From eating the elderly to selling kids, Afterworld gives you the freedom to do terrible things in the post-apocalypse 'We shouldn't judge the player' says director

Date:
Sat, 05 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Description:
From eating the elderly to selling kids, Afterworld gives you the freedom to do terrible things in the post-apocalypse

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Afterworld is a new strategy game by Paradox Interactive It tasks the player with building and managing a post-apocalyptic society Director Dan Lind says the studio won't "judge the player" for any terrible choices Upcoming grand strategy game Afterworld is all about building your own society in a post-apocalyptic North America, and, like other games by developer Paradox Interactive, it offers an incredible level of freedom to run things the way you want.

In a recent interview with TechRadar Gaming, director Dan Lind opened up
about some of the emergent possibilities that players might encounter as they build their own stories in the wasteland. "A lot of it will come from the
kind of things that you have to adapt your society to," he began. "One story could be like, 'oh, I found like this huge colony of only the elderly or something, and I took them in, and we worked with a lot of tech that meant people lived for a long time, but they're not able to contribute work-wise, and society is struggling... Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here:

"So now we figure out ways where they can, say, jump off cliffs at a certain age for the betterment of everybody, or something like that, right? The story becomes 'whoa, how did you end up there? Why do you have this kind of
society? Well, it was because this thing happened and I had to make this
thing illegal, so nobody could use this resource, and now we're all vegetarians or something. Those are the kind of stories I think you're going to get from this."

In addition to managing your own civilization, Afterworld also has you interacting with those ruled by others including powerful, ancient tyrants who run large swathes of the wasteland and can subjugate you with military might. You may like Afterworld director explains the fantasy post-apocalyptic setting, and the pub trip that inspired the game Director says Afterworld has 'some of the deepest simulation' of any Paradox strategy game The studio behind Crusader Kings and Hearts of Iron just revealed its first non-historical title in a decade Afterworld is a new strategy game set in an original post-apocalyptic America

"I also think you're going to get interesting stories when it comes to the
big political space where it's like, 'well, I decided to betray this tyrant
in this way, so now I have to manage all of New York' or something like
that." (Image credit: Paradox Interactive) Lind said he thinks that the stories players create will make for perfect water-cooler conversation, and went on to reveal that the game won't prevent you from doing evil things like cannibalism or selling members of your society to other groups. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

"One of the rules that we have is that we shouldn't judge the player for
their terrible choices," he explained. "The game will, for sure, in the sense that your population is not gonna necessarily just like you doing terrible things.... Unless you have a terrible population. Maybe you managed to get them to that point, or you found some people like that.

"This [freedom] is definitely where I see the game sticking out a little bit. It's expected of the setting, right? People don't expect people to behave normally and with a moral code in the apocalypse [...] but as you develop,
you can take it in different directions. There's certainly an advantage to having a society that is not doing too many crazy things if you want to
grow."

The director went on to say that he's "super excited" to see what players manage to achieve when Afterworld arrives: "For all our games, that's the fun part. Someone's like, 'Whoa, you did that! That's crazy!' Right?" Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/gaming/pc-gaming/from-eating-the-elderly-to-selling- kids-afterworld-gives-you-the-freedom-to-do-terrible-things-in-the-post-apocal ypse-we-shouldnt-judge-the-player-says-director


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