Dystopika is a beautiful cyberpunk city builder without the ugly details

Your only mission in this dark, futuristic sandbox? Make cool skylines.

Some of my favorite games deny me the thing I think I want most. Elden Ring refuses to provide manageable save files (and I paid for it). Balatro withholds the final math on each hand played (and its developer suggests avoiding calculators). And the modern X-COM games force me to realize just how much a 98% chance to hit is not the same as 100%.

Dystopika (Steam, Windows) is a city builder in maybe the strictest definition of that two-word descriptor, because it steadfastly refuses to distract you with non-building details. The game is described by its single developer, Matt Marshall, as having "No goals, no management, just creativity and dark cozy vibes." Dystopika does very little to explain how you should play it, because there's no optimal path for doing so. Your only job is to enjoy yourself, poking and prodding at a dark cyberpunk cityscape, making things that look interesting, pretty, grim, or however you like. It might seem restrictive, but it feels very freeing.

Dystopika launch video.

The game's interface is a small rail on the left side of the screen. Select "Building" and a random shape attaches to your cursor. You can right-click to change it, but you can't pick one. Place it, and then optionally place the cursor near its top to change its height. Making one building taller will raise smaller buildings nearby. Reaching certain heights, or densities, or something (it's not explained) will "unlock" certain new buildings, landmarks, and decorations.

You do get to pick out "Props," like roads and trams and giant billboards and hologram objects and flying carports, but the game is similarly non-committal on what you should do with them, or most anything. You put things down, or delete them, expand them, connect them, and try things out until you like how it looks.

There's a lot to unlock in Dystopika, so pace yourself. (Please click these images for a bigger view, you owe it to yourself.)

Voids Within

 

Okay, let's meet for drinks on 37th street, down by the giant blue butt.

Voids Within

 

You feel bad for all the people in your eco-stripped city, but gosh, it just looks so neat.

Voids Within

 

Your author takes a shot at a pretty-looking city, realizing he needs to look into some color filters.

Kevin Purdy

 

And things can end up looking quite nice. This game takes its photo mode seriously. A raft of sliders let you adjust all the typical dystopian-corpo-city visual effects, like lens dirt, lots of glare and glow, fog, distant mountains, amounts of airborne car traffic, and such. You can export shots at up to 4K resolution and never want for a new desktop background again.

You'll pick up more about how things work as you play, but there is no rush. This game isn't "cozy" because it has you making friends in a riverside town of anthropomorphic creatures—which, to be clear, has its merits. It's "cozy" in the sense of letting you enjoy it at whatever level you like. You can absolutely leave this game running in the background and chill out to its impressively on-point synth soundtrack. You can't run out of money or have the transportation advisor get fuming mad at you.

Dystopika is not labeled as Early Access, but it is continually improving, with the developer providing regular roadmaps and updates, and there's a Discord where fans are showing off impressive screenshots in community challenges and suggesting fixes and features. For $7 (at the moment), this dystopian toybox will let you play with the visually impressive parts of dark, urban sci-fi and refuse to make you consider their deeper implications. For all you know, the people down there are having just as good a time as you are.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of October): 4,832 news posts

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend