Trailblazers: Into the March, a colony sim on a walking landship, has its first public demo out on Steam

Strangers' roguelite colony sim puts a crew of simulated characters aboard a landship crossing a hostile frontier. Its first public demo arrived on 16 October and it is in Steam Next Fest.

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Strangers' roguelite colony sim Trailblazers: Into the March, published by Joystick Ventures, now has a free demo on its Steam page. The studio announced it on 16 October, calling it the first time it has truly shared a game the team has spent “so many years of our lives” on, after small playtests in the past. A second post on 19 October said the game is taking part in Steam Next Fest.

You captain a Landship, a huge moving vessel that serves as your base, through the March, a frontier the store page describes as one that “thrives by engulfing civilization's remnants.” Before each trip you buy and fit out the ship, recruit crew with their own backgrounds and skills, trade and take contracts. Out in the March you look after the crew's daily lives, watch their relationships develop, and fight other landships in real-time battles with a tactical pause, where the crew's morale affects how well they perform. Progress carries over between expeditions.

The developers' own summary is “a roguelite colony-sim that integrates tactical combat with the emotional journey of fully simulated characters.” Their 16 October post says the demo includes dangerous excursions, battles and contracts from a character called the fixer.

Changes before the demo

The studio's devlogs in the weeks before the demo describe some of what changed since earlier playtests. Combat gained hotkeys for picking between the weapons fitted to your landship, and each weapon system can be told to hold fire or fire automatically. Enemy ships no longer fight to the last; when a battle turns against them they try to escape, and you can stop them by destroying their command post or keeping their crew away from it. You can also now retreat from a journey instead of walking the trail until all is lost, though retreating costs resources and can injure the crew. The interface was reworked too, with new icons and quicker navigation around the hub.

On Linux

Steam lists Windows and Mac versions and no native Linux build. GamingOnLinux ran the demo on Fedora KDE 45 through Proton 11 and says it “runs without issues,” comparing it to the roguelite structure of FTL. Steam still shows the release date as to be announced.

Sources

Image: Strangers

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