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Build better worlds in Imagine EarthEmission impossible
Emission impossible
Scout Reportis an irregular series of indie game recommendations from Sin Vega, offered first to RPS supporters.
Today: sci-fi strategy SimImagine Earth.
Managing the climate is usually an afterthought in colony building games, if it’s included at all. It tends to be a non-issue until the game’s basically over, and its effects are usually underwhelming.
Imagine Earthisn’t entirely about the environment. And it needn’t be, given that you’re working for a business colonising one of countless worlds. Who cares if you destroy a planet when you can easily skip over to another one? You can do that. You can be pretty rapacious. But I find it more fun to be the oceanic aliens, because they start out with lots of seabase technology, so when your rivals accidentally melt the ice caps you can mostly just laugh at them.
Imagine Earth - Launch TrailerWatch on YouTube
Imagine Earth - Launch Trailer
Imagine Earth is never wholly mellow, but never quite stressful either. Its campaign is faintly reminiscent ofStartopia(though without the humour), focusing on each aspect of the game in turn over a series of worlds. After a few of those, you’ll find jumping to a custom game against five AI competitors a bit nerve wracking, especially when they start stealing your territory. It could use some time controls to give me a bit more thinking room (though you can pause and still do a lot), and it definitely needs a few minor quality of life tweaks like ‘upgrade all’, or some more visually distinct buildings, but I think I love it a bit. Since win conditions, rules and the planets themselves are all tweakable, you can find a balance you like too. It has a good vibe, with the default human corporation feeling near utopian in their desire to be sustainable and fair, but there’s a range of AI attitudes if you’re feeling more capitalistic.
You only get so many votes on congress proposals, but even a weak side can sway a vote or prop up a fringe issue.
