Nested Lands is a ‘brutal’ survival city-builder about guiding villagers through a plague-infested world, and you can play its open alpha right now

No city builder is complete without a healthy dose of misery. That’s been true since SimCity, where constructing your virtual metropolis came with the understanding it could be wiped out by an earthquake or tornado at any second. It’s become a heavier theme within the genre of late, however, thanks in no small part to the popularity of 2018’s Frostpunk. Now, the ominously titled Nested Lands further doubles-down on grimdark settlement simulation, and you can see for yourself just how nasty things can get through the open alpha which is playable right now.

Developed by Brazilian outfit 1M Bits Horde, Nested Lands takes place in a grim medieval world ravaged by plague, its roads and woodlands prowled by bandits and afflicted individuals driven mad by pestilence. In this unforgiving environment, players must attempt to build a thriving settlement, assigning villagers specific roles in constructing buildings, crafting tools, and gathering resources, while also venturing out into the wilds to locate other peasants to join your ranks.

“The world is brutal, so be prepared for bandits to raid the village,” the developers write in a press release. “Fend off their attacks, reinforce the settlement, and most importantly, survive the plague.”

It sounds thematically similar to 2023’s Gord, but there are a few key differences. First, Nested Lands is played predominantly in third person, with you controlling a character and wandering around your settlement performing tasks and fighting enemies. Second, Nested Lands comes with the option to play cooperatively, letting you “embrace the horrors” with up to four pals. Also, hopefully Nested Lands will be, y’know, good, which is more than I can say for Gord.

In any case, you can glean some idea of Nested Lands’ quality for yourself. The open alpha is available now via the game’s Steam page, and doesn’t seem to have a set end date. According to the press release, this Alpha round is “designed to test players on how far they can extend their settlement and how autonomous it would be”, while a Steam post regarding the Alpha explains it includes “3 to 4 hours” of play. The same post also emphasises that this is merely “the first playable iteration of the game” with “more content to come”.