The gameplay trailer shows that at certain points, large creatures will attack your town and you must defend your hard work. None of the strange creatures in the distance seemed to be interested in bothering my town, but I did come upon a machine gun turret someone had crafted. It seems combat will have a significant role to play in this game.
In your town, you can visit a building called The Ministry of Labor, which will give you a certain amount of coupons depending on how many resources you have gathered. You can then use these coupons to purchase new items, such as better pickaxes or lamps to help you mine. Coupons can also be used to cast your vote in your town’s elections. Elections allow citizens to vote on what new projects they want to start working on. If the system works as intended, this could be an excellent mechanic in The Tomorrow Children, but if it falls flat due to lack of engagement, it could become a serious frustration.
That brings us to the online aspect of The Tomorrow Children. During my time in the game, I often saw other players in the world, but I was unable to interact with them in any meaningful way. It wasn’t just that I couldn’t chat with them, it was the fact that players seemed to flit in and out of the world at random. Every time I’d see a player, I’d run up to him/her and they’d almost always disappear in a puff of smoke. A bit like in Dark Souls, you have gestures you can perform to other players in order to express your feelings, but I personally never encountered a player long enough to perform a gesture, let alone work together with them like the good little worker I am.
After exploring the town, you can then start to earn your place in this new society. Perhaps hop on a bus and head to a new location waiting to be mined. Upon gathering as much as as you can, head back into town to reap the rewards of your hard work.
Given the short amount of time we had with the game, it’s hard to reach a solid judgment. Some aspects such as its post-apocalyptic Soviet themed setting have been absolutely nailed, whereas other parts, such as the social interaction, seemed to be lacking. It’s difficult to say whether this is a flaw that will be present in the final game, or whether its something that only occurred due to the limited nature of the beta.
Those of you expecting this to be a new take on Minecraft will be disappointed. Once you’ve gathered enough resources to build a structure, it simply pops out of the ground, there’s no piece-by-piece work required when it comes to construction. Regardless, the communist-style social aspect of the game sets it apart, and should the mechanics of this system prove to hold up, the intrigue of communal labor, odd as it may sound, could be a major hook for the title.
The Tomorrow Children is currently slated to be released in the first half of 2016 exclusively for the PlayStation 4.
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