In a typical city builder game, you only need to worry about what resources are available to you, and what resources your city needs.
That’s not the case in Dice Legacy, a survival-meets-city building game releasing on Steam in September. Throwing dice into the mix, the element of chance lies at the heart of everything you do. And of course, your growing settlement still requires resources in order to thrive. Success doesn’t come easy in Dice Legacy, but when it does, each victory feels oh-so-sweet.
In the game, your pot of die essentially represents the workers of your village. But what skills they have depend on what you roll. Need someone to cut down wood in order to build a school? You better roll a woodcutter. Being attacked by a neighbouring settlement? You’ll need to roll a warrior, and instruct them to enter into combat.
Each individual role in Dice Legacy first needs to be rolled – and each dice in your pot has a finite number of rolls. Roll ten times, and your dice becomes exhausted. Thankfully, you can recharge them by sending them to rest, but fail to do so and the dice will be taken off you for good.
You’ll want to make more dice, then, by sending any two to a residential cabin – oh yes, these dice can get jiggy with it. Your newborn baby dice will be ready and raring to go instantly, no potty training or school education needed. The more die you have, the more chance you have of rolling what you need – and you’ll frequently need to fulfil several roles at once. A fighter is always handy to have, in case of attacks. You’ll also need gatherers to bring you wood, food and mined resources. There are also explorers, who can go off and expand the boundaries of your land.
The further you get into the game, the more roles you’ll unlock for your dice, and the more buildings your settlement will require in order to stay functional. From my short time with the preview build of Dice Legacy, I can tell you that this is the sort of game that never lets up; you need to be constantly aware of what’s happening as there’s never a moment of downtime. Winter rolls around, and your die will freeze if your settlement’s furnaces aren’t burning. They can also get sick – and one sick dice can affect the rest of your hand.
It’s a lot to keep on top of – and even a brand new game of Dice Legacy doesn’t go too easy on you. Once you get into the swing of things, though, seeing your settlement begin to thrive is quite the thrill. If you get a kick out of building up a city from scratch, and the idea of some RNG thrown in there interests you, then keep Dice Legacy on your radar. It’s coming to Steam on 9th September. Add it to your wishlist now.
