Highlights

  • City 20 is an upcoming post-apocalyptic game blending survival, farming, factions, and relationships in an ever-changing open world setting.
  • Inspired by Stardew Valley and Fallout, City 20 allows players to navigate peacefully through complex situations while interacting with dynamic NPC survivors.
  • Slated for a 2024 release, City 20 offers a unique mix of slice-of-life elements and post-apocalyptic survival experiences that promise to stand out in the indie game genre.

Stardew Valley is one of the most famous slice-of-life games in the world. In the title, players are given a farm where they can do whatever they please. With a town and mine to explore nearby and plenty of colorful characters, Stardew Valley welcomes fans to kick back and relax while they enjoy a quiet life as a farmer. This is the formula for many slice-of-life games, but there are plenty of other types of lives the genre could touch upon. The anime Girl's Last Tour has explored what daily life in the post-apocalypse might be like, but so far, the closest the gaming medium has come to doing so is in the Fallout series.

In 2015, Fallout 4 added base building to the series' long list of features. The title has remained one of the best post-apocalyptic base-building games due to its simplicity and inviting nature. Rather than requiring a lot of attention from the player, the bases of Fallout 4 let the player come and go as they please. Given that it was attached to a lengthy RPG with a story totally divorced from the mechanic, this made sense, but it also felt like something of a missed opportunity. The upcoming game City 20 takes this base-building concept and combines it with slice-of-life elements like those of Stardew Valley, focusing on what it would be like trying to survive and thrive in the post-apocalypse.

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What is City 20?

City 20 is an upcoming post-apocalyptic game centered around survival inside the ruins of a once-thriving city. Taking place years after a nuclear leak in the titular City 20, the game tasks players with surviving in an open world that adapts to their actions, ensuring that no two playthroughs will ever be the same. In the game, players will be able to forage, farm, hunt, and build structures. The world of City 20 is also occupied by other NPC survivors that react dynamically to the player's actions, allowing them to form alliances and make enemies. Combat is a part of the game, but the focus is shared equally with its other elements, and many situations can be navigated peacefully.

On top of basic slice-of-life and survival game mechanics, City 20's NPCs can be a part of factions. Who the player interacts with and how those interactions go will work to endear them to some factions and alienate them from others. This system will seemingly work like the factions in Fallout games, where forming a strong relationship with a group will grant the player new opportunities. In City 20, being friendly with a faction will grant the player the ability to trade with them, but making enemies with one could mean the player is barred from interacting with its members or entering certain parts of the map.

City 20 Will Blend Stardew Valley and Fallout

With the presence of farming and a robust relationship-building system, it's not hard to make connections between City 20 and Stardew Valley. There isn't the same guaranteed safety that is present in most cozy games, but if the player decides to farm and only build friendships, it's not hard to imagine that one could live a quiet life in the post-apocalypse. The setting of the game, while perhaps a touch more realistic, also succeeds in evoking the feeling of many of Fallout's settings. The prospect of a post-apocalyptic game that plays with slice-of-life elements is a largely unique one, so it will be exciting to see how City 20 pulls it off.

When Will City 20 Be Available?

According to the Steam page for the game, City 20 is planned for release in 2024. Given the resurgence in the indie survival game genre that is happening right now, there has never been a better time for it to launch. Enshrouded and Palworld are taking the world by storm right now, and the survival game trend seems like it will hang around for a while. Given City 20's potential to provide a diverse breadth of experiences, ranging from quiet to violent, the game could definitely manage to stand out as something special when it releases later this year.