Imagine stepping into the shoes of a nation’s leader, akin to the experience offered by games like Tropico. For years, these games have let us shape the fate of our people and the rise of our country. Kaiserpunk takes this concept and aims to elevate it with a more dynamic and visually captivating approach. In this exciting city-building strategy game, you have the opportunity to rewrite the geopolitical history of the 20th century. While it’s set to release in a few months from now, there’s a silver lining—you can dive into the action this weekend through a substantial new playtest.
In Kaiserpunk, you start by building your very own city-state, setting up factories and infrastructure to nurture your population and resources. As your ambitions grow, you’ll find yourself needing to expand by overtaking neighboring countries—often by force—to transform your microstate into an expansive empire. The alternate-history setting of the early 1900s serves as a fascinating backdrop for this city-building strategy adventure. Although the game was initially set for an earlier release, after a delay pushing it to 2025, developer Overseer Games has been making good use of the time. Their second playtest is designed to give players a real insight into the future of the game.
Curious about what’s new in this playtest? The developers humorously claim, “In short: everything!” They’ve turned Kaiserpunk into a polished, feature-loaded experience with fresh systems, reimagined old ones, and improvements based on feedback from the initial playtest.
Among the enhancements are new social structures that align your nation’s ideology, the choice of a German, Western, or Russian heritage, newly optimized maps, a revamped tutorial, and a comprehensive diplomacy system, just to name a few. And for those who geek out over flags like I do, you’ll also find a new feature allowing you to design your own.
The improvements made since the first playtest are genuinely impressive. Overseer wasn’t exaggerating when they described the game as “feature-rich” after all these updates.
This new playtest kicks off on Friday, November 29 and runs through Tuesday, December 3. Signing up is free, and it’s an excellent way for Overseer to gather additional feedback as Kaiserpunk heads toward its February 27 launch.
If you’re looking for similar city-building experiences after the playtest wraps up, check out our recommendations for top city-building and 4X games.
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