ColdRidge, the game about cowboys doing 4x-style exploration, hits release

French indie studio Frog Collective is set to drop their first game on October 28: ColdRidge, a wild west-set adventure that has your cowpoke adventuring out into the wilderness each spring in the hopes of scouting out resources that the guild needs—and making enough cash before winter comes to survive until you can work again. Otherwise, well, you're outside the walls when those world-scouring snowstorms come.

Frog Collective is made up of two veteran developers who worked at Amplitude (of Endless franchise and Humankind fame) for about 13 years and how intend to make several indie games a year under their new name. Given that origin, I'd expect they know how to make an interface look good and a gameplay loop pretty tight.

Each year in ColdRidge you strike out form the settlement to fulfill missions for the guild: find six herds of deer, and five stands of trees, or the like. But the more missions you fulfill the more you've depleted the surrounds and the further you have to range for later missions—all with the looming threat of winter and an ever-inreasing minimum goal to meet to keep your spot in town. It's a compelling micro-tactics and optimization game where you seek to hunt for high scores, but that also lets you push your luck by exploring unknown territories.

I first got my hands on ColdRidge earlier this year before its Steam Next Fest demo, and I was really impressed by what I saw. The Godot-driven game is pretty smooth, but I found that the gameplay is a compelling twist on those vital first few turns of a Civilization game.

"Play just the first, exciting part of a Civilization-like 4X over and over by exploring out from the first settlement. You're trying to mark resources, plan routes, and be efficient with how your move not only uncovers new map but how it exploits the resources you pass over. Leave a huge barren swathe near the start and your other expeditions that year have to waste movement getting past it to the good stuff," I said at the time.

You can find ColdRidge on Steam, and developers Frog Collective on their website.