I have somewhat of a long history with space and colony simulators. When I was in high school, me and my friends used to play the classic browser game OGame, which was all about building your own space in the universe, and doing whatever it took to succeed. It was real time based, so you couldn't play it constantly, but it ultimately turned into a game of survival and resource management as you tried to survive against other players. Of course I failed a lot, but it was a fun time nonetheless.
Moving past there we would play games like Starport (where we angered another guild which then destroyed everything we owned over night), and a handful of others I honestly cannot remember the name of. While they were all a bit different, they all had the same core that I really enjoyed; surviving in space, and building up a base. This is why IXION caught my eye.
IXION is a city builder and survival strategy game. I was fortunate enough to receive a free early review copy (thank you so much!), but real life natural disasters and issues sadly kept me from spending too much time with the game initially. It did serve as a great distraction from the challenges of my real life however, and it didn't take me long to get invested in the in game disaster that sets the entire story into motion.
Ultimately what I found was a game that wasn't really what I expected, and one that I had to stumble my way through for quite awhile. Once I understood the basics however, and customized some settings to help myself learn how the game works (not going to lie, I got a game over pretty quick), things finally fell into place and I watched as the hours rolled by.
But what is IXION really, and is it something you should check out? Well, it really is going to depend what you are looking for here, because the description of it being a "city builder" is a bit misleading. If anything it is a survival puzzle game in space, with a high focus on resource management and making smart decisions.... The city building aspect just happens to be the means to the end goal.
The Story:
The game begins in the year 2049 and follows the story of "you" the "administrator." You have been assigned to the mobile station Tiqqun, which was developed by the DOLOS Aerospace Engineering Corporation. To begin, your job is to get things up and running on the space station, and perform the first test run of the VOHLE Engine that allows for interstellar travel.
The mission is simple, and the game introduces you to some of the key characters who are involved with the story via pop-up messages. Reminiscent of classic PC games, these messages are typically voiced and allow you to make decisions, and are the main form of storytelling in the game. There are not a lot of cutscenes here, and other story events are simply told through text descriptions. It follows the format of tabletop roleplaying games, where the situation is described, and you are then given a choice on how you want to handle it; with the key characters chiming in when needed.
This type of story telling allows you to "put yourself" into the story, as intended, and asks you to use your imagination a bit to get the full experience. Once you complete some of the main goals however, things do actually change... And by quite a bit.
When it finally comes time to activate the VOHLE Engine, the whole world is watching you as you attempt to make history. You order the switch to be flipped, the engine activates, and as the space station is warped away to an unknown location, it just so happens to take a part of the moon with it. Everyone on Earth watches in horror as this event unfolds in front of them, and then, well, who knows?
The next thing "you" remember is the space station appearing at its destination, and there is seemingly nothing around besides a floating rock. It doesn't take long to realize this rock is none other than Earth however, so you are ordered to send a research team to investigate. What they find is devastating as no life remains on the planet, and you realize you are now alone in the universe.
Now the real test of survival begins.
Moving forward, players have to manage their colony resources, take the crew's concerns into consideration, and decide what is best for humanity. Responding to uprisings, taking care of food shortages, etc; every little thing is forced on the player, and the game can play out in different ways based upon the actions taken. Of course the story is chapter based, with different key story events in each chapter, but the countless side activities and pop-up issues make the overall story a bit different for each player. Again, the end goal is always the same, but how you get there is what will be different for each player... Although, it is nowhere near as much freedom as some other colony building games out there.
The Gameplay:
The gameplay of IXION has a lot of moving pieces, and that is something that makes getting into the game a bit difficult at first. The console release especially suffers from needing to play with shortcuts, while the PC version allows you to click on things to see what they do. The game does offer some notes to read, and gives you a bit of a tutorial, but a lot of the mechanics are up to you to figure out.
That being said:
IXION's core gameplay has you, the player, moving your arrow over objects to interact with them, and selecting options from a menu to make different things happen. Buildings have different functions and can be placed anywhere there is open space, but roads also need to be drawn between said buildings to make them be connected. Building anything other than roads requires resources, and even resources need a building of their own to be stored in. Each storage facility can only hold a single type of resource as well, which means building multiple of each type is key if you want to keep building, well, other buildings. (A lot of building going on here.)
Housing is required for workers and civilians, people must be found and woken up from their long sleep following Earth's destruction, and only workers will actually work, while civilians will sit around being lazy and complain. A morale meter shows the overall status of the population, and keeping them happy is the key to actually surviving. Mess halls and housing are both a must, but you also need ways to produce food to serve at said mess halls; something that is initially difficult to come by. Ships can be developed and sent out in search of other planets and resources, but you also need to create probes and launch them to survey the area. This of course requires a specific structure that must be placed at the edge of the colony, and everything in general needs power to operate. Solar panels and other components can be constructed on the outside of the colony to help with this, but of course this requires more resources and doesn't solve all of your problems.
Making better stuff also requires a research lab, and the research itself requires more resources as well. Just like with building, building, building, this game is also all about the resources, resources, resources! And failing to find the balance between all of this is what leads to a quick game over.
During the course of the game events will pop up, and it will be up to you to handle them how you see fit. The lazy community is throwing a fit there is no food? You can either tell them to shut up and deal with it, or promise them more food in a week. Fail to deliver on your promise and things turn ugly, but there might not really be a choice. Still, lying to them about food coming later could keep the morale up just long enough to complete some other goal, so postponing the anger can still be the better option.
The colony itself is basically a giant donut shape, with different sectors being locked off until you achieve specific goals or meet the set condition. This still isn't a whole lot of space however, which means the "city building" aspect of this game is actually more of full on resource management, and puzzle piece placement. You cannot simply build what looks good to you, nor can you afford to place buildings where you think they would look good. Instead, every single square on the grid is a precious resource of its own, and maximizing your building placement with your available space makes all the difference. Thankfully you can tear down structures and keep your resources, but that does require you having storage for said resource to continue. It becomes a really fine balance between power usage, building placement, and resource storage, and some parts of the game will require you to demolish one thing just so you can have what you truly need in the moment.
Additionally, there is ship development and fleet management which allows you to organize and command ships to do what is needed most, and even building and manufacturing have options to customize their priority in the grand scheme of things. This is how you can keep your workers on track, while also constructing multiple things at the same time. The game does have a speed up button for the time, so if you are not careful, you can waste a lot of time (and resources) on something that isn't fully needed at the moment.
Sadly, a lot of these mechanics are not fully explained in game, and some of the toggle switches are a little vague about what they do. In my own personal case I had multiple buildings toggled "on" but after an hour or so I realized nothing was happening, and I had just wasted a large chunk of time. In fact this is what initially lead to my first game over, as everyone in my colony starved because no one was bothering to actually get food. The game runs on manual saves as well, and saving once you put yourself in a dire state can lock you out of the rest of the game... Something I also almost found myself doing.
As for the rest of the game and options, the game is handled by shortcuts and a quick select menu which does require quite a bit of playing around with. Some of the UI elements on the screen are easier to interact with on PC with a mouse, or with keyboard shortcuts, but with a console you have to play around with the options until you find what you want. It for sure is a learning curve, and the amount of information and options is initially overwhelming. Something as simple as dropping off new workers at the station can be a nightmare until you learn how to not only access the fleet menu, but also command the ships, and set the option for unloading. Not too many options like this are automatic, so you have to always be observing your colony, and make sure things are actually getting done like they are supposed to.
Once you have figured out how things work however, it is easy to watch the hours fly by; both in game and in real life.
The challenge really picks up in game once you start diving into the other sectors of the space colony. Each section is independent of the others, and requires resource management of their own. Getting a new sector started requires delegating some of your existing resources to it, but you need to work fast to prevent your workers from starving to death or running out of materials. There are menus that allow you to sort out what resources go where, but in general you need to get every section of the space colony to a point where they are self sufficient. Opening a sector and moving resources to it too soon can be the death of your entire colony, but if everything is in place, then you can accomplish so much more. More room to build means more things you can do, and eventually you can even specialize each area for specific tasks. This provides additional bonuses to whatever you need done, which means industrial areas will produce more, and other helpful perks can be applied, but areas first need to be stable before attempting something like this.
Just like with the rest of the game it is a very fine balance, and one wrong move can spell the end of everything.
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Should you play it?
IXION is a really unique game that can easily suck away your life while you play it. The interesting story is a main driving point to keep players invested initially, but the addicting gameplay loop of managing the colony is what keeps you coming back for more. Initially the game can be confusing and require a lot of trial and error, but once you understand the systems and mechanics at play, it becomes (mostly) smooth sailing from there.
One of the most unique aspects of the game is the fact that the difficulty can be fully customized, making it a perfect fit for anyone at least interested in the game. You can set sliders to adjust power usage, control how much food is produced, customize morale, and even turn on or off the more dangerous events that can devastate your entire colony. This means players who are getting stressed out can tone things back, while experienced players can crank things up and let things come at them full force. These options allow multiple playthroughs to not only be different, but it lets players learn the game at their own pace. Of course there is an end goal here, but if you are like me, then you'll spend countless hours refusing to advance chapters just so you can suck each solar system dry of resources!
The biggest down side to the console release is the size of the UI, it is pretty small, and the amount of playing around with quick menus it truly requires. This game was for sure designed with PC in mind, but the console controls work just fine once you get used to them. It just takes quite a bit of trial and error and menu navigation until you find what you are looking for, and remembering where that screen is can be a challenge if you come back to the game later on. It isn't a deal breaker by any means, but console players should be prepared for at least a little frustration at first.
Overall, if you are a fan of sci-fi post apocalyptic stories, and enjoy space management simulators, then IXION is a game you do not want to miss out on! It provides countless hours of fun, and serves as a great distraction from your everyday life.
VERDICT: Recommended
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