Fate of the World

Fate of the World is a 2011 global warming game developed and published by Red Redemption. It features several scenarios, based on actual scientific research, in which the player is put in charge of a fictional international organization managing social, technological and environmental policies. The goals of the scenarios range from improving living conditions in Africa, to preventing catastrophic climate change, to exacerbating it.[1] It is quickly followed by an expansion pack called Fate of the World: Tipping Point, released in late 2011. The climate prediction models for the game are the work of Myles Allen, the head of the Climate Dynamics group at the University of Oxford.[2]

Fate of the World
Developer(s)Red Redemption Ltd
Publisher(s)Red Redemption Ltd
Lace Mamba Global (EU)
Producer(s)
  • Gobion Rowlands
  • Klaude Thomas
Designer(s)
  • Matthew Miles Griffiths
  • Amy O'Neil
  • Ian Roberts
Programmer(s)
  • Richard Falconer
  • Sam Morris
  • Robin Tregaskis
Artist(s)
  • Carla Rylance
Composer(s)Richard Jacques
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, Mac OS
ReleaseFate of the World
  • NA: 28 February 2011 (PC)
  • NA: 29 September 2011 (MAC)
Tipping Point
  • NA: 29 September 2011
  • EU: 27 January 2012 (PC)
Genre(s)Global warming game
Mode(s)Single player

Gameplay
Core gameplay interface, showing policy cards available in 2020 for North America

Fate of the World is a turn-based game, with each turn representing five years. The starting date is typically 2020, while the final date depends on the scenario. In the core interface the player chooses policies to fund in each game turn, represented by "cards". These need to be distributed and balanced between twelve world regions, and many, such as a transition to electric cars, take several turns to implement locking up funds for the duration. The player also needs to manage public opinion with the risk of being banned from individual regions if public approval drops too low. Each scenario specifies a set of win and lose conditions, such as the amount of warming in degrees Celsius, human development index, production, industrial or otherwise, and how many regions the player is active in.

Downloadable content

In Tipping Point, there are two downloadable content packs plus an extra pack which includes the soundtrack and designer notes of the game.

Migration DLC

In this content pack, in addition to the climate issues the player will also need to manage the climate refugees due to climate change.

Denial DLC

This scenario takes the issue of climate change out of the game and instead focuses on growth with limited and diminishing resources.

Reception
Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic70/100[3]
(TP) 69/100[4]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Destructoid6.5/10[5]
Eurogamer8/10[6]
PC Gamer (UK)(TP) 69%[7]
61%[8]

At launch, Fate of the World and Tipping Point received "mixed or average" reviews according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.[3][4] As of January 3, 2020, the game has a "mostly positive" rating on Steam, with a 78% positive rating over 313 reviews.[9] The more positive reviewers thought the games were a brave attempt in depicting the complexity of environmental crises and the effects of global warming. However, negative aspects of the game and its expansion pack included unclear game mechanics, a brutal difficulty curve and a lack of feedback,[3] which the game's community tried to address by creating an unofficial patch.[10]

Sequel

Following the closure of Red Redemption, the rights to Fate of the World were acquired by another development studio, Soothsayer Games, which included some personnel who had worked on the original game. In 2015, they announced that they were working on an online multiplayer sequel, which was to be called Fate of the World Online.[11] However, an unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign in 2017[12][13] meant that further development was unable to proceed.[14] As of March 2019, Soothsayer Games were still actively seeking investment.[15]

gollark: But in any case, most consumery systems are now running remotely-updateable-at-will systems.
gollark: I wouldn't be massively surprised if MS/some people in the government still had a way to bee those.
gollark: Which would be a neat terrorism idea actually.
gollark: e.g. some people at Microsoft could probably push an update which erases all Windows computers at a set time and bee everything.
gollark: I suppose certain people could negatively affect people a lot rapidly if they started trying to maximize evil, but that's more because they have direct control over high-speed processes than richness.

See also

References
  1. Jack Arnott (31 October 2010). "Fate of the World [Beta] - review". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  2. "Changing the 'Fate of the World'"
  3. "Fate of the World for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  4. "Fate of the World: Tipping Point for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  5. Maurice Tan (28 April 2011). "Review: Fate of the World". Destructoid. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  6. Alec Meer (26 April 2011). "Fate of the World". Eurogamer. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  7. Marsh Davies (19 March 2012). "Fate of the World: Tipping Point review". PC Gamer UK. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  8. Dan Griliopoulos (20 April 2011). "Fate of the World review". PC Gamer UK. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  9. "Fate of the World on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved 2020-01-04.
  10. Delnar Ersike (9 December 2013). "FotW Unofficial Patch". Steam. This unofficial patch is an attempt to address all three points, as well as fix some of the bugs still unresolved in the latest official version (v1.1.2 to v1.1.4). [...]this is meant as a patch and not an "expansion"
  11. O'Connor, Alice (8 June 2015). "We're Doomed: Fate Of The World Sequel Announced". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  12. O'Connor, Alice (2 October 2017). "Fate of the World Online starts crowdfunding". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  13. "Fate of the World Online: a game about climate change". Kickstarter. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  14. "The path forward". Soothsayer Games. 6 November 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  15. "Spring 2019 update". Soothsayer Games. 28 March 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
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