Workers & Resources: The next DLC from the Soviet Republic expands the city building sim into space

Up like a rocket

Steering clear of the inherently liberal-capitalist framework of city-building games like SimCity and instead offering a revolutionary (pardon the word) take on planning and logistical simulation that emphasizes centralization and minute detail, Hooded Horse and 3DIVISION’s Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic presents itself as a tense, socialist picture of what a city-building game could be. As co-author Sin Vega described it in her 1.0 review: “You have to build things in order to tear things down. This could be described as Workers & Resources in a nutshell. You don’t manage budgets (money is strictly for import/export), you organize things.” Now, having previously expanded out of the Soviet Republic and across the world with the World Maps DLC, the next step in socialist city building is of course space. Our Edwin accurately predicted this two years ago, correctly stating that “the logical end game here is to go to space.” We were lucky there.

The Space Program DLC, which will be released on November 23rd, will add a variety of new technologies and industries to the kit. It looks like it will focus not just on the rockets themselves going into space and the whole spectacle, but also on the enormous amounts of science and industry that will be needed between now and then to ensure that rockets don’t explode on launch. While it’s a good thing for space program scientists to be able to design rockets that hold together long enough to land safely, the designs they dream of still need to be built. This means that industrial production chains must be effectively centralized to ensure that each individual component is of high quality and arrives in the required quantity.

The update also lists the Sputnik and Vostok programs as part of the expansion, suggesting a strong historical aspect – although elsewhere there is talk of an “unprecedented duel with nature”, which could mean either the sheer cold and harshness of space or the presence of aliens. It remains to be seen. A 1960s-set campaign becomes the DLC’s main attraction, described as a place where players can embrace the new mechanics “in relative peace, surrounded by a happy, healthy and economically stable utopia.” A tempting offer.