Manor Lords publisher's space whale city builder gets delayed, but there's a silver lining

I'm a sucker for any city builder set on the back of an animal. Blame an upbringing on Terry Pratchett novels for that, I guess, but The Wandering Village tickled all of the right pickles for me, and I was hoping for Beyond These Stars to do the same. Unfortunately, developer Balancing Monkey Games and publisher Hooded Horse have announced that the whale-topping (not like that) strategy sim has been delayed until 2026. It's unfortunate news after a successful Steam Next Fest demo last year, but Balancing Monkey Games has offered us an olive branch in the meantime.

First up is the brand new trailer, which you can see below. While I was already excited by the prospect of building a metropolis on a spacefaring whale's back, this builds the excitement even further. While it's an almighty task to make our list of the best city building games, Beyond These Stars could be in with a shot if only for its unique premise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vls1k_BhNKc

There have been a host of gameplay tweaks since Beyond These Stars' demo, too. The UI has been overhauled to make it easier to track resources, the tutorial has been improved, and a new tech tree has been added.

Some fresh mechanics have also appeared. Pollution is now a serious concern, with tiles turning toxic if you don't deal with your waste. You wouldn't throw an empty tinnie at a real-life whale, so why would you litter on a digital one, especially when you're entering some kind of presumably symbiotic pact to build a city on its back?

Your whale-dwelling citizens now also get tired, which can impact their effectiveness. Buildings have changed as well, with adjacent effects and radiuses tweaked.

Hooded Horse also reveals that Beyond These Stars has amassed 170,000 wishlists to date, which means 169,999 of you will be crossing out a whale-shaped spot in our calendars as you read this. Me too, reader. Let's hope it swims into our solar system closer to Valentine's Day than Christmas next year. World Whale Day is on February 15 next year, just saying.