Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic

 
Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic is the ultimate “planned economy” simulator. Developed by 3Division and published by Hooded Horse, it exited Early Access and launched its 1.0 version on June 20, 2024. Unlike typical city builders where you zone land and hope for the best, this game puts you in the boots of a central planner. You are responsible for everything: mining the ore, refining the steel, building the factory that uses the steel, and even transporting the workers to the factory because they don’t own cars. It is arguably the most complex and granular logistical city-builder on the market.
Concrete, Coal, and Commuters: Core Gameplay

Self-Sufficiency Mode (Realistic Mode): The game’s defining feature is “Realistic Mode.” In this mode, buildings don’t just appear when you pay money. You must construct them physically. You need to buy gravel, transport it to the site with dump trucks, hire construction crews, and bring cranes. If you forget to buy bricks, the project stops. It turns every expansion into a logistical puzzle.
The Human Resource: Citizens are your most vital and fragile resource. They have complex needs beyond just “happiness.” They need food, clothes, meat, electronics, culture, sports, and alcohol. If you fail to provide heating during winter, they freeze to death. If you don’t provide a university, you won’t have engineers to run your power plant.
Public Transport Simulation: Because private cars are a luxury (and a logistical nightmare), you must design an efficient public transit network. You need to bus workers from residential districts to industrial zones in shifts. If the bus is late, the power plant shuts down, and the city blacks out.
Production Chains: The industrial simulation is incredibly deep. To make a car, you don’t just “build a car factory.” You need steel (iron + coal), plastic (oil + chemicals), fabric (crops + chemicals), glass, and electronics. Every step requires its own infrastructure and transport logic.
Biomes DLC: The 1.0 launch was accompanied by the Biomes DLC, which adds three new environments: a frozen Siberian landscape (permanent winter challenge), a scorching Desert (water scarcity), and a lush Jungle (no heating needed, but heavy rain affects transport).

How It Stacks Up
Workers & Resources is for players who looked at Cities: Skylines and thought, “This is too simple.”



Game
Key Difference




Cities: Skylines 2
CS2 is a “painter” where money solves most problems, and the economy is forgiving. W&R:SR is a hardcore logistical sim where money is just a tool to import what you can’t yet produce. Failure in W&R leads to death spirals, not just debt.


Factorio
Both games obsess over supply chains. Factorio focuses on volume and infinite scaling. W&R:SR adds the fragile variable of human beings who need to be fed, educated, and kept loyal to the party.


Transport Fever 2
TF2 is about moving goods for profit. W&R:SR is about moving goods for survival. You don’t transport coal to make money; you transport it so your citizens don’t freeze.



Key Details

Developer: 3Division.
Publisher: Hooded Horse.
Platforms: PC (Steam, GOG, Epic).
Release Date: June 20, 2024 (v1.0).
Genre: City Builder / Tycoon / Simulation.
Vibe: Brutalist architecture and diesel fumes.

Who It’s For

Must-play for micromanagers. If you enjoy optimizing bus schedules to ensure the night shift arrives exactly when the day shift leaves, this is your dream game.
Perfect for history/engineering buffs. The game features historically accurate vehicles from the Eastern Bloc (Tatra, Kamaz, Lada) and realistically models industrial processes like concrete mixing and bitumen refining.
Skip if you want immediate gratification. Building your first functioning town in “Realistic Mode” can take 10 hours. If you want to plop down a skyscraper and see it grow instantly, stick to Cities: Skylines.

Why It Works
It works because it respects the complexity of infrastructure. It teaches you that a building is not just a texture on a map; it is a pile of 500 tons of concrete, 20 tons of steel, and 5,000 man-hours of labor. When you finally construct a fully self-sufficient republic that produces its own fuel, food, and vehicles without spending a ruble on imports, the sense of accomplishment is unmatched in the genre.