Fate of the World

Fate of the World

Developer(s) Red Redemption Ltd
Publisher(s) Red Redemption Ltd
Composer(s) Richard Jacques
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, Mac OS
Release date(s) 28 February 2011
Genre(s) Global warming game
Mode(s) Single player

Fate of the World is a 2011 global warming game developed and published by Red Redemption. It features several scenarios, based on actual scientific research, in which the player is put in charge of a fictional international organization managing social, technological and environmental policies. The goals of the scenarios range from improving living conditions in Africa, to preventing catastrophic climate change, to exacerbating it.[1][2]

Gameplay

Core gameplay interface, showing policy cards available in 2020 for North America

Fate of the World is a turn-based game, with each turn representing five years. The starting date is typically 2020, while the final date depends on the scenario. In the core interface the player chooses policies to fund in each game turn, represented by "cards". These need to be distributed and balanced between twelve world regions, and many, such as a transition to electric cars, take several turns to implement locking up funds for the duration. The player also needs to manage public opinion with the risk of being banned from individual regions if public approval drops too low. Each scenario specifies a set of win and lose conditions, such as the amount of warming in degrees Celsius, human development index, production, industrial or otherwise, and how many regions the player is active in.

Downloadable content

There are two downloadable content packs plus an extra pack which includes the soundtrack and designer notes of the game.

Migration DLC

In this content pack, in addition to the climate issues the player will also need to manage the climate refugees due to climate change.

Denial DLC

This scenario takes the issue of climate change out of the game and instead focuses on growth with limited and diminishing resources.

Reception

Fate of the World received mixed or average reviews. The game gained an aggregate score of 70 on Metacritic. Critics of the more positive reviews thought the game was a brave attempt in depicting the complexity of environmental crises and the "many dreadful things we're doing to our home". Negative aspects of the game included unclear game mechanics, a brutal difficulty curve and a lack of feedback,[3] which the game's community tried to address by creating an unofficial patch.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Red Redemption (28 February 2011). "Fate of the World: Real Science. Real Consequences". Retrieved 1 March 2011.
  2. ↑ Jack Arnott (31 October 2010). "Fate of the World - review". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
  3. ↑ "Fate of the World - Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  4. ↑ Ersike, Delnar (2013-09-12). "FotW Unofficial Patch". steampowered.com. Retrieved 2014-09-11. This unofficial patch is an attempt to address all three points, as well as fix some of the bugs still unresolved in the latest official version (v1.1.2 to v1.1.4). [...]this is meant as a patch and not an "expansion"

See also