Chinese indie game publisher Indie Ark announced that Thriving City: Song, a simulation game from White Star Studio, will be released in May. As an indie game set in ancient China’s Song dynasty, the developers jokingly wrote the famous poem “When the plum turns green” from Zhang Xian, a great poet of the Song Dynasty, in the release date column on the game’s Steam store page.
By checking the seasonal changes of plums, you can tell this joke undoubtedly implies that the game will be released within May.
The game is set at the beginning of the Song Dynasty in 960 AD. As a newly appointed county executive, the player has to lead the people to rebuild homes destroyed by war, revitalize commerce and agriculture, and re-establish the economic system. The game’s ultimate goal is to turn the Song Dynasty into the most powerful empire in the world so that it lasts forever. However, Thriving City: Song is not simply a city management simulation game. As a newly established empire, players need to worry about many potential crises, such as rebel uprisings, the invasion of the Mongolian army, and the conflicts and intrigues of the royal family. Managing your city while preparing for and reacting to the severe problems laid before you is where the difficulty lies.
Thriving City: Song also carefully refers to the historical documents of the Song Dynasty and perfectly restores the city structure, government and economic system of that time. Players can follow history to create a copy of the real Song Dynasty or enact their own laws to turn the Song Dynasty into a brand new empire that develops according to their own ideas.
Source: Steam