If you have a fondness for vibrant, fungal aesthetics and high-stakes management, you might want to look at Trailblazers: Into The March. Developed by Strangers, this upcoming roguelite colony sim tasks players with guiding a living, crab-like landship through a treacherous world overtaken by a corrupting, vital force known as the Bloom.
Managing Life in the March
In this top-down title, you take on the role of a captain venturing from a walled city into the uncharted territory of the March. Before setting off, you are responsible for purchasing and customizing your landship, recruiting a crew with unique backgrounds, and securing contracts from various city factions. Once in the wild, the gameplay shifts to managing your crew's daily survival, their evolving relationships, and navigating tactical landship battles.
The central challenge is the Bloom, a "global pressure system" that expands as you engage in combat or extract resources. If the Bloom gauge fills, it triggers dangerous events or "perturbations." You will also need to deal with Bloom leeches—parasites that attach to your vessel or crew to drain resources and life force.
The Spirit of Your Ship
Your primary defense against the encroaching fungus is the Spirit living within your ship's core. Similar to the fire demon Calcifer from Howl’s Moving Castle, the Spirit is a sentient being with its own personality, moods, and preferences. You can convert the Spirit's energy into fireflies to cleanse your ship of Bloom, but managing its temperament is just as critical as managing your human or lizard-folk crew.
Quick Facts
- Platform: PC
- Developer: Strangers
- Genre: Roguelite colony sim
- Key Influences: Rimworld, Darkest Dungeon, Moebius, and the works of Jeff Vandermeer and Andrei Tarkovsky.