That was good necro @Pod :)
That’s an interesting idea, which I haven’t seen on a videogame… But totally reminds me of Vernon Vinge’s novel “A Deepness in the Sky” theme of the inevitable collapse and resurgence of human civilisations. They fall hard and deep, but when extinction is avoided, they jump higher each time
What you describe kind of sounds like a Civ game where you go through apocalypse, manage post apocalyptic barbarism to bring about eventual reconstruction… the game being preparing for the inevitable to bootstrap the Renaissance?
Thanks for the game recommendation too.