Colony simulations usually ask you to build a thriving settlement, manage resources, and keep your populace happy. Dig In, revealed in its official announcement trailer, flips that formula by dropping you into a crumbling trench network on the Western Front of World War 1. You are not building a village or a space station — you are constructing a layered defense system under constant shellfire, managing soldiers who are not colonists but conscripts, and holding a fragile sector of the front in real-time tactical battles.

The trailer, which was released alongside the announcement, shows a game that blends top-down base-building with squad-level combat. The brief footage emphasizes an evolving trench network: players dig labyrinthine lines, reinforce them with sandbags and barbed wire, and position machine-gun nests and artillery. The visual style appears to be a muted, muddy palette with a top-down perspective reminiscent of games like Factorio or They Are Billions, but the subject matter is unmistakably the stagnant, brutal trench warfare of 1914-1918.

According to the announcement, the game is a "World War 1 trench warfare colony sim." That phrase alone sets expectations. Where most colony sims focus on expansion and resource gathering, Dig In appears to focus on survival and attrition. You are not trying to grow your population; you are trying to keep what you have alive. The “colony” in this case is a military unit: a force of soldiers who need to be fed, supplied with ammunition, rotated out of the front line, and kept sane under the psychological weight of constant bombardment.

What the trailer suggests about gameplay

The announcement trailer shows an interface that separates base management from tactical decision-making. On the management layer, you oversee the construction of trench sections, bunkers, communication lines, and supply depots. You need to ensure that food, water, medicine, and ammunition reach the forward positions. Soldiers are not expendable pawns — they have morale, fatigue, and health stats that degrade over time. The trailer shows a soldier icon flashing red under heavy bombardment, suggesting that stress and trauma are core mechanics.

On the tactical layer, you command individual squads or defend a sector in real time. The trailer shows enemy infantry charging across no man’s land, machine-gun fire cutting them down, and artillery strikes landing within your own trench network. The real-time tactical battles appear to play out on the same map as the base-building view, meaning there is no separate battle screen — you build the trenches, then fight in them.

Colony sim meets survival warfare

Dig In is entering a genre space that has few direct comparisons. Games like Frostpunk asked you to manage a city in an apocalyptic cold, and This War of Mine put you in charge of civilians during a siege. But no major title has attempted to blend the granular resource management of a colony sim with the positional warfare of a tactical strategy game set in World War 1.

The choice of World War 1 is notable because trench warfare is uniquely suited to base-building mechanics. Trenches are not just defensive lines — they are living infrastructure: they flood, collapse, attract rats, and need constant maintenance. A game that models this could offer a tension loop where every decision about where to dig or reinforce has consequences hours later when an enemy offensive hits that sector.

The demo and release window

The announcement confirms that Dig In will be available on PC. There is no mention of console versions at this time. A demo for Dig In will be available during Steam Next Fest in June 2026. Steam Next Fest is a regularly occurring event where developers release playable demos of upcoming games, usually tied to a broader promotional push. The June 2026 timing suggests the full release is likely sometime after that — possibly late 2026 or early 2027, though the announcement does not specify a launch date.

What we still do not know

The source material is thin on specifics. We do not know the developer or publisher behind Dig In. The announcement trailer was released without a studio name attached in the briefing. We also do not know the exact scope of the campaign — whether it is a series of historical battles, a procedurally generated front line, or a narrative-driven scenario. The briefing mentions "holding a fragile sector of the front," which could indicate a single-map survival mode or a multi-mission campaign.

Other unknowns: whether there is multiplayer or co-op, the price point, the system requirements, and whether mod support is planned. The announcement does not address any of these.

Why this could matter

If Dig In executes well on its premise, it could carve a niche at the intersection of two popular genres. The colony sim audience has shown appetite for high-stakes, resource-scarce settings (Frostpunk sold over 3 million copies). The real-time strategy audience remains sizable, and World War 1 settings are underrepresented in games compared to World War 2 or fantasy. A game that treats trenches as systems to manage — not just backgrounds — could offer a fresh perspective on a war that is often reduced to mud and machine guns in popular culture.

That said, the concept carries risks. The slow, grinding nature of trench warfare might clash with the expectations of players who want faster tactical action. And the colony sim genre rewards long-term planning and automation, which may feel at odds with the chaos and unpredictability of a battlefield under direct attack. Balancing those two modes will be the design challenge that determines whether Dig In succeeds or buckles under its own ambition.

For now, the announcement trailer gives us a clear picture of the vision: a game where you dig in, hold on, and try not to break. The demo in June 2026 will show whether the reality matches the pitch.