Stardock and Mohawk Games have announced April 28, 2016 as the release date for Offworld Trading Company, the economic strategy game from Civilization IV lead designer Soren Johnson. Set in a future where humans have begun to colonize on Mars, the player will take on the role as an investor trying to control the Martian market and drive all of the competition out of business and back to Earth.
“ Offworld Trading Company is a new direction for real-time strategy, where money is both your deadliest weapon and your toughest defense,” said Johnson. “After all of the lucrative resource mining on the asteroid belt is claimed by mega-corporations, savvy business hopefuls turn to Mars to stake their claim to the red planet and build an economic engine capable of out-producing the competition.”
The real-time, player-driven market is the foundation of the game, allowing players to buy and sell resources and materials – even the food and water that the colonists need to survive. Players will need to build up enough capital to gain access to the lucrative offworld markets so that they can buy out their rivals and claim the Martian economy for themselves. But this battle isn’t limited to the board room. Players also have access to a black market that allows them to employ some more underhanded methods for victory, such as hiring pirate raiders or hackers to disrupt production or sending a covert electromagnetic pulse to an opponent’s base.
“All of the feedback we’ve received from fans during our development process has been great,” Johnson said. “We used it to refine and polish this game. We’re really excited to share it with everyone.”
Offworld Trading Company is currently available in Early Access on Steam. The full version with all of its intended features will be released on April 28, 2016.
Reviews
“Offworld Trading Company starts off seeming fairly simple, and low-conflict, but escalates into something smart, complicated and tense”
Rock, Paper, Shotgun
“Offworld Trading Company moves at a surprisingly brisk pace and those who fail to keep up will quickly suffer a hostile takeover”
Gamecritics
“This is a game where the Littlefingers and Cyril Figgises of the world can truly shine.”
Gamespot
About This Game
From lead designer of one of the highest-rated games of all time (Soren Johnson, Civilization IV) comes an entirely new kind of real-time strategy game: Offworld Trading Company.
Key Features:
◾ Rekindle humanity’s adventurous spirit by leaving the tired Earth to find new fortunes in the untapped resources of Mars
◾ Manipulate the market, employ corporate espionage, and patent technologies to drive your opponents out of business
◾ No military – the real-time, player-driven market is your sword and your shield
◾ Thirteen different resources and a market economy make no two paths to victory alike – no one resource is the “key” to Martian dominance
◾ Dynamic single-player campaign responds to your actions and choices to determine the fate of the Martian colonization effort
◾ Market-driven gameplay emphasizes mental savvy over manual dexterity, and naturally supports exceptional free-for-all matches
Offworld Trading Company is a real-time strategy game in which money, not firepower, is the player’s weapon. Players lead their developing companies in cutthroat economic warfare against other companies looking to become the dominant economic power on Mars.
Loosely inspired by such classics as M.U.L.E., Offworld Trading Company forces players to make tough choices on what resources to acquire, what goods to build and sell, how to interact with the planet’s thriving underworld, and when and what stocks to acquire.
Players compete against up to seven other AI- or player-controlled companies. The game is won when one player ultimately acquires all the shares of their competitors, thereby wresting control of the entire planet’s economy.