Rebuild 3: Gangs of Deadville

The old world is long gone. Billions have died and risen again, joining the legion of dead wandering the Earth. You have survived the first phase of the zomb-pocalypse. Now comes the tricky part: Rebuilding the World. Rebuild hit the world by storm years back, giving players a different point of view for the zombie war than ever before. This wasn’t an action-packed FPS, nor was it a by-the-books strategy. This was 4X, requiring resource management and city building. In version 2, light RPG elements began to appear. Each iteration wasn’t exactly a sequel, more of an evolution, and the game took on more detail and weight. By the third installment, Gangs of Deadville, the story had finally been given its due time to cook and set. Now, with all cylinders firing, the game arrived on Steam to once again shake up the genre. 

 

What’s clear right out the gate is that Rebuild is not your typical game. It combines elements of tower defense with more traditional strategy. You have to manage many different resources, including food and construction materials, in order to grow your new society and retake the various cities of the country. Your most precious resource is people, followed closely by time. People allow you to build faster, defend harder, and scavenge for precious food and weaponry. Some of your survivors come with baggage, such as a mistrust of a certain gang or the inability to not blow themselves up. They make friends and enemies within your walls, which can affect their performance on missions.

 

 

 

Then there are the titular gangs of deadville. Whether they are religious fanatic bikers or a hippie commune, your survival will depend on how you react to the various wants, needs, and demands of the other factions. They will attack your citizens, raid your farms, and make war with everyone in the city. You can be a diplomat or a warlord, but the choice has to be made quickly. There are only so many square blocks of land to grab, and your survivors need food and shelter too. 

 

The gangs aspect helps keep a relatively simple game from becoming repetitive, and invites replay by opening up all manner of choices. Will you side with the nearby gang to keep the peace, despite their cannibalistic ways? Will you trade with someone who just attacked you, or return the favor ten-fold?

 

 

With quirky graphics and a sharp wit, Rebuild 3: Gangs of Deadville is a surprising and engaging 4X game. If you’re a fan of the zombie genre, we strongly recommend you pick up your copy from Steam.