Star Drifters have announced Scorchlands, a colorful new colony management sim.

In Scorchlands, players are tasked with colonizing and terraforming a hostile moon so the birdlike Giwi can explore beyond their home world. Build sprawling hex-based colonies using the Giwi’s advanced technology, which is powered by mysterious arcane energies.

Scorchlands has a huge emphasis placed on resource gathering, logistics, and production as well, and players will gradually get to make their production lines more streamlined and efficient as they research new technologies.

The hostile volcanic moon above the Giwi home planet will need to be terraformed to make it hospitable for your feathered colonists. Unfortunately, the native wildlife of the moon isn’t too happy about this, and your colonists will have to fend them off in simple yet strategic positioning-based combat.

You can find the announcement trailer below.

You can find a rundown for the game below:

Fly me to the moon
let me play among its rocks
let me see what spring is like
in lumberhuts and mines

Who says magic and science don’t go along? The birdfolk of Giwi are curious explorers and inventors – what better way to satisfy scientific curiosity than an expedition to the moon?

The volcanic satellite, Helia, is filled with resources, so the daring explorers will not only discover new magical technologies but also harvest riches and establish colonies. Great discoveries aren’t easy to come by – the moon’s surface is full of dangerous creatures waiting to fight for their habitat. The Giwi will have to use magic not only to fend off any predators, but also to sustain their economy with arcane lasers allowing them to handle resource logistics by connecting all colonies into an industrial web.

To fully discover the mysteries of Helia players will have to establish multiple colonies on the moon’s surface, discover new tech and magic, terraform the hostile environment and fight against local creatures.

Scorchalnds is a game in which you manage production of fantastic resources on a foreign, volcanic moon.

Key game features:

• Hex grid-based city-building – construct various buildings in your colonies. Each structure’s productivity depends on neighboring resources and other constructions.
• Complex resource management – it’s not only about extracting materials. Scorchlands takes account of logistics – the movement of resources between colonies and combining them in robust processing chains. And yes, we move resources using LASERS!
• Terraforming for the greater good – use magic and technology to change the biomes on procedurally generated maps and exploit the new environment to gain its unique resources
• Technology designed to give fun – there’s no fun in a sandbox if you don’t have the toys to play with. The technology system in Scorchlands is key for player progression and new discoveries open up new ways to play with the game world
• Minimalistic combat system – when you get into a fight, positioning will be the key. Destroy your enemies by surrounding them and placing your forces in optimal locations.

Scorchlands is in development for Windows PC (via the Epic Games Store, GOG, and Steam).