Microlandia 1.5 deepens crime simulation and adds police HQ

Pcgamer reports that Information Superhighway Games' city-builder Microlandia received update 1.5, which makes crime in the game vastly more complicated and, the outlet says, vastly more challenging.

The update breaks crime into seven categories—armed robbery, break-in, larceny, destruction, grand theft auto, violence, and major crime—and says these offences can affect profitability from individual residents to entire businesses. Players can now build a police HQ that houses 50 cops who patrol and respond within a set radius, while police AI has been reworked to produce "smarter" behaviour and officers making "realistic decisions about where to patrol and how to respond to incidents." ISG says the system rests on a "statistical backbone" modelled on real-world publications, including the FBI's Crime in the Nation statistics from 2023 and Laura Dugan's 1999 paper on moving decisions after victimisation.

Alongside the crime overhaul, update 1.5 adds movie theatres, vineyards, premium condos and two-storey houses, and applies a clarity pass to the UI and visuals. Performance has also been improved so that, the developer says, "large cities should feel less like punishment." Microlandia is available on Steam for $7 (£5.89).

Key Topics

Tech, Microlandia, Information Superhighway Games, Crime Simulation, Police Hq, Fbi