Pax Autocratica is one of the most unique games that we’ve checked in a while. It’s the kind of game that combines colony management with first-person shooting, topping it off with roguelite progression. We gather resources, assign workers, expand our facilities and deal with the problems that come with keeping a colony alive. We have all that. But, when resources are needed or a battle breaks out, we take a weapon, recruit our own people and head into the field ourselves.
These two sides are closely and masterfully connected. The decisions we make in the colony affect the people we take into battle. In addition, what happens during those missions can create new problems back home. Keeping everyone alive in Pax Autocratica is equivalent to capturing lightning in a bottle. That doesn’t mean it’s not fun. Far from it!
Running the Colony
The colony management side starts fairly simply. It tries to ease you into things before it pulls the rug under your feet. We’re lulled into a false sense of security as we assign citizens to mine resources, collect scrap, transport supplies and operate the various production facilities we build. As the settlement expands, there are more things to keep track of and more people depending on us to make the right decisions. But it’s ok, it’s fine, we’ve done this before in other games, we can do this. Food is one concern, but it isn’t the only one. People can become frightened or angry, and keeping the colony running means dealing with problems that don’t always have a pleasant solution. Now, here comes the rug part.
Going Into Battle Ourselves
When the colony needs resources, we don’t just send an expedition away and wait for the results. No, no. We pick up a weapon, recruit a squad from our own citizens and head into the Tyris System ourselves. Like real men! Ooh-Rah and all that.
When that happens, Pax Autocratica turns into a first-person shooter. The combat is fast and fairly heavy, with enemy ships, infantry, drones and larger machines filling the battlefields. Standing still for too long is usually a bad idea, especially once the number of enemies starts increasing.
It’s intense. The shooting itself is straightforward, but the roguelite progression gives us plenty of reasons to experiment with our equipment.
It so happens that we captured a wounded enemy during one of our early battles and brought him back to the colony. Instead of simply keeping him locked away, we could use propaganda to change his loyalty. After enough time, that character went from being an enemy to working in our munitions factory. Eventually, he was more than happy to fight alongside us. Simple and fun enough.
Finding the Right Cores
Cores can change how our weapons work or create interactions between our equipment and squad. During one run, we found a Weapon Core that turned our standard assault rifle into a bouncing laser. Later, we picked up a Combination Core that linked the weapon to our squad’s armour, allowing us to restore some of their health whenever we landed shots. We gigled with excitement in both situations. We did that every time we were trying to find combinations that work with the way we’re already playing.
Some of the Cores also show just how far the game is willing to take its idea of treating people as resources. During a boss fight against a Sector Overlord, we found ourselves struggling against overlapping missile attacks. We activated a Core that sacrificed the soldier standing next to us and converted their life into a powerful shield. Don’t worry, it was a different guy than the converted dude.
Alas, it was a decision that can haunt us. After the battle we had to return to the colony afterwards and continue working with the people who knew that soldier. In the middle of a battle, sacrificing one soldier can feel like a practical decision. Back at the colony, it feels much harder to ignore what that decision actually meant.
Two Games in One
After spending a lot of time fighting through quite the boss encounter, returning to the colony and immediately dealing with a disagreement between workers can feel a little jarring to more action prone gamers. We’re going from dodging missiles and trying to keep our squad alive to looking at menus, assigning workers and managing production. Don’t get us wrong, for us it was a good change of pace, but we can understand how this could be a problem to those who favor battle, and vice-versa.
We feel that that contrast is also what makes Pax Autocratica different from a standard colony sim. The decisions we make in the management layer have consequences when we enter combat. The people we rely on in those battles are the same people we have to manage back at the colony.
Survival Has a Cost
Pax Autocratica is in Early Access. There are some rough edges, especially when the battles become crowded and the game starts struggling with performance. The constant switch between colony management and first-person combat can also take some getting used to. But those issues are out of the window when you start experimenting with the systems. We loved being granted control over a colony, then gradually shown what can happen when keeping that colony alive becomes more important than the people living in it.
Developer: Multiverse
Publisher: Multiverse
Genre: Colony Sim / First-Person Shooter / Roguelite
Platforms: PC
Release: Early Access
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