Perimeter

About

Perimeter is a 2004 real-time strategy game where players battle to control zones and set up defensive lines while reshaping the battlefield. You gather resources, build bases, and customize units in a sci-fi setting where the environment isn’t fixed. The core twist is terraforming, move terrain, dig trenches, or collapse hills to gain advantages. Combat mixes traditional RTS mechanics with tactical map manipulation, forcing you to adapt to shifting landscapes and enemy moves. Single-player campaigns and competitive multiplayer modes let you test strategies against AI or human opponents. The game’s approach to map manipulation remains fresh despite its age, offering deeper spatial strategy than most peers. While not a mainstream hit, its mechanics have earned a cult following among strategy enthusiasts. With a focus on creative problem-solving over brute force, Perimeter stands out for letting you rewrite the rules of the battlefield itself. Released over two decades ago, it still feels ahead of its time in blending construction and destruction into one gameplay loop.

Storyline

Humanity has undergone radical changes in society. Scientists and spiritual leaders became one and the same, calling themselves Spirits. The Spirits, foreseeing the inevitable destruction of Earth due to the ravages of our time, directed scientific efforts into the discovery of a new plane of existence: the Psychosphere. The Psychosphere acted as a conduit, providing means to reach another, untouched world, a new Promised Land, by jumping between flat worlds within the Psychosphere. The Psychosphere is appropriately named, as the various worlds resemble the thoughts and actions that have occurred upon Earth during its history. The Spirits then embarked upon the construction of massive floating city-ships called Frames, which could house hundreds of thousands of people for an indefinite period of time. With the Frames completed, the Spirits sent them forth into the Psychosphere with the intent to lead their people to the Promised Land, leaving Earth behind forever.