Forager is an indie title that mixes RPG with idle-clicker, and it somehow all works at the end of the day. Despite holding many features of the idle-game genre turning some players off, there’s arguably enough to do while you wait for various methods of production until you can afford to purchase another plot of land, affording you more resources to ultimately purchase yet another plot. It’s a cyclic gameplay loop brought about by developer HopFrog and published by Humble Bundle that boasts a price tag of $19.99.
Yet some of the criticisms that have been lobbed at the game mechanics may very well be in the process of getting phased out, as the newest patch titled ‘Nuclear Update’ brings with it a sizeable heft of new content. This new content could arguably help bring Forager into an even more beloved indie title, while keeping its quirkiness very well intact.
The first major segment of the update is that Forager now allows mods via the Steam Workshop; not the quasi-mods that are featured in Portal Knights, but full-blown mods that can change how the entire game operates. With enough community support towards the Steam Workshop, it’s likely that Forager will be a title that can be around for years; meaning even more updates in the future.
New Forager update just dropped! Here's some wallpapers I made for you 🙂 pic.twitter.com/Cpl961Ovuk
— Jon Nielsen (@encifer) January 17, 2020
New production methods have become available as well, which helps make sense of the title update; Nuclear Powered Structures. These costly to create structures can help you generate resources far faster than what was previously available, yet can only operate while being supplied with Nuclear Fuel Cells. While that adds yet another resource that players must craft, the crafting speed allowed by having a steady supply makes the additional work worth it.
Also, players reaching the end-game will find themselves toe-to-toe against the new end-game boss, Toxic Guardian, who brings some explosive AoE attacks that Foragers will be hard-pressed to out-maneuver. To help, there are also new pets and improved AI for the pets, making them less of a thorn for the players.
The Void has been reworked as well to make terrain generation for more streamlined and efficient, with additional Void Chests available for loot if players can clear enough levels.
Finally, some back-end work is present in the update as well; both feats and achievements have been added to the title, a chat system allowing players to execute in-game commands, an infinite number of save-files, and a wealth of bug fixes and performance tweaks.
All in all, HopFrog has pushed a sizeable update that gives the community far more agency in how they play, along with streamlining end game production and difficulty. The Nuclear Update has thus far been popular with the community on PC, and many are hoping for more community-driven updates in the future.
