Hooded Horse just might be one of the most exciting publishers around right now. Outside of the incredible Manor Lords, they also launched Against the Storm last year, and Empires of the Undergrowth this year. There are loads of other good games too, but the one I want to talk about today is Cataclismo, which is sort of like if LEGO and a zombie horde survival game had a weird, video game baby.
At its core, you get to design and build your own fortresses on an incredibly granular level in true sandbox style. How granular this building is, however, is pretty hard to express so just imagine building using virtual LEGO and you will have a pretty good idea. It doesn’t stop there though, because as you’re building your castle up, and trying to make it look as good and as strong as possible, you have to fight off hordes of zombie-like horrors from the Mist.
These horrors will probe your defences during the day but it’s at night that they truly test your building skills. And we aren’t just talking one night, because Cataclismo tasks you with withstanding the onslaught night after night. It all sounds simple, but the way you have to micro-manage the running, upkeep and defence of your fortress is a constant, but thoroughly enjoyable, struggle. There’s also no end to the joy each player can have as they find their preferred construction style; whilst some will delight in the ability to create literal marvels, others will be happy to just make a nice box fort and be done with it.
Pleasantly, both strategies are solid, provided you master your different units and gain new unlocks as you survive each horde. What’s more, there are three game modes to enjoy and muck around with, each of which keeps the core gameplay while still feeling meaningfully different. In this humble Stone Mason’s opinion, it’s already a very good game and considering it’s in Early Access, it’s only going to get better from here.
