One of these days the end of the world is going to take, with humanity finally punching itself in the face with enough power to make a second Chixculub crater. Until then, though, apocalypses will be a little more survivable if you’re lucky enough to be in the fraction of a percent that doesn’t get wiped out. Assuming for a moment that those that caused the decimation didn’t have cockroach-holes to scurry into so they could continue making life miserable once the dust settles, the survivors have a chance at a little peace afterwards, scavenging the ruins for useful materials while farming up every crop they can wrest from the dirt on the outskirts of Doloc Town.
Who’d Have Expected A Run-Down Town To Need A Farmer/Crafter’s Help?
The Doloc Town demo has been out since last fall but the Steam Next Fest version from earlier this year in particular got a good amount of attention. A young woman with a welder’s mask propped up on her head has returned home, which was a settlement created on a bridge where their transport broke down as they fled the mechanical uprising. After settling into a tent on the edge of town thanks to a little friendly help, plus planting a few starter crops in temporary containers, she heads in to meet everyone and finds Doloc’s better days are well behind it. Hard as it may be to believe, the town needs someone to run all over the place in order to revive it, farming, crafting, exploring, and socializing until Doloc is lively again.
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While this is all Harvest Moon-standard, the Doloc Town demo managed to stand out due to both its side-view approach to the genre and a distinct atmosphere, and it never hurts to have a little bullet-hell combat infused into the postapocalyptic trashpunk setting. The bots still roam outside of town, which of course is where both vital resources are found and an unavoidable obstacle between Doloc and the new people it needs. While combat can be intense, though, the selection of helper-drone can be a huge help in taking the edge off, for those wanting to stick with a cozier experience. While my personal rule of thumb is that once a game introduces combat it loses the “cozy” descriptor, there are options to minimize it down to staying out of the way while helpers do the bulk of the fighting for you.
With a successful demo under its belt, the next step for Doloc Town is its Early Access release. That’s been announced today with a new teaser trailer as arriving in just a couple of weeks on May 8, featuring the basic systems like farming, fishing, cooking, crafting, etc. The main storylines will be completed in the 1.0 release but there are planned to be plenty of hours of base-building, side-quests from the townsfolk, and exploration over two major map areas to start with. You can playthe current demoon Steam right now and its progress carries over into the full game, and while the translation has got some rough edges the charm shines through. Get a taste now or wait a couple weeks for Doloc Town’s launch, it’s always a good day to make a cozier home built on and from the wreckage of the previous world.
