Developer Maccima Games and publisher Squeaky Wheel have announced that the Early Access launch of their evil overlord simulator Ruinarch has been delayed. The game was originally planned for a release in May 2020 however now the game will release in August 2020 in Early Access. A confirmed release date was never announced for the Early Access release even before however the game will now enter Early Access much further down in Summer.
Maccima Games and Squeaky Wheel Studio released a joint statement which detailed:
While we initially promised a release date of May 2020, we’re sad to announce that we will be pushing back release by a few months. Even though we’re pretty evil, it felt a little bit tone deaf to be releasing a game about ruining people’s lives while the world seemingly falls apart on us because of the pandemic. You won’t have to wait long though, because we’re only moving the launch to August, by which point hopefully the world will be on the road to recovery (so we can wreck virtual worlds guilt-free). We’ll take that extra time to add more polish and content to the game so that you’ll get a much better game upon release.
According to the official press release, the game is described as:
Ruinarch is a devilishly fun simulation game featuring procedural story generation. As an evil demon overlord creating havoc and invading fantasy worlds, a rich and fertile land lies before you; ripe for the picking. Take over regions one by one, spreading your influence inexorably towards the heart of the kingdom. Poison people’s food, raise the dead, and inflict endless misery. Turn heroic defenders into pitiful wretches by unleashing an array of demonic spells upon them and create a hellish chronicle for the ages.
Weaving tales of anguish and woe are central to Ruinarch. You could simply summon a pack of wolves to attack the region, but a true evil overlord toys with his prey first. Turn the local village idiot into a cultist that secretly works on your behalf, and watch as he eagerly turns the tables on the villagers that mercilessly mocked him for his deficiencies. Inflict the local hero with lycanthropy and watch as his once loyal followers turn on him when the full moon rises. Or if you’re feeling lazy and don’t want to come up with anything creative, just start a zombie apocalypse!
Each playthrough generates a random fantasy world for you to conquer, and different worlds offer varied situations for you to exploit, manipulate, and corrupt — providing unlimited replayability!
Key features of Ruinarch include:
- Generate an infinite number of procedural fantasy worlds
- Invade elven villages, human towns, bandit camps, ancient ruins, monster lairs, and much more!
- Build demonic structures with various world corrupting capabilities
- Summon minions and recruit cultists to assist in world domination
- Unleash powerful spells, dangerous monsters and mystical artifacts upon the world and watch the mayhem unfold
- Fracture the kingdom into multiple competing subfactions to weaken them from inside
- Wipe out the world’s defenders – each one equipped with complex AI that takes into account its needs, traits, and relationships.
Ruinarch is currently slated for full release in 2021 on Steam. More details will be announced later.
