Cityconomy Is An Open-World Maintenance Simulator
Pick up that can
The rubbish-collecting game I'd most want is a walking simulator about David Sedaris's litter-picking, plucking Coke cans and chocolate wrappers from the bushes of procedurally-generated country lanes with the writer while he tells anecdotes. Procedural anecdotes, if possible.
I do also have half an eye on Cityconomy [official site], an open-world simfest game coming in December with many important jobs that keep a modern city running, from cutting grass to collecting the rubbish. You will get to drive trucks made by a German company named MAN. And it has co-op.
When we chatted about open-world games recently, we mostly meant open-world murder simulators, but Cityconomy here has an open world with a day/night cycle and contracts which are far from murder. You'll get to collect rubbish and recycling, repair roads, clean streets, maintain the sewers, tow cars, mow grass, and so on.
It is not, of course, the first game with urban tidying - our old Jim adventured into Street Cleaning Simulator, for one - but I am tickled by seeing a whole suite of public maintenance services in one game. I'm sure it'll be janky, but isn't it pleasant to think about? And now, on top of the David Sedaris litter-picker, I'm daydreaming about full-on Viscera Cleanup Detail-y wonky physics co-op cleaning with an entire city.
Developed by Nano Games and published by Astragon, Cityconomy is scheduled to launch via Steam on December 2nd. Here, look at these:
Okay, I couldn't leave without this amazing quote from David Sedaris after his local council named a rubbish truck in his honour:
"I'm angry at the people who throw these things out their car windows, but I’m just as angry at the people who walk by it every day. I say pick it up yourself. Do it enough and you might one day get a garbage truck named after you. It's an amazing feeling."
Right on.