Cataclismo’s sandbox mode sparks joy

Originally posted on Video Games on SI | By Marco Wutz | Last updated Jul 29, 2024 9:39 AM ET

Cataclismo is the latest strategy game and success story coming out of the catalog of indie publisher Hooded Horse – the people behind beloved titles like Against the Storm and Manor Lords. Combining the defensive nature of They Are Billions with the castle-building of classic games like Stronghold, Digital Sun’s RTS is already very promising in Early Access.

What’s more, the developers already added something quite significant over the weekend: a sandbox mode. It’s not a full-fledged level editor yet, as you can’t manipulate or create terrain, but the new mode is essentially like creative mode in Minecraft – you get unlimited resources, there are no enemies (unless you spawn some), and all the tech in the game is already unlocked.

In short: No matter if you want to build the fanciest or strongest castle or simply want to test different fortress layouts, sandbox mode is your place to be. It’s a great place to make some blueprints for yourself as well, though you have to make sure not to go overboard with those unlimited resources if those plans are supposed to be useful in another game mode.

Once you’re happy with your creations, you can spawn military units to man your castle as well as enemy hordes to test the defenses and iron out any weak points – a luxury any architect of a fortress would love. I’ve already lost a couple of hours to this over the weekend, it’s just such a simple and yet joyful experience.

Aside from this feature update, Digital Sun has already pushed two hotfixes for minor issues with the Early Access launch and is expected to come back with more substantial patches over the next couple of weeks and months. Before 1.0 rolls around, at least one additional game mode has been confirmed to be on the agenda – though details are as yet scarce.

You can find Cataclismo on Steam, where you can get the game with a launch discount until August 5, 2024.

This article first appeared on Video Games on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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