Endzone 2 PC Review
Summary: Endzone 2 is an evolution of the formula set in the previous game. Not all the changes land, but overall it's an improvement over the original game.
4.1
Updated!
I was a big fan of Endzone – A World Apart when it launched in 2021. It combined relaxing city building and colony management with brutal survival mechanics brought as a result of an apocalypse, reducing humanity to its knees.
Now, four years later and after a lengthy early access period, its sequel, Endzone 2, has been released. I spent some time with it to see what’s changed and how it compares to the original.
At first glance, Endzone 2 is nearly identical to its predecessor. It’s still a blend of city builder and colony management sim, with some survival mechanics layered over the top. Your settlement and its inhabitants all have basic needs that need to be met. Is there enough food? Water? Do people have a place to sleep? Etc. Each settler can be assigned a job such as tending crops or gathering water, and they do that until told otherwise. The crux of Endzone 2’s management comes from not overstretching, ensuring that you have enough people available to complete the tasks required to ensure survival.
As with many other games that fulfil this particular management niche, it starts off relatively trivial to make sure everyone has everything that they need, but the difficulty ramps up as the population increases and it becomes a constant juggling act to ensure that everyone has what they need in a given moment.
Where Endzone 2 differs from the original game is how it deals with your increasing population. Endzone largely has you managing one singular colony that can increase to a vast size. Its sequel has you managing multiple colonies at once. As the population reaches a certain size, a small group of survivors splinters off and forms a new colony.
This is where the bus comes into play. Players have access to a bus that can be used to go on expeditions, scavenging materials from various old-world sites that are scattered across the map. It is also used to transfer materials between your various settlements, as each has its pool of resources and doesn’t directly share them with other settlements. Should a new colony struggle to find the resources that they need to survive, they can be sent from others.
It’s an interesting change to the established mechanics, and it has the scope to further increase the survival aspects of the game, but I’m not sure I’m entirely sold on it versus the original system. It felt like a somewhat vestigial addition to me. There, but not adding anything of substance to the experience overall, aside from opening the map more. I don’t hate that it exists, but I don’t feel compelled to make use of it outside of the bare minimum, either.
Expeditions themselves have had an overall, too. Previously, they were largely static experiences. A group of survivors was sent to a point of interest on the map, and when they arrived, a text box popped up giving some flavour text and options for what to do. Now, they’re almost entirely player-controlled. Upon arrival at your destination, the map zooms in and clicking around directs your units around. It’s a nice change and adds some interactivity to an otherwise relatively mundane experience.
There are some light environmental puzzles, in that you may have to find a ladder to traverse a high-up ledge, or a crowbar to open a locked container, which may or may not require returning later with the relevant tools or skills.
When it comes to visuals, Endzone 2, like its predecessor, is a great-looking game. The map is littered with a frankly absurd amount of detail, and players can zoom in almost right down to ground level. It’s a nice way to get a look at the terrain and settlement, though it’s not exactly practical. When playing at a more sensible camera height, I’d argue that perhaps the landscape is a little too detailed. The ground can be so busy with vegetation and detritus that spotting something that you need can be awkward at first glance. With that said, I got used to it quickly, and it became a non-issue.
Endzone 2 definitely runs better than the first game. As your fledgling town grew, the framerate could start to chug, with advanced settlements potentially reducing things to borderline unplayable levels. I had no such issues in Endzone 2, and other than minor dips when certain events occurred in game (presumably because of new assets being loaded or saving the game), it was a flawless experience.
Final Thoughts?
Overall, I’ve enjoyed my time with Endzone 2 so far. It builds on the groundwork laid by the original game and makes improvements in many key areas, such as the expedition system. While I may not be entirely sold on the multiple settlement aspect of the game, it’s by no means a bad addition to the formula and sets itself apart from both the previous game and other games in the genre.
Is it better than the first game? That’s difficult to say conclusively, as many decisions like that are going to come down to personal preference. It’s absolutely not worse, it’s just a little different. The core experience is largely still the same, and I’m okay with that.
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