The Week In Games: Return To Hyrule<\/p>\n

Monday 3:53PM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

I loved it for all the reasons I spelled out here<\/span>, but I also hated it because it was at times pointlessly stressful, and its tightly-wound narrative, which helped the game in so many other ways, was also an enormous pain in the ass when it came to progressing through Ixion\u2019s<\/em> levels:<\/p>\n

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In Ixion<\/em> you\u2019re always <\/em>in peril, always short of something you need, and it\u2019s hard to get that stuff at the best of times, let alone when you\u2019re dealing with everything from worker strikes to burning factories. A city-builder should at least sometimes <\/em>be a tranquil experience, because they\u2019re about building and watching things grow; here there were precious few moments I wasn\u2019t feeling incredibly stressed out, and never felt like I got the chance to just enjoy for a day or two the fact that, hey, we were still alive. A sandbox or freeplay mode could have really helped here, but sadly the game doesn\u2019t include either of those things, there\u2019s just the campaign.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I wrote that in December\u2014Ixion just <\/em>squeaked into my 2022 GOTY list<\/span>\u2014and now we\u2019re in May 2023. And whaddya know, while the game doesn\u2019t have a \u201csandbox or freeplay\u201d mode, it now has something maybe even better: difficulty options.<\/p>\n

Actually, it\u2019s something even better than that: they\u2019re deeply customisable difficulty options. Look at this!<\/p>\n

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Any new playthrough will now begin with a choice of three difficulty modes:<\/p>\n

Journey:<\/strong><\/p>\n

This mode is for players who want to enjoy the game\u2019s narrative and is recommended for those unfamiliar with the city-builder genre.<\/p>\n

Default:<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the intended IXION experience and is recommended for players familiar with city builders.<\/p>\n

Challenge:<\/strong><\/p>\n

An unrelenting fight for survival; this mode is for Administrators who really want to test their skills.<\/p>\n

Want a bit more customization so you can play IXION how you envisioned? Then this fourth option is for you. In Custom mode, you can adjust a wide variety of game mechanics to your taste. Tired of the constant hull degradation. Turn it off. Not getting enough workers from cryopods? Change the ratio. Accidents happening too often? Decrease the frequency.<\/p>\n

You can also adjust these difficulty parameters via the pause menu mid-playthrough \u2013 including in your existing saves!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n