm—you have to manage.

Each of the game's animal races has unique needs and desires, which can diverge wildly and outright contrast with other species' requirements, as Len Hafer noted in her review. "Beavers, for instance, are fancy little lads who love tea parties and a good vintage of wine. They're also quite hard to please. Lizards, on the other hand, delight in munching on beef jerky and engaging in recreational combat. It's rare to be able to please all of the species in your settlement, so you usually have to choose which ones to favor."

Now, developer Eremite Games has offered a glimpse of the game's next DLC, which will further complicate balancing your citizens' needs with the addition of a new species—Bats. According to the developer's Steam blog "bats are stern and fiercely devoted people. They take pride in enduring what breaks others and cannot stand being favored. Bats excel at metallurgy but find no particular comfort in any type of work." That last bit sounds just like me, except for the metallurgy part.

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In all seriousness, bats sound like they're designed to be a more challenging species to play with, one where you'll have to pay close attention to their needs, making sure you give them what they require without making them feel special. The addition of bats to Against the Storm also marks a major milestone for the game's development, as Eremite notes. "With this DLC, we’ll complete the species roster we’ve envisioned for the game ever since Bats were first introduced during the community vote a little over two years ago."

Bats aren't the only new feature coming to the DLC: It will also add a new biome, though Eremite doesn't specify what this biome is. As well as this paid update, Eremite is working on a free content update that will coincide with the DLC's launch, though again, the developer doesn't provide any details regarding what the free update will include.

There's also no set date for the launch of either the free update or the DLC, although Eremite does state that it's still "months away". A time-limited open alpha of the DLC will commence in 4-6 weeks' time. You can find out how to participate in that here.

Rick has been fascinated by PC gaming since he was seven years old, when he used to sneak into his dad's home office for covert sessions of Doom. He grew up on a diet of similarly unsuitable games, with favourites including Quake, Thief, Half-Life and Deus Ex. Between 2013 and 2022, Rick was games editor of Custom PC magazine and associated website bit-tech.net. But he's always kept one foot in freelance games journalism, writing for publications like Edge, Eurogamer, the Guardian and, naturally, PC Gamer. While he'll play anything that can be controlled with a keyboard and mouse, he has a particular passion for first-person shooters and immersive sims.

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