Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic’s Next DLC Expands City-Building Sim Into Space

Going up like a rocket

Steering clear of the inherent liberal, capitalistic framework of city builders like SimCity, and instead offering a revolutionary (sorry) interpretation of planning and logistical simulation that prioritises centralisation and minute detail, Hooded Horse and 3DIVISION’s Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic presents a tense, socialist vision of what a citybuilder could be. Fellow contributor Sin Vega, in her 1.0 review, described it thus: “You have to build things to demolish things. That might be Workers & Resources in a nutshell. You’re not managing budgets (money is exclusively for imports/exports), you’re organising stuff.” Now, after previously expanding out of the Soviet Republic and across the globe with the World Maps DLC, the next step for socialist citybuilding is, of course, space. Our Edwin outright predicted this two years ago, correctly calling that “the logical endgame here is to go to space.” Good on him.

The Space Program DLC, set to release on November 23rd, will add a variety of new technologies and types of industry to the builder. It looks like it’ll focus on not only the actual rockets that get into space, and the spectacle of it all, but also the huge amounts of science and industry that get to the point of rockets not exploding upon takeoff. For example, while it’s all well and good for Space Program’s scientists to be able to design rockets that are capable of remaining together for long enough to land safely, the designs they dream of still have to be built, meaning that industrial pipelines must be effectively centralised to ensure that every single component is of high quality and arriving in the required quantity.

The update also lists the Sputnik and Vostok programs as part of the expansion, hinting at a strong historical angle — though elsewhere it references “an unprecedented duel with nature,” which could mean either the sheer harshness of space or the presence of aliens. It remains to be seen. A 1960s campaign will headline the DLC, described as a place where players can get to grips with the new mechanics “in relative peace, surrounded by a happy, healthy, and economically stable utopia.” A tempting prospect.