Raise an Empire atop the Ashes in Afterworld, a Post-apocalyptic Grand Strategy Game
First Original Setting from Paradox Development Studio in a Decade; Trailer Revealed at Opening Night Live
STOCKHOLM and COLOGNE — Aug 25, 2026 — Paradox Interactive, a developer and publisher of strategy and management games, today announced Afterworld, a brand-new Grand Strategy Game from Paradox Development Studio coming soon to PC platforms. Set in an original post-apocalyptic North America crawling with hazardous terrain, dangerous old-world ruins, and the desperate remnants of humanity, players will face strategic challenges and moral crises as they guide a handful of survivors on the path to building a continent-spanning empire.
See the world premiere trailer for Afterworld, which debuted today at Opening Night Live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PU1e7kfkfs
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Emerge from the ruins into a new age in Afterworld, a new Grand Strategy Game with a deep, story-rich post-apocalyptic setting from Paradox Development Studio, the creators of Crusader Kings III and Hearts of Iron IV. Band your survivors together, define the spirit of your tribe, and establish your empire in a game that is easy to learn but difficult to survive, growing from a small-scale, approachable beginning to a strategic experience as rich and complex as you have come to expect from Paradox games.
“Afterworld is Paradox’s first non-historical setting in a decade, and I can’t wait to see what stories our players will tell with it,” said Dan Lind, Game Director of Afterworld at Paradox Development Studio. “This is the first world we’ve gotten to build from scratch in a long time, and the first one we've had the pleasure of destroying before the game starts. The old world is still out there in fragments, waiting to be found. What comes after it is entirely up to the players.”
Afterworld starts players in a procedurally generated North American wasteland, creating a new strategic sandbox full of emergent stories in every playthrough. Players will face the initial challenges of scavenging food, water, and shelter, while rediscovering the basic methods of civilization, then the difficult choices of defining laws and ethics for their growing tribe, and ultimately come head-to-head with other growing empires to decide the fate of the continent.
Afterworld key features:
Survive the Old, Explore the New
Begin as shelterfolk crawling out of a failing nuclear bunker, or wayward zealots looking for their goddess in the dustlands, or one of several other playable Origins. Build the first settlements in the wastelands and decide what kind of people you are destined to be.
Scrape together food, water, and fuel in an environment that wants you dead. Finding scarce resources will stretch your meager band thin, but under your guidance they will adapt and learn new skills and methods to refine the lost riches of the land.
Explore a procedurally generated North America. The terrain and geography are recognizable, but resources, tribes, and threats are different every time, creating a new strategic sandbox with emergent stories in every playthrough.
Rediscover lost technology through exploration. Afterworld's dynamic Ideas Tree unlocks new advances based on what you actually find and experience. Encounter a river and learn irrigation. Meet a new tribe and discover organized religion. Your actions shape what your society can become.
Organize convoys and supply lines to exploit newly discovered wealth, or migrate your entire band when the land runs dry. Your starting settlement may not stay your capital, and raiding rivals is always on the table.
Band Together or Stand Alone
Decide who to trust. Encounter rival bands, negotiate trades, absorb wandering tribes into your growing nation, or take what you need by force. Other people are your greatest resource and your greatest threat.
Draft the laws of a new society. Decide who gets scarce goods, who earns a voice in leadership, and what your nation stands for. New discoveries and crises will constantly reshape your people's demands, forcing tough calls with no easy answers.
Seek powerful remnants of pre-Fall technology that can rewrite the rules of what your nation is capable of - if you can claim them first. Just be careful; the same power that ended the old world could end the new one too.
Conquer the dustlands alone or with others, in ruthless competitive multiplayer as well as co-op.
Defend Your Empire and Redefine the World
Expand across a rediscovered America. As territory fills and resources deplete, forge alliances or fight brutal wars for control of what remains. A second collapse is always one bad decision away.
Make choices that echo through generations. With thousands of lives depending on your decisions, a food shortage can lead to a famine, and a political misstep can fracture your nation. What will you sacrifice to keep your empire standing?
Uncover the buried history of the old world and face the moral weight of rebuilding. Ration crucial resources, navigate the rise of new religions, and decide how your society treats the mutated and the augmented. Every crisis shapes the soul of your empire.
Confront the Ancients, immortal leaders from before the Fall, kept alive by forgotten technology. They have their own vision for who should rule, and they will not step aside quietly.
Define the true character of your empire and seek your destiny. Will you reclaim the old ways? Seek an enlightened path to avoid the mistakes of the past? Will your empire stand tall atop the ashes?
Players can Wishlist Afterworld today at https://store.steampowered.com/app/4920230/Afterworld/.
For more information on Afterworld, visit https://www.paradoxinteractive.com/our-games/canyouguesspdx, and the official Afterworld pages on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and BlueSky; join the Afterworld Discord, and follow the game at the Paradox Forums.
Download the Afterworld Press Kit here.
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