The world of city-building survival games has recently been thriving, with new and exciting titles emerging. The newest title to enter the scene - and one to keep an eye on - is Dark Switch.

My recent hands-on experience with the game left me questioning my settlement survival skills and how to resolve the never-ending rolling fog, or as the game calls it - the shroud. This fog sweeps across the landscape, eventually corrupting the minds of those who linger too long within it, taking the form of creatures and destroying vegetation and resources needed for survival.

The Hook

Although the game didn’t immediately captivate me, as I stumbled through the tutorial trying to gather mushrooms - only to discover they were attached to a building on the tree - I eventually saw the light through the fog. Working with my Elven pioneers, I managed the means to survive around the great tree. Everything centers on surviving around a giant tree, with buildings attached to its side as you build a vertical cityscape. Your villagers use elevators to travel from platform to platform and building to building, eventually needing to descend to ground level to face the shroud for scarce resources, materials, and scouting missions.

After fumbling through the first hour, I became hooked. Despite failing my early game attempts, I began to understand the foundational structure of needs and the purpose of growing and protecting what had now become MY tree. I was hooked.

The Understanding

Colony sims and city-builders, though fundamentally similar, often have various degrees of difference between them. Understanding one doesn’t necessarily mean the next will be quick and easy to grasp. Yes, we need to help our villagers survive, build houses, and gather resources. But how these tasks are implemented and structured can be very different, and that’s why one game may connect with you while another does not.

Although Dark Switch offers a tutorial, some points were missing. Gathering food, for example - being told to gather mushrooms is one thing, but understanding that the mushrooms were already on the tree next to the building I needed to select, followed by assigning my workers to begin the task from the selected building, was much more challenging than necessary. I found some of the guidance lacking in this respect. My past experience told me to look on the ground for mushrooms, select farmers to work, or build a foraging hut. This was not the case, which is fine, but the lack of explanation became frustrating at times before I grasped the fundamentals. This could turn away players not familiar with the genre.

Did That Wrong

Sometimes, as the saying goes, you can put the cart before the horse. The way some structures unlock could have been arranged differently. Let me preface this by saying I may have put the cart before the horse here, but this is all part of learning to play a new game properly. I was tasked with gathering wood early on, with piles of lumber scattered around the platform. I began gathering the lumber to build another platform below the main one. In doing so, I used all my materials to build this new platform. (At this point, the dev team sees my failure, which I take full responsibility for.)

However, I was then asked to provide housing for my villagers and build a lumberjack hut. Here’s the problem: I had just used all my gathered lumber to build the beautiful platform below, which now sat empty and waiting for houses. I had only one piece of lumber left. Failure, yes, but in time I was able to send my scouts into the treacherous fog of the shroud, where they found lumber that saved my building dilemma. I was fortunate to find enough lumber to build my lumberjack hut and begin chopping down trees to continue building my settlement.

Hard Times, Harder Choices

Much like other survival city-builders, we are often faced with difficult choices in the story. People will be sacrificed! These choices didn’t present themselves as much as I would have liked compared to other story beats in the game. Often, I was presented with a conversation cutscene that never led to any decision-making, but progressed the story, nonetheless.

The story began to grow and expand - who are these Elven people I’m set to guide and help survive? Better yet, who is this Luminarch group, and are they really who we think they are? There is mystery and intrigue that excited me to learn more and fight with my people for survival, while I went off to build a fish hut.

The Darkest Hour

Dark Switch is set to release in March - not far away at all. Although I would have liked more clarity in the early game, I quickly became invested in my people, building a city vertically along the tree trunk is new and exciting way to elevates the genre to new heights. All while fighting off savage beasts lurking in the fog of the shroud, and learning more about the mysterious story. Dark Switch feels fresh and presents a challenge worth diving into.

Cyber Temple has a lot going for the game in a thriving genre. If you are a fan of Frostpunk 2, Endzone, or even Manor Lords, I suggest you keep your eye on Dark Switch when it releases early next year in March. From what I’ve played already, it’s sure to be a standout title for fans of the genre in 2026.