A new ecology-focused neighbourhood-building simulator, Block’Hood has come to Steam via Early Access.

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From the outside, Block’Hood appears to be 50 percent Sim City, and 50 percent Minecraft. In it, players use sets of blocks to build neighbourhoods, each with its own unique ecosystem, while keeping an ever-watchful eye on their buildings to avoid decay.Block’Hood comes with access to over 90 building blocks, some of which have “implications"; you’ll need to find a way to balance the green with the urban, lest you create an environment not worth living in.Every block type requires a basic understanding of how it works with/alongside other blocks. Should you mess up how they sit with each other, decay sets in, ravaging buildings to the point of them becoming abandoned or destroyed, seemingly lending a puzzle aspect to proceedings. As the press release says, “Be careful as seeking [a] utopian neighbourhood carelessly can lead to dystopia.”While in Early Access, developer Plethora Project has plans to create extra units along with new gameplay modes depending on what players want. Future updates are said to include new terrains, populated blocks, and extra challenge modes.Block’Hood is out now on Early Access for $9.99. For

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