Settlements

Settlements is a resource-management and crafting game about rebuilding humanity after civilisation has been destroyed. You guide a small group of survivors from caves and shelters toward new technological eras, while investigating what destroyed mankind and whether it will return. You control the pace: spend many days customizing characters and training their skills, or research technology quickly and seek out more land to settle.

Rebuild humanity

Space is limited, so choosing which buildings to place is central to managing your settlements. The game includes over 100 buildings, from housing to factories, and more than 1,000 items, books and recipes. Characters develop skills in crafting methods to unlock rare and more powerful items and advance through the eras.

There are 10 technological eras, from the Stone Age to the Space Age. You decide how quickly to research and advance, and can remain in an era for as long as you wish. Five difficulty settings let you choose a challenge level.

Develop your people

You can change each character’s name, appearance and voice, obtain feats and assign them to families. Characters have over 60 skills to train, but each can train in only 15 at a time, so you need to develop specialists and keep them alive. More than 10 world skills, including house design, metal lore and militia combat training, affect all your settlements.

People living in the wild also matter to your progress. Helping them earns diplomacy points, which you can later spend on benefits.

Explore and fight

Scout the world for information about the Blight and help the struggling remains of mankind. The game includes over 100 base monsters and 12 boss fights, each with its own treasure; some bosses have difficulty levels, ultra-rare drops and rare spawns.

Threats to the world and your settlements feed into the Doomsday system and can cause Main Plot Failure. Taking on challenges beyond your characters’ skills risks failure, and too many failures increase doomsday points until the Blight wins.

Combat and updates

The Enhanced Combat update adds four boss fights, 55 pieces of equipment, seven character feats and an extra Science tree unlock. It also introduces an enhanced combat screen with new mechanics, effects and more options for ranged support, alongside high-definition character artwork and an overhaul and rebalance of equipment from the Stone Age through the Space Age.

The Beastmastery update adds 31 pets, two adventures, pet breeding, 18 achievements and two character feats. You can use two pets in combat and level up their powers. The Black Swamp update adds a merchant system, an adventure, the Swamp Vampire boss fight, 15 items, two pets, six recipes and a character feat.