Kaiserpunk is an alt-history blend of grand strategy and citybuilder

Many grand strategy games let you hop from a map down to a battle layer where you can control a real-time scrap. Kaiserpunk is the first time I’ve seen a grand strategy game that lets you hop down instead to a citybuilding layer, where the construction of alternate history early-20th century industrial towns will determine whether you have the economic power to win the war.

The focus is on “production management and logistics”, where how you build your cities determines what tech you unlock, in turn influencing the buildings available and the military machinery. At the world map level, you can ally, negotiate trade deals, and invade “over 100 regions”, with battles taking place on land, sea and in the air. If you’re to win, you’ll need to construct efficient transport networks and negotiate trade deals to make sure your frontline soldiers remain supplied.

Kaiserpunk is being developed by Overseer, who previously created Patron, a survival townbuilder with a heavy emphasis on social simulation. They also published Aquatico, a citybuilder in which you construct your cities on the bottom of the ocean. Kim Armstrong called the latter “soothing” in her Aquatico review earlier this year.

I am really intrigued whether these two genres, placed side by side, can both feel individually rich and interact in interesting ways. We’ll find out more in 2024, when it’s due to release, and for now there are more screenshots and details on Steam.