Industries of Titan review: a curious hybrid builder that's less than the sum of its parts

1 year 2 months ago

I imagine Industries Of Titan started out as an ambitious concept. A hybrid of a factory layout/logistics sim, integrated into a city builder, combined with an RTS, all wrapped up in a satirical dystopia encouraging you to be the most appalling villainous hypercapitalist possible.

All of those parts are present, and as a bonus it's incredibly gorgeous, with strong voice acting and a distinctive soundtrack that will haunt my head for weeks. Most of its parts are made to a high standard, it's tragic that its final design just doesn't work at all.

Of all things, IOT reminds me of Fragile Allegiance. You're a 'founder', sent to an already colonised and abandoned Titan to build a new city at the behest of the Council. You're a 'founder', sent to an already colonised and abandoned Titan to build a new city at the behest of the Council. First, by salvaging its ruined buildings for minerals and isotopes, then mining for surface deposits, all of which goes back into your building resources. Curiously, you never combine two resources to produce a third, you can only upgrade minerals through a tier system. Higher tier resources are more potent, meaning, for exmaple, a building site will accept 100 raw minerals or four higher tier units. It’s a bit strange, but it mostly works. Double clicking on your starting buildings summons an interior view, where you lay out machinery, little modules for workers and storage, power pylons and so on.

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Author
Sin Vega