Earth has been overrun by demons and other infernal creatures, destroying most of humanity in one fell swoop. Ragtag bands of survivors eke out a living in ruined cities, always on the run and in search of shelter. This is where you come in. Judgment: Apocalypse Survival Simulation is all about building a settlement while fending off hellish demonspawn. Now that’s what I call post-apocalyptic!
You start out with a team of three and literally nothing more than sticks and stones to build with. Taking care of your most basic needs – food, shelter, the obligatory workbench – is your highest priority. Once you’ve established your own little settlement, it’s time to raid ruined cities for necessary supplies, rescue fellow survivors from captivity, and fight back the occasional demonic invasion.
In time, your colony grows and you learn to build more advanced structures and items. In fact, the game’s crafting and researching options are surprisingly deep, opening up to allow for ever more interesting stuff to do and create. You can even branch out and research the dark arts to get to the bottom of whatever caused the apocalypse in the first place.
It’s strangely satisfying to see your people bustle around, making the best of a very bad situation. There’s a neat, customizable system for task allocation in place, ensuring that your people don’t just idle around and wait to be eaten by demons while there’s a nearby tree that needs cutting or some occult rituals that want to be performed.
Judgment’s pausable real-time comes in especially handy when combat begins. Ranged fighters benefit from taking cover, while melee units can gain advantages by flanking their foes. Being able to pause anytime and issue new commands may be the only thing that saves your folks from ending up as demon food.
Judgment sets itself apart from similar city builders by adding combat and exploration to the mix – not to mention a sense of inescapable doom. Granted, with it brownish green graphics it is certainly not the prettiest title around, but that doesn’t matter one bit. It is an utterly compelling game and offers hours of fun despite still being an Early Access title.
You can purchase Judgment from The Humble Store or from Steam for $ 14.99. For more information, visit the game’s website or follow developer Suncrash on Facebook or Twitter.
