Management sims on console are often tared with the same feather as RTS games. The suggestion is not that a console can’t handle them, but the controller is not the most adequate input device. Endzone: A World Apart, now available on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5, aims to disprove that theory. In this Endzone: A World Apart – Survivor Edition review, we’ll examine whether or not it’s successful in doing so.

Endzone: A World Apart plays more like the classic SimCity than Command & Conquer. Despite the occasional battle with raiders, the game is more concerning with town management than building an army. The goal is simple: survive. In order to do so, you must build a maintain a town. This is done by harvesting resources, researching new technologies and so on. Despite the post apocalyptic theme, the general gameplay loop will feel quite familiar.

However, Endzone: A World Apart is not a simple game. It’s a deep set of interwoven rulesets that the player needs to manipulate for their benefit. One resource bleeds into another, and as you increase the size of your town so too do you increase the variety of your needs. Thankfully, there’s a tutorial that will take you through most of the basic principles. Providing a perfect example of how complex building a town can become, the basic tutorial will most likely take you an entire evening to complete by itself. You may think that’s a bit too much, but it’s a microcosm of Endzone: A World Apart‘s endurance. The fact that you will want to play through it for an entire evening is a good sign of things to come.

Endzone: A World Apart screenshot

The meat of the game is in its Survival mode. Unsurprisingly, the idea here is to built a settlement that can survive against the odds. Toxic weather, sandstorms, invaders and more hazards will be thrown your way. You can tailor the difficulty which affects how much of a challenge is presented by these conditions, but throughout you’ll still have to cater to the needs of your settlers. These begin pretty basic – food and water, homes and protective clothing – but before long their demands will grow. Children will be born, requiring education facilities. More supplies will be needed, requiring better equipment and storage. The town will expand, demanding new routes and facilities for resource transportation. Electricity will soon be rediscovered, bringing with it a whole load of new opportunities, and challenges. And so Endzone: A World Apart goes, ad infinitum.

While on paper this may sound like any other management sim, Endzone: A World Apart offers a very well balanced presentation. Never will you feel overwhelmed, unless you so choose to be by upping the difficulty. The game offers a great deal of depth here too, with a series of premade scenarios for you to conquer, in addition to the Survival mode.

Endzone: Distant Places DLC screenshot

Technically, Endzone: A World Apart is sadly a mixed bag. While a nice looking game, there is significant slowdown on console when your town expands. To suggest the composer had a field day with Endzone: A World Apart is to put it mildly. For a game that can be played at a leisurely pace there sure is an eccentric mix of styles in the game’s score. From simple ambient filler through thumping bass and aboriginal digeridoo temp changes, Endzone: A World Apart sounds like nothing else in its genre. Few will notice the music in the game, but those who do pay attention will surely fall in love with it.

Endzone: A World Apart found itself a welcoming audience when it initially launched on PC. A number of DLC packs have proven enough to keep players interested for over a year. The game comes to console on good form; a few technical hiccups that don’t discourage from the overarching appeal. Endzone: A World Apart is quite simply a fantastic management sim for console, just as it was for PC. As for that question we set out at the beginning of this Endzone: A World Apart – Survivor Edition review? The lengthy tutorial will be enough to satisfy your worries: management sims can work on a controller.

Categories: Games