The first game from French indie studio Frog Collective will be released on October 28. ColdRidge is a wild west adventure where your cowpoke must venture out into the wilderness every spring to scout out resources the guild needs, and make enough money before winter arrives to survive until the next time you can go to work. If you don't, then you will be outside when the snowstorms that ravage the world come.
Frog Collective is a team of two veteran developers that worked at Amplitude for 13 years (of Endless and Humankind fame). They plan to release several indie games each year under their new brand. This means they should be able to create a good interface and a tight gameplay loop.
Every year, you leave ColdRidge to complete missions for the guild. For example, you might have to find six herds deer and five stands trees. The more missions you complete, the more you deplete the surrounding area and the farther you have to travel for future missions. All this is done with the threat of winter and a decreasing minimum goal. It's an addictive micro-tactics game that allows you to explore unknown territory while chasing high scores.
ColdRidge was the first game I played this year, before the Steam Next Fest demo. I was very impressed. The Godot game is smooth, but the gameplay is a compelling spin on those crucial first few turns in a Civilization game.
Explore outwards from the first settlement to play the first exciting part of an Civilization-like game 4X. You are trying to plan routes, mark resources and be efficient in how you move. This will not only reveal a new map, but also exploit the resources that you pass over. "If you leave a large barren swath near the beginning, your other expeditions will have to waste time to get past it and to the good stuff," said I at the time.
ColdRidge is available on Steam and the developers Frog Collective have a website.
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