In dark fantasy RTS Cataclismo, you will be tasked with designing and building mighty fortresses brick by brick so you can stand against the endless hordes and horrors of the Mist. Developers Digital Sun mix strategy with resource management, siege defense, and exploration, which will test your skills. But if you can get the fortifications right, it’ll buy you time to take care of the rest.

Building structures in the game is just as easy as it is in your favourite interlocking brick system — simply place the blocks next to each other to form your base, and on top of each other to give a structure height. You can make walls thicker by adding extra layers, and the system is pretty free-form – there are plenty of brick shapes and types.

After that, you’ll need to add stairs to connect sections together and provide accessways for your units to move in, out, and across. Units within a structure will need windows or arrow slits to attack incoming enemies, and you can also add banners to your creations for both aesthetic value and for gameplay bonuses (like extra damage). Beyond that, it’s simply a question of your imagination.

But what makes a good castle? What’s considered a good design or build to withstand against the increasingly difficult hordes that seek to finish you off once and for all? Let’s explore some hand-picked favourites from the community, as well as some staple designs for people just getting started.

Small Tower

This simple, stoic build is excellent for the early portions of the game. The pictured image is a variant that’s related to optimising your city-building layout, but you could also easily convert this into a defensive tower by removing the economic buildings and placing a small battlement and some access stairs.

Such a build provides good visibility for units stationed there, looks pretty cool, and it won’t get knocked down too quickly, as the bottom is very durable — one piece breaking doesn’t affect the tower at all. You’ll want to upgrade to bigger, better builds eventually, but if you’re looking for something to start you off and get you used to building competent defences, then the small tower is a great place to start.

Mighty Fort

While not the largest or grandest build on this list, like the humble Small Tower, the not-quite-as-humble Mighty Fort is another solid build that you can look at if you’re looking for something with a bit more junk in the trunk. This mighty multi-story castle has plenty of arrow slits for units, and space at the top to place additional warriors to defend your lands. The front gate looks pretty cute, too, if we do say so ourselves. Placing a few of these along the main avenues of attack will give you a lot of firepower and utility to slow down the Horrors before they get to your main settlement.

Grim

Despite the name, this build is another solid square stone fort, with plenty of firing steps, and triangular sections on two of the sides, and mini-bastions on the other two sides. While aesthetically pleasing, it’s worth noting that there’s not much redundancy or an inner redoubt, so you’ll need to build out and add extra defences for the more difficult waves.

The Citadel

Assuming you’ve mastered some staple builds, it’s time to go big. The Citadel is a particularly epic build that is comparable in scale and detail to even the largest fortresses built by the developers during testing. It offers endless defensive and offensive strategies while maintaining the authentic feel of a real castle. It’s got big towers, tiered defensive walls, and an outer town area.

Twin Peaks Citadel 

Another Citadel variant, this is a masterpiece due to its sheer complexity. The impact of the two tall towers – the “peaks” – is quite nice as well.

Swan Castle 

The best thing about a free-form building system is that not only can you unleash your imagination, but you can also pay homage to some of your favourite designs in real life. Swan Castle is a faithful recreation of Germany’s iconic Neuschwanstein Castle. You can even do side-by-side comparisons with the real thing, if you want, although maybe don’t take your laptop with you. You might drop it.

Door Guy

But hey, it’s not all about building castles. Well, ok, that’s literally what the game is about, but what I’m saying is it doesn’t have to look like a castle. Seriously:

The mist is relentless, and the Horrors will stop at nothing to snuff out the last flame of humanity. Whether you build big or small, realistic or fantastical, Cataclismo’s brick-by-brick building system offers unlimited potential to experiment. The above samples are just some of the weird and wonderful creations to come out of the community so far, and we hope you join them as well in sharing your own creations.

Cataclismo is available now for Xbox on PC, Game Pass Ultimate, and PC Game Pass.