City builders usually want you to settle in for the long haul. You find the perfect spot, carefully plan where everything needs to go, watch your settlement grow, and before you know it, several hours have passed. Combolands: Roguelike Citybuilder has managed to squeeze that entire obsession into around 30 minutes.
Developed and published by Crux Games, Combolands launches today on Steam, combining city building with roguelike progression and a big focus on finding powerful combinations between the structures you place. Each run starts with a tiny hamlet on a procedurally generated island, but with more than 120 buildings, seven different guilds, and over 100 Heirlooms to play around with, things can get considerably more complicated from there.
A City Builder Where Everything Is About the Combo
Rather than simply placing buildings wherever they’ll fit, Combolands wants you to think carefully about how everything works together. Certain structures can trigger effects from others, and finding the right placement can create chains of bonuses capable of sending your score climbing.
Before you start building, you’ll choose two of the game’s seven guilds. Each comes with its own buildings and mechanics, creating 21 possible pairings and giving you a different foundation to build around each time.
One combination may push you toward a particular strategy, while another could completely change which buildings you’re hoping to find. Throw procedurally generated islands into the mix and there’s no guarantee the perfect spot for your latest grand plan will even be available.
Sometimes, you’ve just got to build around the problem.
More Than 120 Buildings, With Plenty More to Consider
Buildings are only one part of putting together a successful city. There are more than 100 Heirlooms capable of providing passive effects, while buildings themselves can be upgraded to change how they work. Potions give you ways to alter the island when the landscape isn’t cooperating, and more than 13 City Councillors bring their own abilities and progression into the equation.
All of those systems feed into the same idea: finding combinations that make everything else you’ve built considerably stronger.
It’s essentially the same temptation that keeps us experimenting with builds in other roguelikes, except instead of wondering what happens when you combine a ridiculous weapon with an equally ridiculous passive, you’re doing it with an entire town.
The result might not win any awards for sensible urban planning, but sensible isn’t always where the biggest scores come from.
Build, Fail, and Start Somewhere New
That roguelike structure also means you’re not expected to become emotionally attached to every little settlement you create. Runs are designed to take around 30 minutes, giving you enough time to develop your city without the commitment normally associated with a traditional city builder. Once a run ends, you can head straight back in, choose another guild combination, and try building something completely different.
There are 10 increasingly difficult ranks to work through, with additional guilds unlocking as you progress. Each one adds more possibilities to future runs and, inevitably, more combinations to discover.
That shorter format could make Combolands particularly interesting for players who love the planning and optimization of city builders but don’t necessarily want to spend dozens of hours maintaining the same settlement.
Time to Start Building
Combolands has already attracted some attention ahead of release through its playable demo, with its Steam page highlighting coverage from Polygon, Blitz, and roguelike creator Retromation. Today, though, the full game finally opens up its tiny islands.
You may only have 30 minutes to build it, but that’s more than enough time to make a complete mess of the local planning regulations.